{"id":126916,"date":"2022-08-01T16:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=xkezgxfu"},"modified":"2022-08-01T16:00:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T16:00:40","slug":"behind-the-design-odio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/08\/01\/behind-the-design-odio\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Design: Odio"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Max Frimout is an audio engineer for Odio, and it\u2019s his job to transport you and your ears to a different world.<\/p>\n

From his home studio in the Netherlands \u2014 stocked with keyboards, instruments, and a tangle of wires and boards more suited to a \u201850s B-movie than a cutting-edge audio app \u2014 Frimout creates the inventive 3D soundscapes that helped Odio secure its 2022 Apple Design Award. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to create a different sensation in the space around me,\u201d says Frimout. \u201cSometimes that can be airy and comforting; sometimes it\u2019s way sweeter than I am, or more melodic than I imagine. In the end, it has to be interesting \u2014 but also easy to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n
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With Odio, you can immerse yourself in an existing soundscape, or customize one to your liking by moving each element around your head.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Like Frimout, Odio strikes a perfect balance between cutting-edge tech and artistic resolve. The app employs a mesmerizing mix of Spatial Audio and head-tracked audio to conjure up its chill AR soundscapes, which can be everything from a rushing forest waterfall to a buzzy digital atmosphere. \u201cTurn on your soundscape, put in your AirPods, and you\u2019re there,\u201d says the app\u2019s designer, Roger Kemp. <\/p>\n

But you\u2019re no passive listener in these realistic realms: You can manipulate every soundscape within the app through a clever system of sliders that help you reposition sonic elements \u2014 like a babbling river, dreamy whale song, or wash of digital static \u2014 around your head. Want the waterfall behind you? Just slide the arc backward. Want to hear the crisp, calming sizzle of Frimout\u2019s digital artistry above all else? Bring that arc control to the center.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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The Odio team (from left): Mees Boeijen, Roger Kemp, Max Frimout, Rutger Schimmel, and Joon Kwak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Odio is geared to two different audiences, says Kemp, who co-founded Volst<\/em>, the app\u2019s Netherlands-based studio. \u201cWe have people who say, \u2018I just want to zone out, get into the flow, or sleep better\u2026 But we also have creators who want to make this their own.\u201d <\/p>\n

From the very beginning, Volst sought to make Odio work well for both groups. \u201cWe try to make it so everybody, with a little effort, can work on the app,\u201d says Kemp. \u201cThe bare essence is basically a blank canvas where the artist and listener can do whatever they want with a soundscape.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kemp didn\u2019t start out as a designer. He initially went to school for architecture in the Netherlands, then spent the \u201890s building websites and CD-ROMs \u2014 where he found a shocking number of similarities. \u201cYou navigate through a building, and you navigate through a website or an app,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have an entrance and an exit. You have different rooms, views, and features. It\u2019s the same with an app.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\u201cThere\u2019s<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of overlap between architecture and software development,\u201d says Volst studio founder Roger Kemp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Kemp spent eight years in the Bay Area before returning to the Netherlands to explore a career as a freelancer. \u201cA lot of it was fun, but some major projects got really frustrating,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to work on something meaningful, and after a while I thought, \u2018I might as well put all this energy into my own company.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Odio was partly the product of serendipitous timing. Joon Kwak, a design student from South Korea who had created a spatialized sound app in Unity for his graduation project, reached out to Kemp for a consultation. \u201cWe\u2019d been looking for projects in the visual audio realm, and we loved it. Within two or three weeks, we had a working concept demo of a spatial environment where you could move sounds around.\u201d Kemp stops to laugh. \u201cThat was the easy part.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

We thought, \u2018What if we have musicians compose their own environments?\u2019<\/p>\n

Roger Kemp, Volst founder<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hard part was all the other apps doing the same thing. \u201cWe thought, \u2018If this is so easy, there must be other apps like it.\u2019 And there were!\u201d says Kemp. \u201cThat\u2019s when Max came along and said, \u2018OK, how do we make something really special out of this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frimout, who knew Kemp and others from the local nightlife scene, had the idea to focus less on nature sounds \u2014 the chirping birds, crackling fires, and rushing winds that tend to populate ambient sound apps \u2014 and put the emphasis instead on human creativity. \u201cWe thought, \u2018What if we have musicians compose their own environments?\u2019 Why not create a new platform for artists to publish their work?\u201d says Kemp. \u201cThat\u2019s when it all clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Frimout<\/p>\n
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Frimout says his soundscapes have to be both interesting and \u201ceasy to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Frimout already had a bit of experience with spatialized audio. In addition to his music work, he\u2019s studying electroacoustic composition at the Institute of Sonology in the Hague. Appropriately enough, he spoke with us from what he calls the \u201cmost advanced wavefield synthesis system in the world,\u201d surrounded by boxes that contain 26 tweeters and two subwoofers \u2014 a massive setup designed to recreate big spaces in a smaller one. The place is full of archaeological recording equipment too \u2014 it has its roots in a Philips lab that played home to early experiments with electronic music. <\/p>\n

