Mixhalo, the real-time audio platform delivering a high-quality, immersive experience for venues and event organizers, today announced a $10.7 million Series A financing led by Foundry Group. Conceptualized by musicians wanting to give every fan in a venue the same stellar sound they hear through in-ear monitors, Mixhalo has expanded the platform to serve concerts, conferences, festivals, sporting events and more. Anywhere people gather with amplified audio, Mixhalo provides the event organiser the opportunity to provide everyone with front row sound.

In addition to Foundry Group, the round was filled out by a syndicate of institutional investors including Sapphire Sport, Founders Fund, Defy Partners, and Cowboy Ventures, and entertainment visionaries featuring Red Light Management, Another Planet Entertainment, Rick Farman and Rich Goodstone of Superfly, and Charlie Walker of C3. The Series A participants join seed investors and advisors Marc Geiger, Drew Houston, Metallica, Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer and Rick Rubin. As part of today’s announcement, Foundry’s Ryan McIntyre will join the Mixhalo Board of Directors alongside CEO Marc Ruxin and founder and Chief Creative Officer Michael Einziger.

“Mixhalo envisions a world where everyone experiences great live audio, regardless of their seat or ticket cost. We are democratising sound at live events,” said technology and media industry veteran Marc Ruxin, who took the helm as CEO at the beginning of the year to accelerate the growth of the business. “Think of it like HD for your ears. HDTV introduced an improved viewing experience that people didn’t even know they were missing. Mixhalo is doing the same for audio at live events; we are creating a new paradigm for the audio experience at venues, events and cultural moments.”

“As a lifelong musician myself, I know first-hand the incredible immersive sound experience that professional musicians enjoy on stage in their headphones with wireless audio coming straight from the mixing board. But knowing the challenge of building a technology platform that could deliver this experience to every fan in venues of all sizes, I was skeptical it could be done. However, once I experienced Mixhalo at the tiny Fox Theater in Boulder and then at the Aerosmith show in Las Vegas, I was convinced of the technology and the massive potential and use cases in live music, sporting events, and beyond,” said Ryan McIntyre, managing director of Foundry Group. “With a tremendous potential to impact the future experience of live events, we’re excited to invest in Mixhalo to support their mission of democratising sound at live events globally.”

“We believe Mixhalo has an innovative and scalable technology solution that is broadly applicable across a range of sports and entertainment events,” said Michael Spirito, Managing Director at Sapphire Ventures. “Starting with the use case of audio, but with relevance to almost any data input, we’re excited about the unique consumer experiences Mixhalo can deliver, as well as the revenue enhancement opportunities this can create for teams and venue owners.”

How it Works
Mixhalo’s technology provides a real-time audio experience delivered directly to the attendees’ own phones and headphones. Without relying on the venue’s overwhelmed WiFi or cell network, Mixhalo creates its own wireless channel at the event across which high-fidelity sound can travel directly from an event’s sound mixer or PA system to an attendee’s ear.

As a result, every seat – including the nosebleeds – has access to better, more immersive audio, transforming the live event experience. Applications for the platform are extensive, and include: Concerts and Festivals; Conferences and Trade Shows; E-sports and Sporting Events; Interpretation Services; Museums, Megachurches and more.

Event Producers and Venues
Mixhalo provides elevated audio at a low cost, eliminating the need for expensive annual speaker capital expenses to enhance the attendee experience. Venue operators and event producers can now maintain an invaluable connection to guests for the duration of an event through audio, allowing organisers to monetise the Mixhalo platform as they see fit.

For Event Attendees
With Mixhalo, using the phone they already have on-hand, headphones and a free mobile app, everyone in the audience can create an intimate, personalised audio experience that puts them in control of what they hear. Whether tuning in to the play-by-play at a sporting event, selecting a special curated mix at a concert, controlling the volume, or accessing a preferred language at a conference, event attendees get more clarity and customisation no matter where they sit or the ticket they purchased.

