DURHAM, NC – Zenph Studios, now Zenph Sound Innovations, a company that developed software to faithfully recreate great music performances, has raised $10.7 million from Intersouth Partners and Capitol Broadcasting. Intersouth partner Kip Frey will leave the firm to take the helm as Zenph’s CEO.
An attorney who specialized in intellectual property matters, Frey is best known in the Triangle for his role as president of OpenSite, another Intersouth-backed company that sold to Siebel. Prior to that, he was president software firm Accipiter, which was sold to CMGI.
“This is an exciting time to join Zenph,” said Frey. “The company has developed its technology platform and is now poised for tremendous growth across new markets. The success and passion of the founding team is contagious.
“It’s rare to find great technology, a real market need and the potential for industry-changing products in one company. Paired with the strong set of financial partners we now have, I believe Zenph will be a real success story for the music and entertainment industries.”
Zenph founder John Q. Walker will assume the CFO role at the company and both he and Frey will serve on the company’s expanded board. Other board members include Mitch Mumma and Katrin Brit of Intersouth and Matthew Szulik, chair and former CEO of Red Hat, and William Patry, Google’s senior copyright counsel.
Founded in 2002, Zenph’s unique technology and processes turn audio recordings into data sets. Zenph captures musical nuance, with details about musicians’ note choice, volume, touch and articulations in micro-second timings.
With this data, a virtual artist can play re-performances, precisely replicating a musician’s playing in an original recording. One use of the data is the production of pristine new renderings that transcend the limitations of the original recording process.
The company’s technology has far-reaching implications across the music and entertainment industries.
Zenph has already produced several critically well-received CDs, including one that garnered a Grammy nomination.
On November 6, Zenph’s technology re-performed a live recital by legendary composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff.
The recital featured works originally recorded by Rachmaninoff from 1921 to 1942 re-performed onstage on a specially-outfitted Steinway concert grand piano.
Zenph is relocating to Durham’s American Tobacco Warehouse campus, where Intersouth is also located.
For more about Zenph’s technology, see TechJournal South’s early profile of the company:
Zenph Studios revolutionizing music production
http://techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=3485
Online: www.zenph.com
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