Created by Gaëtan Byk in association with leading French research institutions CNRS and IRCAM in 2017, Holophonix has now become its own legal entity with dedicated resources and has increased its capital stock to €3.99m. The venture is seeking capital for a first round of financing to accelerate growth and product deployment.

‘Holophonix technology aims to democratise immersive sound and spatialised mixing for live performances, to break out of the monophonic or stereophonic paradigm – formats that are still mostly used in the field – to offer users and spectators a new experience of live performances with an augmented sound dimension,’ says Byk.

Since its launch, Holophonix technology has been adopted by major institutions in France and worldwide, as well as by composers and artists, establishing its influence in immersive creation and spatialised mixing, especially in performing arts. ‘Nearly two million spectators have already experienced the Holophonix sound during the past five years, in the context of hundreds of creative projects or within the numerous cultural institutions equipped with our technology,’ says Byk.

Among Holophonix users and customers around the world are the Cour d’Honneur (Main Courtyard within The Popes’ Palace) Palais des Papes during the Avignon Festival, the Théâtre de l’Archevêché during the International Festival of Lyric Art in Aix-en-Provence, as well as within the Pantheon in Paris, as well as in venues including the Grand Auditorium of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (French National Library), the Comédie Française, the Opéra de Lyon (Lyon Opera), the Théâtre National de Chaillot (Chaillot National Theatre), the Scala Paris. Holophonix is also used at the Beijing Stadium in China, at ETH Zurich and at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

‘The success of the Holophonix immersive audio solution and the demands we currently have to meet led us to accelerate its deployment,’ Byk says. ‘We have to live up to the challenges and the trust that our customers and users place in us.’

Holophonix recently announced the release of two new immersive hardware sound processors. Since 2022, the brand has also been marketing a software-only (macOS) solution, called Holophonix Native, enabling immersive sound creation and spatial mixing on the Apple platform. ‘We have nearly 40 orders from the presentation of the new Holophonix 128 and Holophonix 64 immersive hardware sound processors at the Integrated Systems Europe trade show,’ Byk reports.

The company recently announced an ambitious three-year research and development project called Continuum in conjunction with IRCAM, Amadeus, and VRTUOZ, with a €1.2m budget, financed by its own funds and supported by the Caisse des Dépôts within the framework of the France 2030 programme.

‘This project is an extension and reinforcement of our historical partnership with IRCAM,’ Byk explains. ‘We have been working for a long time to design and make available technological tools, mainly intended for creative artists and participants in the performing arts, to compose space, to create immersive experiences, and to maximise the coherence between sound and visual images in performance venues, to improve the localisation of musicians, actors, and singers on stage, and to create virtual acoustic spaces, among other concepts.’

The Continuum project aims to develop, among other things, an active acoustic variability solution, allowing the virtual transformation of the reverberation time in a room, without any additional treatment or acoustic panels, very high-resolution convolution reverberation tools to capture the acoustic properties of a room and apply them in another space, tools to transcode these room acoustic ‘fingerprints’ for reproduction on personal audio devices such as headphones and earphones offering 3D immersive audio.

At the same time, Holophonix is strengthening its governance to ensure the proper execution of its development plan, in line with the technological and artistic challenges dear to the brand. To further these goals, Holophonix recruited Frédéric Biessy as director of the new Holophonix company. As a producer of live performance shows for several decades, an aesthete and patron of culture, and a founder of major theatrical institutions with an innovative model – including La Scala Paris and La Scala Provence, as well as of the production label La Scala Music – Biessy is one of the original customers of the Holophonix system.

‘His vision, his deep knowledge of the arts and the performing arts, of the issues at stake, and more generally his friendship and benevolence are dear to me. I am very proud and honoured to count Frédéric among our board members,’ says Byk.

‘We are witnessing the necessary evolution of sound in live performance and more globally in artistic creation, possibly influenced by parallel ecosystems that are more advanced in this area, including cinema, gaming, virtual reality and personal audio experiences,’ Biessy adds.

Since its opening, La Scala Paris, a contemporary theatre created by Frédéric and Mélanie Biessy, has been committed to multi-disciplinary art forms. ‘A venue open to all artistic disciplines including theatre, music, dance, circus, comedy and visual arts, since 2017 La Scala has been home to an immersive and spatialised sound system using 172 speakers capable of adapting to any artistic form, including the most acoustically and sonically complex ones,’ Biessy says.

‘The project’s original roots in the performing arts world and its close ties with the largest national scientific institutions, including the CNRS and IRCAM, make this technological environment probably the most advanced solution on the market today.’

‘After five years of development, our environment is becoming global, including software, processors of different formats and services, especially in terms of specific developments and technological and artistic advice for major creative projects,’ says Clément Vallon, Product Manager and partner at Holophonix.

The funds raised in this first round of financing will allow the company to accelerate the deployment of the Holophonix brand in Western Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia including China, and South Korea, and to advance the production of electronics designed by the brand and to triple the company’s workforce in the short term. The company has also decided to set up an employee shareholding system to retain and reward its historical talent. ‘This opening of the capital will also allow us to involve our engineers, developers, and historical collaborators in the company’s growth,’ Byk says.

The company also plans to add ten principal employees to its present staff in the coming months.

More: www.holophonix.xyz