Headspace Studio, a creative and technical sound services company and leader in 3D positional audio, today announced the expansion of its virtual reality (VR) sound operations with the opening of a new studio in Los Angeles, California.
Audio industry veteran Viktor Phoenix joins as Head of Headspace L.A., bringing 17 years of interactive audio experience to drive quality productions and studio growth. Phoenix was previously Sound Supervisor for the Sound Lab at Technicolor and held senior positions at AAA game developers Pandemic Studios, an Electronic Arts-owned developer, and Turtle Rock Studios.
“I’m incredibly excited to have Viktor join the team to launch our L.A. office,” said Jean-Pascal Beaudoin, President and Head of Sound of Headspace Studio. “Viktor possesses not only the vast interactive audio experience and leadership qualities required to lead the new studio, but also a shared passion for exploring the power of sound field audio in presence-based immersive storytelling.”
Headspace Studio’s operation in Los Angeles furthers the company’s mission to provide all virtual reality producers, developers, and filmmakers with on-set and post-production audio solutions of the highest technical, execution, and creative standards and an end-to-end process pipeline for 3D positional audio production, post-production and delivery. The new Los Angeles office, in the heart of the creative industry, marks the first expansion for Montreal-based Headspace Studio.
“As virtual reality advances toward mainstream consumer adoption, producing high-quality VR content with seamlessly-integrated positional audio has become more essential than ever,” said Viktor Phoenix, speaking from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival where the company is participating in the premieres of 2 new groundbreaking VR experiences: Space Explorers: A New Dawn and Isle of Dogs: Behind the Scenes (in Virtual Reality). “I am excited to be joining Headspace Studio at this exhilarating time in the entertainment industry. Audiences are becoming increasingly sophisticated and expect immersive experiences to feature spatial audio that helps to deliver on the promise of the future of storytelling. Jean-Pascal is a pioneer in cinematic VR audio workflow and mixing and I am thrilled to be joining him and the rest of the Headspace Studio team to lead the charge on the west coast.”
Beaudoin adds: “Expanding to L.A. was a natural move for us. Having already delivered soundtracks on 360 video and VR productions for major Hollywood studios and leading VR storytellers, our new presence in L.A. allows us to be even closer to more VR content creators.”
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About Headspace Studio
Founded in 2015, Headspace Studio has set the industry standard as the leading provider of on-set and post-production audio solutions for virtual reality producers, developers, and filmmakers. The company has worked on medium-defining projects including Inside the Box of Kurios (Daytime Emmy® Award); Jurassic World: Apatosaurus; The People’s House: Inside the White House with Barack and Michelle Obama (Primetime Emmy® Award); Space Explorers: A New Dawn; and Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs: Behind the Scenes (in Virtual Reality). Headspace Studio is currently in production on Bebylon Battle Royale, the first major VR game from well-respected studio Kite & Lightning, to be released later this year.
