Michael Santucci: “We needed was a fresh approach to the in-ear concept”
USA - The CEOs of Sensaphonics and Think-A-Move, Dr Michael Santucci (pictured) and Jim Harris have formed a new company, ASI Audio.
The business will debut at NAMM 2020 where a new brand, ASI Audio x Sensaphonics, will be unveiled.
“Sensaphonics already had the basics of our product concept in place,” notes Jim Harris, CEO and president, ASI Audio. “Their patented Active Ambient technology provided the platform, and our expertise in app development and manufacturing enabled our combined engineering teams to create a more sophisticated and powerful product. The key to our shared vision is to deliver a customised listening environment that works equally well with or without a monitor mix. We’re very excited to be bringing this new concept to market at the NAMM Show.”
Michael Santucci adds: “We’ve had great success with our 3D system, which is used on stage by artists like Steven Tyler, Sarah McLachlan, Dave Matthews, and hundreds more. But we know that many more musicians could benefit if we could bring down the price. We were also aware that many musicians have developed career-threatening hearing issues that could be addressed with tools like EQ and limiting. What we needed was a fresh approach to the in-ear concept that addresses all these issues in a way that no other company has even attempted. I’m proud to say that ASI Audio has achieved that goal.”
The company’s flagship product is called 3DME Music Enhancement, a universal-fit IEM system that captures ambient sound with a binaural microphone system embedded in the earphones, sending it to a beltpack mixer that enables custom 7-band EQ and limiting via the ASI Audio smartphone app.
Over the past year, ASI Audio has been demonstrating whitebox prototypes and beta versions of the 3DME to musicians, both amplified and acoustic.
“Many of these artists develop hearing issues that literally threaten their livelihood, which is obviously very stressful,” notes Harris. “By giving them the ability to use EQ to adjust the sound, they found they could hear themselves, and the orchestra around them, like they used to. We’ve had several who literally cried during the experience. That’s when we knew we had something special.”
ASI Audio x Sensaphonics will be demonstrating 3DME Music Enhancement throughout the NAMM Show later this month.
(Jim Evans)

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