Our friends at iZotope have announced today the acquisition of the Exponential Audio product line which include the R4, PhoenixVerb Surround and Symphony to create what is described by one Grammy winning engineer ‘as a marriage made in heaven.’

Exponential Audio reverb plug-ins help audio engineers quickly and easily bring character to musical performances, fit dialogue into scenes, mix in immersive audio formats, and create never-before-heard sound effects. Developed in consultation with award-winning Hollywood re-recording mixers, these reverbs lead the market in supporting the most advanced industry formats for surround audio. Michael Carnes takes up the story…

“I began life (didn’t we all) as a musician.  There was also a pretty strong nerd component mixed in.  Rock music gave way to jazz which in turn led to a real love of modern classical music.  That made me pretty much unemployable as a regular working musician. I found myself in a computer music program at MIT which led to a 40-year career in technology. I was privileged to work on things in the field of medical imaging, speech recognition, operating systems, digital audio editors, reverbs, effects, reverbs and reverbs. During this same time I remained as musically active as time allowed, and was privileged to have many performances across the US and Europe.  I’ve also been long active as a recording engineer, recording live classical music. This focus on understanding real sound turned out to be key in they way I hear and design ambience.  Exponential Audio was born in 2012, with the first reverbs going on the market a year later.  Applications have been divided between musical and post work.  I have to admit that the most fun has involved surround and immersive audio. I’m cautiously optimistic that music will catch on to this in the same way film has”. 

Michael Carnes Joins iZotope

Exponential Audio founder and reverb guru Michael Carnes is joining the iZotope team as a Research Fellow to continue innovating new possibilities for sound. Michael is a long-time software developer and musician. Prior to starting Exponential Audio, he was the creator of Lexicon’s 960L, the PMC96, and the Lexicon plug-ins. Beyond hardware and software development, Michael also holds an advanced degree in classical composition, enabling him to add musicality and creativity to the plug-ins he develops. Michael Carnes told us exclusively…

Exponential Audio has been a real adventure for me.  It’s provided me a great opportunity to explore ambience and better ways to create it.  It’s also put me in touch with many new friends (present company definitely included) who’ve shared their own ideas and given me a chance to improve what I do.  People in audio are nearly all generous and helpful and I’ve found that the higher they rise, the nicer they get.  What a wonderful world to be part of!  I’m delighted that I’ve found a good steward for this work in iZotope. They’re bright and creative and we are already exploring some fascinating ideas.  I think it’s going to be fun. By combining forces with iZotope I know the potential for future innovation is vast. I am eager to bring Exponential Audio’s expertise, technology, and values to iZotope, and I’m excited to imagine what we can deliver together for our customers. With Exponential Audio in the iZotope fold, I’ll be able to focus more on research—thinking about what’s down the road.  It’s been a great road to travel, with more twists and turns than I could have imagined.

iZotope CEO and co-founder, Mark Ethier added…

“Exponential Audio’s commitment to excellence and quality aligns perfectly with the iZotope philosophy, and Michael’s product line already has a world-leading reputation in reverb and surround. We look forward to gaining Michael's experience and unique insight to develop new products together, and it’s a privilege to welcome Exponential Audio customers into the iZotope community."

Alan Meyerson, GRAMMY Award-winner, and Score Mixer for Dunkirk, Aquaman, and Pirates of the Caribbean in commenting about the coming together of iZotope and Exponential Audio probably speaks for most of the audio post-production sector…

"These two companies, iZotope and Exponential Audio, joining forces is a marriage made in heaven! These are two of the best companies. I use each of their products in every mix. Both companies are doing some really innovative stuff working in surround, and it’s a perfect combination."

What Do We Think About This?

As has been said, this is a marriage made in heaven, filling a gap in iZotope’s product portfolio with the best reverb plug-ins in the business. Most of the Production Expert team use Michael’s plug-ins on a daily basis and it is great to see that Michael’s work has a long term future and will be well cared for in the iZotope family. As to the future the combination of iZotope and Exponential Audio’s expertise and development teams will produce some very interesting new products in time.

What Happens Now?

Exponential Audio’s products will now be sold through iZotope. Current and future users of Exponential Audio products will become part of the iZotope community, and will be supported by iZotope's Customer Care team, we understand this has already been the case for the last few months.

Michael Carnes has emailed all his Exponential Audio customers and in that email he says this…

“Change can be challenging and you’re going to see some changes in Exponential Audio. But you will see a continued dedication to quality and innovation. We share the same ethical sensibilities and drive toward excellence. Most importantly you’re going to see some really exciting new developments that I’d have never been able to accomplish by myself.

You’ll see one change right away: the Exponential Audio website will disappear, with the best of its content moving over to iZotope. All of our support and informational email addresses will be going to iZotope (to tell the truth, they’ve been there for months already).

We’ll benefit from iZotope’s much larger group of product specialists and large dealer portfolio and you—if you haven’t already—will have a chance to learn about some of the indispensable products iZotope has been making for years. And don’t worry about your Exponential Audio licenses. They’re still good and you can keep using them as long as you like.”

Want To Know More?

Customers with questions can learn more from iZotope, or reach out to iZotope Customer Care directly.