Audio Products Podcast

Our guest is Tobias Lønnerød Madsen, Founder of Moonbase - a storefront system built for audio plugin companies.Moonbase is a sponsor of Audio Product Jam Stockholm #1 that will be hosted at XLN Audio on September 10th.👉 Learn more about Moonbase:https://moonbase.sh/a/product-jamIn this episode, we talk about:✅ Why audio plugins need their own commercial stackGeneric checkout tools break down fast when a plugin company needs partial bundle upgrades, offline activations, subscriptions, cross-grades, and long product lifecycles. Tobias explains why licensing, storefront, marketing data, and customer ownership need to work as one product system.✅ Licensing and installation as customer experienceFor plugin companies, activation is not a detail hidden in the backend. It shapes first impressions, support load, and trust.✅ Data as a key asset of the product launchWhen a company knows what a customer owns, it can build smarter upgrades, loyalty discounts, trials, bundles, and launch campaigns. That changes how indie audio companies sell products without copying generic SaaS logic.✅ Challenges that audio founders haveTobias talks about the challenges of plugin developers he works with as well as his dilemmas as a founder.If you are an indie founder, product manager, DSP engineer, UX designer, or part of an audio software team - this episode will provide a lot of inspiration.🎙️ After the premiere, the episode will be available on all streaming platforms.👉 Don’t forget to subscribe to Audio Products Podcast:https://audioproductacademy.com/ Cheers!

Our guest is Zach Kornhauser — Editor-in-Chief of our 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. He is also a Billboard-charting, RIAA-certified mastering engineer with more than fifteen years of experience shaping the sound of contemporary music. Formerly the head mastering engineer at Atlantic Records NYC.In this episode, we talk about:✅ Navigating the Audio Tech Career PathHow Zach navigated the professional audio space to his current role, and the key lessons learned along the way.✅ The State of the Audio Job MarketA deep dive into the current hiring landscape for professional audio product teams, and how the roles companies are hiring for are shifting.✅ AI and Macroeconomic FactorsThe real impact of AI, tariffs, and supply chain shifts on product management and engineering roles in audio. ✅ Why did we start the Audio Products Newsletter?We discuss the vision behind the newsletter, what readers can expect from it, and why now is the perfect time to launch.You can sign up here👉 https://tinyurl.com/ywjxwszr

Our guests are Hannes Andersson and Atte Karm from oeksound. Hannes is CEO and Atte is Marketing Director at the company behind Soothe, Spiff, Bloom.They have just released soothe 3, the newest version of their flagship plugin, loved by mixing and mastering engineers all around the world. We visited oeksound HQ in Helsinki before the official launch and had a great conversation about their products and business philosophy.We talked about:✅ oeksound's product strategyWe chatted about oeksound's history and how they came up with ideas for products and the process of launching them to the market.✅ How a small audio team stays trustedoeksound has remained focused: a small specialist team, a tight product line, and tools that engineers actually use in real sessions. We discuss how that discipline shapes product decisions, positioning, and growth.✅ What is new in Soothe3 and what comes nextWe also talk about what is new in Soothe3, what this release says about oeksound's current direction, and how the team thinks about the company's next chapterMore about soothe3👉 https://lnkd.in/gggpGXnMIf you are an audio founder, product manager, UX designer, product marketer, or indie audio company building professional tools — this episode will provide a loooot of inspiration.
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Our guest is Varda Caspi — VP Marketing at Aiode. Aiode is an Abbey Road -backed company building ethical AI tools for music creation👉Learn about Aiode here:https://aiode.com/In this episode, we talk about:✅ What ethical AI actually means in music techVarda breaks down what "ethical AI" should mean in practice: transparent training methods, clear consent from musicians, and business models where artists are not just data sources but participants in the value chain. We also discuss how royalties can work when models are trained on real performances and generate stems based on that material — and why compensation frameworks will be critical if AI music tools want long-term trust from creators.✅ Marketing AI when the product is the controversyAiode sits at the intersection of creative tools and generative AI — a space that artists, labels, and publishers are still actively debating. Varda explains how to build credible positioning and trust in a market that hasn't settled on the rules yet.✅ The Product × Marketing handshakeWhen founders build first and hand off to marketing at launch, they're already late. Varda shares how she structures early-stage collaboration between product and marketing at Aiode and what drives growth in an AI company.If you are a founder, product marketer, growth lead or PM building music tech or AI audio products, this episode will offer plenty of inspiration.➡️ Join our Discord
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Our guest is Amanda Whiting Gerstle — a strategic marketing leader in music tech and pro audio, who worked with iconic brands like Universal Audio, Splice, and Roland Corporation.In this episode, we talk about:✅ How startups should build marketing from scratchWe go deep into what early-stage audio companies should focus on first, how to avoid common mistakes, and when it makes sense to bring in external expertise✅ Marketing funnels, channels and what actually drives salesWe explore how funnels really work in audio, what channels matter in 2026, and why most companies struggle to convert attention into revenue✅ How to build and scale marketing in audio companiesFrom product marketing to branding — Amanda shares how marketing should work with Product and Sales, and where it should sit in the organisationWe also discuss AI, market saturation, and what it really takes to stand out today.If you’re building an audio startup, Amanda can also help you through her work as a Fractional CMO at Synthesize Marketing → https://www.synthesize.marketing/
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Our guest is Ross Totino — Product Developer, Sound Designer, and expert in audio hardware and DSP systems who worked on many iconic products we love.
In this episode, we talk about:
✅ How to build a career in hardware product developmentRoss shares how he moved from technician roles into sound design and product development in Electro-Harmonix and Line 6 and how those helped me to further work with iconic brands Eventide Audio. 
✅ How analog gear is modelled in the digital worldWe explore DSP modeling, perception vs. accuracy, and how developers recreate character — not just circuits.
✅ Why Silicon Valley VC capitalist mentality severely impacted the economy and the music industryCan we get away from the totally software-focused, short-term profit-seeking, fake it ’til you make it” approach?
✅ The state of the industry today“𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦… 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺’𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳.”
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Ross's band
 
