Sound Particles: Meet the Portuguese startup that brought 3D epic sound design to Hollywood productions

Photo: kjpargeter

Sources: aicep Portugal Global

Sound Particles is a startup that changed the paradigm of audio software by applying computer graphics to sound, through the development of its 3D audio software.

Even during COVID surge, it duplicated it’s revenues and has a customer base of 2500 worldwide. Today, Sound Particles software is used in major Hollywood studios and in well-known productions like Game of Thrones, Star Wars or Dune.

The idea for Sound Particles came long before the company was founded, when Nuno Fonseca realized that the most interesting visual effects he saw in cinema – such as fire, smoke or sandstorms – used a particles system, a computer graphics technique that builds effects by creating thousands or even millions of points. That’s when Nuno thought it would be interesting to develop a similar logic for the sound, that is, to have the possibility of generating fantastic sound effects, through the addition of thousands of small sounds.

In 2014, Nuno was preparing to go to Los Angeles to participate in a scientific conference, and took the opportunity to contact some studios in order to present his project – Sound Particles. The first positive response came from SkyWalker Ranch, and within six months, Nuno presented the first version of Sound Particles in the biggest studios in Hollywood. In 2015, the first film using Sound Particles was released. In 2016, Sound Particles is officially founded and, since then, many films, such as “Free Guy” and “Dune”, used the software.

Since then, Sound Particles adapted to other areas outside the cinema, such as music and video games. The software is already being used by studios such as Blizzard and Epic Games (notably on Fortnite), and also the music industry.

2022 will be an important year for Sound Particles to consolidate its presence in the music industry, taking a leap in the development of the platform that will allow its use in live concerts. The startup will continue to strengthen its market share in Europe and North America, while intensifying efforts in the Asian market, tripling its turnover in 2022 (compared to 2021). It is also the year in which Sound Particles will double its team and open a new office in Los Angeles.

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