WCA #601 with Gert Keunen – Immersive Audio, "Stereo Was a Nice Try," a Dozen Careers, and Brewing His Own Beer

For episode 601, Matt sits down with Belgian musician, mastering engineer, and sociologist of music Gert Keunen — recommended to the show by past guest John Greenham. Gert has spent 35 years saying yes to nearly everything music: seven albums of his own, the nu-jazz project Briskey, a PhD in the sociology of music, four books on pop history, stints as a record-label staffer and newspaper critic, teaching at conservatories in Ghent, and most recently a deep dive into immersive audio that produced his book STEREO – Was a Nice Try. He joins from the Flemish countryside — where he also runs a 200-liter brewery and grows his own hops — to talk about how he manages time across all of it, why he learns best by teaching, how ADHD and dyslexia shaped an offline, notebook-driven discipline, and why he believes the future of immersive music is composing in 3D from the very first note rather than up mixing stereo.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Living a Passion-Driven Life Across Music, Academia, and Beer
• Managing Time When You Do a Dozen Things (and Cycling to Clear the Mind)
• Growing Up in Flanders: Flute, Pink Floyd, and a Cracked Cubase on an Atari
• Why He'd Rather Create Music Than Perform It
• A PhD in the Sociology of Music and Four Books on Pop History
• Teaching Music History, Sociology, and Production in Ghent
• Going All-In on Mastering for a Year with Friedemann Tischmeyer and Ian Shepherd
• How ADHD and Dyslexia Shaped His Offline, Notebook-Driven Learning
• Why Teaching Is How He Actually Learns
• Discovering Immersive Audio Through Apple Spatial Audio on Earbuds
• Why a Good Immersive Mix Makes the Headphone Experience Better
• Writing STEREO – Was a Nice Try Because No Good Handbook Existed
• "13 Reasons Why Dolby Atmos Sucks" — and His Rebuttals
• Creating Immersive From the Ground Up vs. Upmixing Stereo
• A Format-Agnostic Workflow: Object, Channel, and Scene-Based, Then Choose Atmos or Auro-3D Later
• Teaching Immersive at a Conservatory With a Dolby Atmos Room
• Translating Student Tracks to a Live Immersive System at Ghent's Winter Circus
• Pricing Mastering, Student Discounts, and Treating Gear as the Real Payment
• Gear Acquisition, Buy-and-Return, and "a Hobby That Pays for Itself"
• Finding Community Online Through Chris Salim's MCC
• Running a 200-Liter Brewery, Growing His Own Hops, and Why Beer Is Like Making Music

Matt's RANT!: Time

Links and Show Notes:

• Gert Keunen
• STEREO – Was a Nice Try (book)
• Briskey
• Ian Shepherd on WCA
• Friedemann Tischmeyer / Mastering Academy
• Nuendo (Steinberg)
• Chris Selim on WCA

Credits:

• Guest: Gert Keunen
• Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
• WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
• The Voice: Chuck Smith