Frimout, one of the app\u2019s five composers, begins creating his Odio soundscapes on instruments or analog equipment in a manner that\u2019s not too different from his day (well, night) job. Start with a base, create a mood, build on it, patch it all together. The only difference: the 3D configuration. <\/p>\n

That patching is done in Logic Pro, with which he can position the channels in real time and test the results on his AirPods Max. \u201cThat\u2019s how I look around to see how it feels three-dimensionally,\u201d he says, rotating his head around for emphasis, \u201cand it\u2019s where I start to play around.\u201d The results are effects and flourishes with names like \u201csynthetic water,\u201d \u201cmoving chords,\u201d and \u201cfiltered drone,\u201d all of which can be muted, amplified, or rotated as the user sees fit. <\/p>\n

\"Frimout<\/p>\n
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Frimout created his \u201cWow!\u201d soundscape in Logic Pro \u2014 and tested the results on his AirPods Max.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Inspiration comes from anywhere. Listen close and you can hear analog touches \u2014 like Frimout\u2019s largely unrecognizable harp, Heartbreak. (\u201cIt\u2019s just three chordal structures,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cbut they\u2019ve been processed and processed and processed.\u201d ) The Institute is full of vintage equipment from the \u201850s, \u201960s, and \u201870s that can be used to conjure up abstract, weirdly nostalgic riffs and fuzzes and sounds. \u201cI like to take some of these ideas from the past and translate them,\u201d he says. \u201cBasically, I fiddle around until I hear something I like.\u201d<\/p>\n

The app is also a visual feast, with each soundscape accompanied by ever-shifting original art and cutting-edge visuals inspired by something as analog as it gets \u2014 the humble album cover. \u201cThey\u2019re small books!\u201d Kemp says. \u201cWith all their artwork and lyrics, they were a complete package. We thought, \u2018Well, why not approach it that way? Why not have a visual artist work with a composer to create that complete package?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The final design \u2014 like every Odio soundscape and feature \u2014 is the result of significant back and forth, a strategy Kemp calls \u201cping-ponging the design.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll work on something for a few days, then take it to the whole team for a critique,\u201d he says. Sometimes it takes one step; sometimes it can be four or five. \u201cBut in the end,\u201d he says, \u201cwe get a result everybody likes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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The prototype for the soundscape \u201cAtlantis\u201d (left) and the finished version (right).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To be fair, Kemp wasn\u2019t initially sold on that approach. \u201cI thought this would be really hard!\u201d he says. \u201cPeople could be critiquing your work before it\u2019s even finished. But we\u2019ve found that it speeds up the procress tremendously. And we\u2019ve been doing it now for three or four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Odio publishes new soundscapes every month; their artist roster includes composers from Germany, Korea, and elsewhere. The plan is to keep expanding \u2014 partly because that\u2019s what Kemp is cut out to do. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe most challenging part of design for me is knowing when to stop, when to leave something alone and stop tinkering with it,\u201d he says. \u201cI always think, \u2018Maybe if I change the color or stroke width, it\u2019ll be better. But at a certain point you have to stop because the project is done. It\u2019s published.\u201d <\/p>\n

He pauses to laugh. \u201cBut I still go back to designs and try to tinker. And the team tells me, \u201cNo! Don\u2019t do it! It\u2019s done!\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about Odio<\/a><\/p>\n

Download Odio from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Behind the Design is a weekly series that explores design practices and philosophies from each of the 12 winners of the 2022 Apple Design Awards. In each story, we go behind the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to discover how they brought their remarkable creations to life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Explore more of the 2022 Behind the Design series<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Frimout is an audio engineer for Odio, and it\u2019s his job to transport you and your ears to a different world. From his home studio in the Netherlands \u2014 stocked with keyboards, instruments, and a tangle of wires and boards more suited to a \u201850s B-movie than a cutting-edge audio app \u2014 Frimout creates the inventive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}