➡️ Fans of Collision Bandcamp:
https://fansofcollision.bandcamp.com/
 
➡️ Fans of Collision Sounds on Gumroad:
https://rtotino.gumroad.com/
 
 
Products Ross worked on:
 
➡️ EHX Holy Grail:
https://youtu.be/tCXxuyu_N8g?si=6hLGibQaBsvERIsK
 
➡️ Line 6 ToneCore:
https://youtu.be/SKWbT6gbFeM?si=QpB8A7UFd40zMYHm
 
➡️ Umlaut Audio:
https://youtu.be/Vc8nwi5Attk?si=3atLHm7XFCzhBJ28
 
The other mentioned gear
 
➡️ Media Overkill:
https://mok.com/
 
➡️ Twisted-Electrons:
https://www.twistedelectrons.com/megafm
 
➡️ Kawai K5000s:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawai_K5000
 
➡️ Korg DSS-1:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korg_DSS-1

This time Wojciech in the solo episode.We want to pause to:✅ Reflect on what is actually missing in the audio business education space✅ Discuss why generic content does not translate into real-world audio product skills✅ Explain what Audio Product Academy is and why it exists (besides the podcast)➡️ Check our course platform
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🎮 How do you actually start a career in game audio?We talked about it with Krzysiek Kowal — Audio & Motion Department Manager at Anshar Studios and former Sound Designer at CD PROJEKT RED.Game audio is one of the most fascinating intersections of sound design, technology and interactive storytelling — but entering the industry can feel hard, especially today.In this episode, we talk about:✅ How Krzysiek started his career in game audioFrom early sound design work to working on professional game productions and eventually managing audio teams.✅ Process of implementing SFX and music in gamesWhat are the steps, people and teams involved, what are the roles in the game audio team✅ Tools and technology behind game audioGame engines, middleware like Audiokinetic's Wwise or FMOD, custom scripting tools, recording setups and the production pipelines used by professional studios.✅ The current state of the game industryMajor players, current challenges and what innovations are shaping the future of interactive audio.If you're a sound designer, audio student or an audio developer or someone curious about game audio careers, this episode gives a practical introduction to how the field actually works.👉 Don’t forget to subscribe to Audio Products Podcast
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Our guest is Rithik Kundu — Founder of NYU GenAudio & AI, and former Senior Generative AI Researcher at Deep Noise who is also involved in building Joker Deck Ventures.In this episode, we talk about:✅ State of AI education and AI adoption✅ The difference between AI demos and AI-native workflows✅ What Pipeline, guardrails, etc. are in the context of an AI-powered product
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Our guest is Maciej Bąk — a Senior IT Project & Program Manager with 16+ years of experience, currently at Neural DSP and previously on the Avid Pro Tools team.Maciek has delivered hundreds of audio projects. He is also a very active musician and mix engineer, which gives him a rare perspective on both industry and user sides of audio.In this episode, we talk about:
✅ Why audio delivery is different from SaaS✅ Projects vs Programs — and why audio companies need both✅ How poor delivery can kill a great audio product✅ Managing DSP, hardware, firmware and UX dependencies✅ Agile vs Waterfall in audio development✅ What competencies are missing in audio PMs✅ How AI will change program management in audio✅ What project management do startups need If you are a Founder scaling your company, Head of Product or Product Manager and Program Manager or Scrum Master - this episode is a practical deep dive into what it really means to deliver audio products, not just think about them
➡️ Maciek’s music channel
https://www.youtube.com/@bak_songs
 
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