"MIXhalo takes the best sounding place in the venue and brings it to wherever you happen to be."
That is the mantra that renowned musician and composer Michael Einziger lives by with his upcoming platform MIXhalo. Einziger is a man of many passions, and is a very driven man when it comes to achieving his dreams, pouring every ounce of his being into everything he creates. As the guitarist of Incubus, Einziger has churned out a ton of hit songs alongside his bandmates. Now, he is diving into the tech world, aiming to change the way we experience live events.
Here's the concept
Okay. Imagine yourself having just purchased tickets for your favorite band or artist. After counting down the days, the event you've been waiting for is finally here. Now, usually you'd go to a concert and most of the time the sound quality is high and you rock out in a packed house with thousands of fellow fans and everyone has a great time. What if it could be better? More often than not, even in the best venues, acoustic properties inside of a concert hall can make it hard to hear certain instruments or the balance may seem off due to the quality of the PA system or the angles within the room. It happens all the time. Einziger has a solution, though, and it's pretty cool.
For many years, artists and bands use what are called "in-ear monitors," essentially customizable earbuds that cancel external noise and provide a more intuitive way for musicians to hear each other playing on stage, versus floor monitors. There are many benefits to using these, and as a musician myself I can testify that they are a much better solution. What the musicians hear is crisp, clear sound and a great sounding live mix. Now, the audience will be able to tap into that sound with MIXhalo.
Einziger teamed up with his wife, Ann Marie Simpson, CTO Darren LaGroe, and Matt Salsamendi to start the company, whose mission is clear: to build a platform to allow concertgoers to experience the live performance they are watching with complete clarity and consistency. Instead of RF technology found in the current in-ear monitor systems used today, MIXhalo will run on its own patented WiFi network - able to withstand the large amount of traffic of a sold-out crowd. And at an Incubus concert, thats a LOT of people.
Einziger and I recently had a conversation wherein he outlined how the technology works and the opportunities that could be seized using MIXhalo as a baseline for managing sound and delivering a unique experience to attendees of any number of events around the world. He stated:
"I saw this as an opportunity to provide a different experience to people going to see a band play, or an artist perform. Because it is a different experience, the way that we're hearing on-stage than hearing sound echoing around a large venue. It allows the concertgoer to experience something they think they've experienced many times before in a totally new way. Today, especially, there are all of these new technologies being developed, like AR and VR. Immersive experiences are becoming a desirable thing. In all different areas of entertainment, immersive experiences are really interesting and thriving right now. So, I thought this would be a great time to introduce something like this to the world."
MIXhalo was unveiled at this year's TechCrunch Disrupt NY event, which included a demonstration by way of a performance by Incubus and investor Pharrell Williams. With all of the AR/VR developments and advancements, it's definitely an amazing thing to see that advancements in sound and experiencing events in real life haven't been left behind.
Einziger and his team are looking to launch MIXhalo in the Fall and will be allowing a select few to test out the platform during the Incubus summer tour, kicking off in just a few days.
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