Felix & Paul Studios Spins Off 3D Sound Unit As Headspace Studios

Virtual reality company Felix & Paul Studios announced Monday onstage at Disrupt SF the launch of a separate division focused on 3D, 360-degree sound mixing.

Led by Jean-Pascal Beaudoin, Headspace Studios will bring the sound editing technology and innovation used in Felix & Paul productions to other leading VR companies. The studio is the first to focus only on 3D sound for VR content, Beaduoin said in an interview with TechCrunch.

“360 degrees gives you much more flexibility creatively,” said Beaudoin. “It really has a powerful way of bringing you somewhere.”

Beaudoin has worked with Felix & Paul Studios since the company began in 2014. He initially worked with them on the sound for one of the studio’s earliest projects, “Strangers with Patrick Watson.” Paul Raphael said the company decided to spin off Headspace because they wanted to share the technology and team they had built with other people.

“We realized Felix & Paul is not a service provider,” Raphael said.

But the team hopes Headspace will be. Beaudoin said he thinks the technology they’ve developed could be applied to many projects at other studios. He’s particularly excited about the potential applications 3D sound has for documentary work.

“As humans we think in terms of image way more than sound,” Beaudoin said. “Sound operates on a much more subconscious level. You can really move someone.”

Headspace, like Felix & Paul Studios, will be based in Montreal. The company will work with leading VR companies in the United States and Europe.