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This seems intriguing but I'm genuinely confused. It seems like "bakes in" spatial audio to binaural stereo? But who is the market for that? I love spatial a

This seems intriguing but I'm genuinely confused. It seems like "bakes in" spatial audio to binaural stereo? But who is the market for that? I love spatial audio on my AirPods but a big feature is that it moves with my head and can even be customized for my ears. And I certainly don't want it applied when downsizing to a mono Bluetooth speaker. It seems like you'd need to export your final product to surround/Atmos for the way people want to, and currently do, consume spatial audio? I assume the target here is Apple Music, short films, etc.? I mean I think the concept of the 3D DAW is great. I just want to make sure there's a product-market fit here, so you can succeed. Or is there a market I'm overlooking?

deleted 2y ago
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noahfk 2y ago
Thanks for the intrigue, and yes these are all valid questions and things I'm trying to work out. I think I need to narrow down the market a bit. Currently I'm aiming more at audio and sound design experimenters rather than the deep technical stuff - although that is a goal later. I'd like to create a 'listener app' so people can have full immersion, control, and exploration of audio scenes. The binaural process is more of a high powered, more flexible and controllable version of a binarual plugin, so this would be for making binaural mixes rather than slapping on everything. I personally think the binauralizarion is one of the best sounding out there, it sounds great on headphones and has excellent sound localisation. But you are completely right. I'm still working out product market fit, and I think it's why I'm finding a bit of friction reaching the right audience. Thanks for your thoughts! Any feedback and input is very appreciated
- crazygringo 2y ago
  In case it helps, I think producing binaural recordings, or using a custom listener app, would be appealing to "experimenters" if it were open source, but it doesn't strike me as something with appeal to consumers or professionals that would pay for it. Since you're going for a paid approach, it does seem like you need to locate the audio professionals mixing for spatial audio on Apple Music and TV shows, to see if you can show them why your 3D editor results in a better surround/Atmos final result. I will say that I've often wondered what it would be like to "walk through" a band or orchestra as they were playing, with the binaural audio adjusting accordingly, which would require a full 3D approach like you've created, not just angles. I once attended an art project of a choir singing in 360° in a circle around you, where you were invited to move around to change the "mix" of voices, and it was magical. I think that's what you must mean by "exploration of audio scenes" and it sounds really cool. On the other hand, it's hard for me to imagine how you'd turn that into a business. Especially since I assume that's already relatively easy to do with video game/VR engines, even if perhaps the binaural effect isn't quite as good? Good luck! I think the concept is very cool, and I hope there's a way to monetize it as an independent product.
photonthug 2y ago
Just guessing, but even setting aside VR and whatever kind of stuff they are doing for theaters like imax, there does seem to be an interest in new kinds of immersive 3d audio/video. The Las Vegas sphere aimed to do this iirc, and the money behind it aimed to develop the IP and open similar venues in different places around the world. Supposedly media that’s under development actually uses a smaller copy of the target venue, so if you can do that with a software suite instead it’s probably a good thing.
- noahfk 2y ago
  I've even heard of them using this kind of tech in theatre performances, so there is definitely a bunch of use cases!

deleted 2y ago

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noahfk 2y ago

Thanks for the intrigue, and yes these are all valid questions and things I'm trying to work out. I think I need to narrow down the market a bit. Currently I'm aiming more at audio and sound design experimenters rather than the deep technical stuff - although that is a goal later. I'd like to create a 'listener app' so people can have full immersion, control, and exploration of audio scenes. The binaural process is more of a high powered, more flexible and controllable version of a binarual plugin, so this would be for making binaural mixes rather than slapping on everything. I personally think the binauralizarion is one of the best sounding out there, it sounds great on headphones and has excellent sound localisation. But you are completely right. I'm still working out product market fit, and I think it's why I'm finding a bit of friction reaching the right audience. Thanks for your thoughts! Any feedback and input is very appreciated

crazygringo 2y ago
In case it helps, I think producing binaural recordings, or using a custom listener app, would be appealing to "experimenters" if it were open source, but it doesn't strike me as something with appeal to consumers or professionals that would pay for it. Since you're going for a paid approach, it does seem like you need to locate the audio professionals mixing for spatial audio on Apple Music and TV shows, to see if you can show them why your 3D editor results in a better surround/Atmos final result. I will say that I've often wondered what it would be like to "walk through" a band or orchestra as they were playing, with the binaural audio adjusting accordingly, which would require a full 3D approach like you've created, not just angles. I once attended an art project of a choir singing in 360° in a circle around you, where you were invited to move around to change the "mix" of voices, and it was magical. I think that's what you must mean by "exploration of audio scenes" and it sounds really cool. On the other hand, it's hard for me to imagine how you'd turn that into a business. Especially since I assume that's already relatively easy to do with video game/VR engines, even if perhaps the binaural effect isn't quite as good? Good luck! I think the concept is very cool, and I hope there's a way to monetize it as an independent product.

photonthug 2y ago

Just guessing, but even setting aside VR and whatever kind of stuff they are doing for theaters like imax, there does seem to be an interest in new kinds of immersive 3d audio/video. The Las Vegas sphere aimed to do this iirc, and the money behind it aimed to develop the IP and open similar venues in different places around the world. Supposedly media that’s under development actually uses a smaller copy of the target venue, so if you can do that with a software suite instead it’s probably a good thing.

noahfk 2y ago
I've even heard of them using this kind of tech in theatre performances, so there is definitely a bunch of use cases!