Festival goers will be able to personalise sound in real time and buy the device
Doppler Labs is singlehandedly making hearables cool. First, the makers of the Here Active Listening earbuds enlisted Stephen Colbert’s bassist Michael Thurber as director of music, then they won over the legendary Hans Zimmer and other musicians. Next was a hipster trial soundcheck in Brooklyn and now this April’s Coachella festival in Southern California will have special stages optimised for Here wearers.
The wireless earbuds, which are controlled and mixed by a smartphone app, can be used to tune out chatter on planes or noisy streets. But it’s the music industry that’s really taken a liking to the concept.
At Coachella, festival goers will be able to trial the device and there’s even the option to skip the 25,000 strong waiting list and buy a pair of $199 Here earbuds before the event with a promo code.
Read this: First listen with Doppler Labs’ Here earbuds at CES 2016
The festival will include a number of Here Optimised Stages – no word on the acts on each stage yet – which makes sense as the option to boost bass, add reverbs and echos and alter the EQ will work better with some curated performances over others.
Using the Here and Coachella apps, attendees can access optimised presets for each optimised stage as well as special audio filters and “exclusive listening experiences”.
Goldenvoice, the creators of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to give it its full title – said that they want the collaboration to turn Coachella into “the most sonically and technologically advanced music festival in the world”.
This year’s edition, which features LCD Soundsystem, 2manyDJs, Beach House and Guns ‘n’ Roses, sold out in January. Obvs. If you’re not attending, you can join the non Coachella waiting list here behind the rest of Here’s fans including Mark Ronson, Quincy Jones and Tiesto.
