Brandenburg Labs was founded in 2019, initiated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg, co-inventor of the mp3 format. Brandenburg Labs relies on a respective network and extensive knowledge in the fields of basic and applied research.
The company’s development work focuses on the continuation of the work on “Personalized Auditory Realities (PARty)”, a concept developed at Technische Universität Ilmenau and Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology.
Interview with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg, Founder & CEO of Brandenburg Labs.
A brief description of the company and its activities.
Karlheinz Brandenburg: At Brandenburg Labs, our mission is to create cutting-edge audio technology that is inspired by how we listen to the world. Our journey began as a spin-off from Technische Universität Ilmenau and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology, allowing us to build on years of research in audio science. Creating immersive audio experiences for headphones has been an immense challenge for science and industry for decades. Our interdisciplinary team of over 20 talented professionals is dedicated to overcoming these challenges. We’ve developed a technology that offers a perfect lifelike audio experience through headphones by simulating how sound propagates in the real world, making it nearly indistinguishable from reality. Together with our partners, we’re advancing the science and art of creating the perfect auditory illusion, over headphones.
A few weeks ago, we announced the launch of our groundbreaking headphone-based professional audio mixing and education product, Okeanos Pro, which offers a versatile and high-quality solution, simplifying multichannel mixing by eliminating the need for traditional physical speaker setups. Our next goal is to develop the next-generation headphones for the mass market, set to revolutionize all forms of digital media, including music, gaming, AR/VR, teleconferencing, etc. These immersive headphones will become the preferred device for any multimedia experience that benefits from headphone use.
Looking ahead, we aim to expand the limits of auditory experience with ‘PARty,’ or ‘Personalized Auditory Reality.’ Based on initial ideas at Technische Universität Ilmenau and Fraunhofer-IDMT, PARty will allow users, through intelligent wearables, to create personalized auditory experiences by reducing background noise and enhancing sound sources they focus on.
What are the main areas of activity of the company?
K.B: Our primary focus is on developing our Deep Dive Audio (DDA) technology, which creates highly realistic and plausible audio reproduction over headphones. This technology uses advanced binaural processing to provide a natural, immersive listening experience that feels both plausible and lifelike, an achievement we’ve reached by tackling challenges that other solutions in the market have yet to solve.
After our successful B2B launch with Okeanos Pro, we’re looking toward the consumer market, which will involve developing a fully integrated hardware solution with stable head tracking and wireless connectivity. To make this vision a reality, we’re seeking manufacturing and marketing partners.
Beyond our core technology, we’re engaged in innovative research collaborations. One example is ‘MULTIPARTIES,’ a project in partnership with Thuringian companies and Technische Universität Ilmenau to develop a 3D communication system that enables realistic online meetings. This project is supported by German government funding and aims to revolutionize virtual interactions by making them more natural and lifelike. Additionally, we’re working on ‘GROOVE’ in collaboration with Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, TU Ilmenau, and Consensive GmbH. GROOVE aims to foster personal connectedness in virtual environments by creating synchronized experiences that enhance social bonding.
What’s the news about new products/services?
K.B: After 15 years of foundational research at Technische Universität Ilmenau and more than four years of development and further research at Brandenburg Labs, we announced the release of our first product, Okeanos Pro very recently. ‘Pro’ because it is designed specifically for professionals, allowing recording studios, educational institutions, and sound engineering students to experience the latest immersive audio technology over headphones. With this product, studios can mix multi-channel audio content without requiring an expensive loudspeaker setup, often costing over $40,000 and demanding a specialized room. Instead, they can achieve the same high-quality results using our advanced headphone system.
Okeanos Pro accurately simulates a virtual multi-channel loudspeaker environment with precise localization. This creates an experience that feels as if users are hearing audio through real loudspeakers, delivering a new level of realism and immersion over headphones. The system is currently suited for professionals who understand audio setup and usage, and it’s already in use at several pilot sites worldwide.
What are the ranges of products/services?
K.B: Okeanos Pro is the first in our Okeanos Systems product line. Currently, this is our major product, designed to connect seamlessly with digital workstations for mixing multichannel audio. The system operates via an IP connection to an interface box, which supports Dante or Ravenna IP-based audio transmission. This box feeds the virtual loudspeaker setup through a standard audio output to headphones, enabling a high-quality immersive experience.
To achieve this, Okeanos Pro requires accurate six degrees of freedom tracking (6DoF), which captures even slight head and body movements, so that the sound feels convincingly positioned in the space around the listener. Additionally, setting up the system includes a room measurement phase where we analyze both the geometry and acoustics of the space. Using a single microphone and a sinus sweep, we create an acoustic model, which our rendering system then uses to produce highly realistic audio at any position within the room.
At the moment, we’re actively seeking investment to develop consumer-friendly versions of this technology, aiming to simplify setup and move toward wireless systems. We hope to bring these high-end consumer products to market within the next couple of years as development progresses.
What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
K.B: The professional audio market is actively seeking solutions like ours. In fact, when we met with well-known mixing studios about three years ago, they shared that they had been searching for a system like this for years without success. There is one comparable commercial product on the market that aims to deliver a similar experience, but it requires extensive training and customization. Users often spend days, if not weeks, adjusting that system before it performs as expected. In contrast, our system is designed to be much more user-friendly, offering a similar price point but far easier setup and use.
In addition, some consumer and professional products claim to provide comparable functionality, but if you do the direct comparison which we were able to do just a few weeks ago at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York City, it is evident that our technology is significantly more advanced.
What can you tell us about market trends?
K.B: Right now, we’re seeing a lot of excitement and optimism around multichannel and spatial audio systems. We’re in a hype cycle, where the industry is highly interested in these technologies, even though truly effective solutions for the mass market are still limited. One major driver of this trend is the big streaming platforms, which now require content providers to deliver multichannel mixes alongside traditional two-channel audio. This means there’s a significant amount of content being created that’s just waiting for solutions like ours to fully realize its potential.
What estimations do you have for 2024?
K.B: This year, we’re focused on bringing Okeanos Pro to mixing studios and educational institutes for future sound engineers who are eager to work with cutting-edge audio technology. Since announcing the product launch a few weeks ago, we’ve seen strong interest, with several studios already expressing immediate commitment to purchase.
So, our focus now is on connecting with the studios and institutions already interested, providing them with pricing and delivery details. Although the exact number of units we’ll be able to deliver in 2024 isn’t fully clear, we anticipate delivering at least two, with one client already ready to pay and others requesting invoices. We’re currently projecting at least two installations in 2024, with the potential to deliver up to five or ten systems, depending on demand and production capacity.
Photo Credits: Dominique Wollniok for Brandenburg Labs (BLS)