MagicBeans

MagicBeans is a spatial audio start-up making location-based 3D audio experiences for brands,
immersive theatre productions and artists.

It combines cinematic know-how with cutting-edge spatial audio to create captivating immersive environments for audiences.

The founders Gareth Llewellyn and Jon Olive are pioneers in 3D sound - mixing the world’s first immersive audio soundtrack for a feature film - and helped to establish new creative and technical approaches to mixing 3D audio for large-format exhibition.

Jon and Gareth cut their teeth in feature films - helping create soundtracks for major motion pictures (Harry Potter, The Mummy, 127 Hours, Love Actually) before pioneering 3D audio in cinema, helping a team from Skywalker Sound to remix the Lucasfilm ‘Red Tails’ in 11.1 surround sound. They went on to create pioneering immersive audio versions of scores of Hollywood features (John Wick, Lucy, Warcraft, Transformers Age of Extinction, The Expendables 3).

The founders took this deep cinematic knowledge into the world of spatial audio experiences in 2015 - and began creating amazing interactive audio environments for location-based experiences. Clients for their spatial audio work include Adidas, Google, Three, The Guardian, A.R.Rahman and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

MagicBeans most recently helped Satore Studios to win the top prize at Raindance’s Immersive festival - the ‘Spirit of Raindance’ award for ‘Best Immersive Experience of the Festival’. The pioneering and emotive nature of the 3D audio was noted by the award givers.

MagicBeans is currently leading a groundbreaking R&D project with Warner Music and the Applied Psychoacoustic Labs at Huddersfield University. The VASAR project (Volumetric Audio Synthesis for Augmented Reality) aims to significantly improve the efficiency and quality of 3D audio. MagicBeans has been awarded an 18-month R&D grant from UKRI (the British government’s non-departmental public body for innovation and research) to lead this project.