Testing the Mixhalo Experience
Over the past 12+ months, Mixhalo test pilots have enhanced audio at conferences like TechCrunch Disrupt and Y-Combinator’s Demo Day and have connected fans to the soundboard at shows by Charlie Puth, Incubus and Metallica. Currently, Aerosmith’s Las Vegas residency features a one-of-a-kind onstage VIP experience that taps Mixhalo to deliver pristine, THX-certified audio to fans seated on stage. Additionally, two extra audio mixes – a house mix and a custom Steven Tyler mix that delivers exactly what the legend himself hears in his in-ear monitors – allow Aerosmith fans to experience the band like never before.

“Mixhalo is transforming the stage from an untapped resource into the most intimate, premium concert experience on the planet,” said Steven Dixon, Aerosmith producer. “The opportunity is immense. Once fans go onstage with Mixhalo, they won’t go back. This is what’s next in live music.”

Venue-testing has expanded to include pilot events at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, the Park Theater at Park MGM and Shoreline Amphitheatre; and the technology has been incorporated at Pharrell William’s Something in the Water music festival and Beats by Dre Listening Parties. A variety of Bay Area venues will debut Mixhalo-powered events later this year.

“I had the pleasure of working with Mixhalo at TechCrunch Disrupt and Y-Combinator Demo Day, where it created a flawless experience for our attendees,” said David Weil, event producer at FiveEleven Productions. “From an event production standpoint, Mixhalo should be considered if you’re looking to offer guests the best audio and interpretation experience.”

Mixhalo is the brainchild of Incubus guitarist & songwriter Mike Einziger and internationally-acclaimed violinist, Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, who co-invented the technology and launched the brand with the vision of providing everyone access to soundboard-quality audio at their concerts. Founded in 2017, the company has raised a total of $15 million to-date.

Mixhalo: www.mixhalo.com

LOUDER THAN A BOMB

The first and only time I heard the original Event 20/20 BAS was in a mate’s studio/bedroom in the mid-to-late ’90s. At the time, powered monitors still seemed like a novelty to me but the combination of affordability and performance was causing a big stir in the hip hop community. Of particular importance was the view that the 20/20 would help you create a translatable mix while not skimping on the thump and attack that connected the genre to its sound system roots. Judging by Event’s stable of endorsing artists, nothing much has changed with hip hop royalty like RZA, DJ Nu-Mark, Babu and James Lavelle (Mo’Wax, Unkle) still taking pride of place. Over the last 12 months I’ve been reunited with the Event sound, mixing in a studio shortly after they’d made the switch to the flagship Opals. While 17-or-so years had passed, the memories endured and when the Opals almost knocked me off me feet — these gems put the ‘brutal’ in brutally honest — I was that excited kid all over again.

The initial impact with the 2030s isn’t nearly as forceful but they still have a solidity about their sound. I came to realise over the test period that this in fact comes from an exceptional tonal balance across their full range. What this meant for me was a heightened perception of the often problematic low frequency/midrange transition; a clarity perceived as weight. At the same time, the Events manage to vividly reproduce the delicate articulation of stringed instruments and the breathy sibilance of vocals with a heightened realism. Perhaps even more pleasing, though, is their re-creation of a spatial depth that to date I’ve always found lacking in more affordable models. In spite of their modest price tag, they’ve illuminated deficiencies in my existing monitors originally costing five times as much.

INSTANT VINTAGE

With the 2030, Event has continued an almost 20-year commitment to push the limits of what can be achieved on a budget and, in my opinion, has elevated the performance baseline to a new level. Inevitably, this achievement will leave many, including myself, greedily craving that little bit more. For a change, we’ll even be prepared to pay more to get it. While it’s not wrong to suggest improvements, we might be missing the point. Computers and affordable audio peripherals have now converted every corner of the planet into a studio. This new classic can’t magically turn every person into a mix balance engineer but it’ll certainly give anyone who’s interested a professional start — and they won’t need to save up for 20 years to get it.