Why do we need music in our lives? Music delivers empathy and comfort that we are not alone.
Met on the 16th at the Sound360 studio in Seocho-gu, Seoul, AudioGuy CEO Choi Jeong-hoon said this. AudioGuy is a corporations that produces and distributes spatial audio. Spatial audio places sound in three dimensions to add a sense of space. With just two stereo speakers, you can hear music as vividly as if instruments were arranged in a real concert hall.
Choi became interested in music in middle school listening to Bae Chul-soo's Music Camp on the radio. After studying composition in college and working as a sound engineer, Choi founded the AudioGuy corporation in 2019. AudioGuy has worked not only with K-pop singers like Blackpink but also with indie artists. How did a teenager who listened to music on the radio come to help advance the Korean music industry?
◇ As vivid as a concert hall: delivering music in 3D
Choi has made music for 30 years, working on countless songs with various singers. Now, the focus is on spatial audio. For example, after singers record an album and commission AudioGuy, the company places the music in three dimensions and creates spatial audio.
Music began with mono, listening from one side, and evolved into stereo, listening from left and right. Spatial audio adds the concept of up and down to this. Sound surrounds the listener from all directions. Choi said, "You can hear music in 360 degrees not only front and back but also up and down."
Choi explained, "At a live concert, you can see the singer with your eyes, hear the music flowing from the stage, and share the experience with others in the same space, but when you listen to music online with headphones, that feeling can be lacking." Choi added, "Spatial audio places sounds three-dimensionally so you can have an experience as if you were in a concert hall," and "it lets you immerse yourself more deeply in the music."
It can be distributed on platforms like Apple Music, Melon, Vibe, and Genie. On Apple Music, spatial audio can earn about 10% more revenue than regular stereo tracks. In this process, singers can also increase their revenue, Choi noted. Choi said, "Spatial audio gives creators more opportunities for their music to be discovered in the (platform) algorithm."
◇ Cutting work time to one-tenth with AI
AudioGuy uses artificial intelligence (AI) to produce spatial audio. Thanks to this, work time has been reduced to one-tenth. Choi explained, "AI has learned the related techniques as we worked on thousands of tracks," adding, "Previously, producing spatial audio took about 10 hours, but after applying AI, production time was cut to under one hour."
AudioGuy aims to expand overseas, preparing to work with J-pop singers and others. By participating in the startup incubation program IBK Changgong run by Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), the company said it is being connected with investors and holding related discussions. Choi said, "Spatial audio is still new, so it may be unfamiliar to people," adding, "Once you listen to spatial audio, it can leave such a strong impression that you can never go back to stereo music."
Choi described music this way. "In the past, when there was no writing, people communicated through sounds like pounding. Language developed later. If you ask why we need music in our lives, I would say comfort and empathy. I think people realize through music that I am not the only one in the world and feel comforted."