Sonarworks

Sonarworks is a Riga-based audio technology company that develops calibration and sound personalization software for music production and consumer listening. Its core product, SoundID Reference, is a standalone application and DAW plugin that measures the frequency response of a room and speaker system to build a calibration profile, and applies pre-made calibration profiles for more than 500 supported headphone models. The software supports speaker configurations from stereo through 5.1 and up to 9.1.6 Atmos rooms (up to 16 channels), works as a plugin in DAWs including Cubase, Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, Reaper, Ableton Live, FL Studio and Studio One, and includes system-wide calibration, editable target curves, selectable filter modes (zero latency, mixed, linear phase), and translation checks that simulate playback environments such as car stereos and hi-fi systems.

The wider product line includes Virtual Monitoring PRO, which simulates a studio room on headphones; SoundID VoiceAI, a voice-processing/voice-changer plugin for DAWs; Dolby headphone personalization for Atmos monitoring; hardware and accessories such as the SoundID Reference measurement microphone, individually calibrated headphones and the ORIA MINI room correction system; and an Apollo monitor correction add-on. Hardware-level integrations embed SoundID Reference calibration into third-party products. On the consumer side, the SoundID personalization app builds an individual sound profile using machine learning, configured through a short in-app hearing and preference test, and the company licenses SoundID for integration into consumer electronics devices and music platforms.

Sonarworks was founded in 2012 in the professional audio space and states its patented technologies are used in over 200,000 professional recording studios and by more than 55 Grammy Award-winning engineers, with over one million SoundID app installs. The company has received CES Innovation Award nominations in two consecutive years.

Founding story

The company was founded in 2012 by Helmuts Bems and Martins Popelis, starting in the professional audio space with the stated aim of delivering an individually perfected sound experience to music creators, and later extending that idea to consumer listening after large-scale sound preference research.

Business model

Sonarworks sells software licenses for its SoundID Reference, Virtual Monitoring PRO and SoundID VoiceAI products directly through its online store, alongside paid software upgrades for existing license holders and physical products such as measurement microphones, individually calibrated headphones and the ORIA MINI room correction system. It also runs a licensing business that integrates SoundID audio personalization technology into consumer electronics devices and music database platforms.

Revenue comes from paid software licenses and upgrades, hardware and accessory sales through the company store and worldwide resellers, discounted education licensing, and technology licensing deals with consumer electronics manufacturers and music platforms.

Traction

The company reports over 200,000 professional recording studios using its technology (300,000+ studios cited on the SoundID Reference product page), use by more than 55 Grammy Award-winning engineers, and over one million SoundID app installs. In 2021 it reported adoption of SoundID by consumer brands including Gateway, Drop and Monoprice.

Latest developments

Current product releases include SoundID Reference version 5.13.8.1308 for macOS and Windows, the Virtual Monitoring PRO room-cloning product, the SoundID VoiceAI voice-processing plugin for DAWs, Dolby headphone personalization for Atmos mixing, and the ORIA MINI room correction system sold through the company store.