BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Norwegian Startup Nomono Creates Portable Spatial Audio Kit For Podcasters To Tell Immersive Stories

Following

The boom in podcasting shows no signs of tailing off as talented creators find ever-more inventive ways to tell stories that are immersive and compelling. While many podcasters interview their guests remotely using great tools like Riverside.fm, there’s still nothing to beat a face-to-face conversation where everyone is in the same room, interacting with each other and creating a dialog that flows naturally.

Nomono is a Norway-based company that produces tools and equipment to help audio podcasters and journalists record immersive stories. The company was founded in 2019 by CTO Audun Solvang, CEO Jonas Rinde, and head of software, Sigurd Saue. Nomono has received funding through seed investors including SINTEF Digital, Skyfall Ventures, Spintop Ventures, Investinor, plus research support grants from SINTEF, FORNY and Innovasjon Norge.

This week, Nomono announced the launch of an integrated hardware and software solution for making field recordings as well as handling all the file management, collaboration and production tasks while creating sound with gripping spatial audio.

The new platform includes the Nomono Sound Capsule, a Wi-Fi-enabled recorder that combines four ultra-compact wireless lavalier mics and a 360-degree spatial audio microphone array. The whole kit weighs less than 2kg and is highly portable.

The Sound Capsule connects seamlessly to Nomono’s Web App, an online audio collaboration tool where content creators can back up their recordings, collaborate with the production team, as well as apply AI-powered dialog enhancement processing before moving to the editing process. Designed with portability and ease of use in mind, Nomono says its combined solutions can revolutionize the creation of professional-quality audio.

“We’re sound people with a passion for building great products for like-minded pros, including podcasters, broadcast journalists, and media houses,” says Jonas Rinde, the company’s CEO. “Nomono simplifies podcasting with intuitive tools for capturing interviews from the field, collaborating on the editorial process, plus improving audio quality. Our goal is to provide storytellers with an audio workflow that’s smart, simple and capable of delivering excellent sound.”

Unlike current podcasting workflows that require separate field recorders, microphones, mixing desks and accessories, as well as tools like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, Google Docs, Asana, Notion, and more – Nomono uses an all-in-one field recording solution designed specifically for podcasters and journalists to use. The unit automatically uploads recordings to a cloud-based audio collaboration and preparation tool.

The Nomono Sound Capsule is compact with one-button recording that captures up to four guests and an immersive scene tape without using wires or a complicated setup. It’s built for podcasters and journalists working in the field who need to record conversations with multiple people without the fuss of setting up microphone stands, a mixing desk and separate digital recorders.

The Nomono’s wireless microphones capture and buffer high resolution, uncompressed audio and transmit to the recorder asynchronously, providing the flexibility of wireless performance without dropouts or interference. The recorder also has an ambisonic microphone array that captures the high-resolution 3D ambiance of the room along with the voices of each participant. The combination makes it possible to record object-based spatial audio that’s compatible with formats from binaural to Dolby Atmos, enticing listeners into the conversation.

“All of Nomono’s technology is built with spatial audio in mind, so creators can produce content like they always have and make the transition to spatial audio production with ease,” Rinde explains.

The Nomono Sound Capsule weighs less than 2kg and fits in a backpack. It comes with a carrying case and a built-in rapid charger. There are no levels to set and no SD cards to format. All the journalist has to do is press one button and let the conversation flow.

Audio captured by the Nomono Sound Capsule is uploaded wirelessly to the Nomono web app, a secure cloud resource and audio collaboration tool that includes AI-powered signal processing. Through the web app, Nomono makes it possible for content creators to organize material in a central place. They can then collect comments, feedback and approvals for an audio timeline which should save time and money in post-production, thanks to one-button dialogue enhancement and noise-reduction technology.

The same Nomono Intelligent Signal Processing technology that enables the spatial audio recordings can also be used to separate the foreground dialogue from the background environment to provide enhanced intelligibility and less noise, without distracting artifacts or having to remove the background sound altogether.

With field recordings from the Sound Capsule automatically backed up to the cloud, content teams can immediately start logging and collaborating on the recorded material to speed up the editorial process and get the content “on air” as quickly as possible. Creators can upload audio from other sources into the same Nomomo web app, keeping all the material in one place so any member of the production team can access them along with outside collaborators.

Pricing & Availability: The Nomono Sound Capsule is available to pre-order now and costs $3,000. The units will begin shipping by the end of the year.

More info: www.nomono.co

Follow me on LinkedIn