Josh Reiss, Professor of Audio Engineering in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, at Queen Mary has been involved in co-founding four companies based on his research.
Please briefly introduce yourself and describe your current business.
I’m Josh Reiss, Professor of Audio Engineering in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. I’ve been involving in co-founding four companies based on my research team’s activities.
How did you come up with your business idea, and what problem does it address?
The first business is LandR, which provides online music mastering. It addresses the fact that music is inherently creative, but music mastering (the last stage of processing before content is ready for distribution) is highly technical and few musicians can afford high quality mastering engineers. We had developed technology to automate aspects of the music production process, and businesses immediately expressed an interest.
The initial investor in LandR’s technology was also interested in PhD research done here on deep learning solutions for audio enhancement. So they licensed the technology that became Waveshaper AI.
A third company Nemisindo (the Zulu word for ‘sound effects’) offers sound design services based on innovative procedural audio technology. The following video gives an overview of Nemisindo and our procedural audio and sound design services.
And finally, the latest start-up is RoEx Audio. This business provides an intelligent system for music mixing, which is the combining, editing and processing of all of the individual sources in a piece of music, in order to create a clean and powerful blend of the sounds.
What inspired you to pursue entrepreneurship while or after your education at Queen Mary?
It was never the plan. I was always just interested in research. But the research had strong commercial potential and I wanted to make sure the research achieved impact. Plus, I’ve worked with some brilliant people here who have helped make it all happen.
What were your goals at the beginning of your journey and how did they change/evolve throughout time?
My goals were just to make sure the technologies got out there and made a difference. That goal did not change much, but what needed to be done to achieve that goal always changed.
How do you deal with fear, doubts?
Surround yourself with good people. Realise that things take time and that its not the end of the world when they don’t succeed. And new opportunities will always arise.
How have you used entrepreneurship for positive social change, and what impact have you seen in your community or industry, if any?
It's very rarely an individual effort. Working effectively and positively with those around you (regardless of their background) is essential for any endeavour to succeed.
I try to help by recognising that there are serious issues concerning inclusion, and doing what I can to support initiatives to address those issues.
What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates who are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship?
It’s a rollercoaster, so enjoy the journey! And don’t worry if a venture does not succeed. You can learn so much and build a career just from the attempt.