Halina Rice and Polygon Live Create Spatial Audio Soundscapes with L-ISA Halina Rice and Polygon Live Create Spatial Audio Soundscapes with L-ISA...
Ever wondered how artists create spatial audio experiences that truly transport you? Cue the sonic immersion of Wonderfruit 2024. The energy of the crowd, the brilliant performances, and that incredible sound from the immersive Polygon Live stage. Before May 2025’s incredible Polygon Live LDN debut, we had the distinct pleasure of powering an unforgettable spatial audio experience with sonic architect Halina Rice at Wonderfruit.
Halina, a true pioneer in the art of immersive sound, has a knack for sculpting worlds where music, art, and technology converge in brilliant harmony. From her genre-bending releases to her visionary NEW WORLDS project, she consistently pushes boundaries. She creates spatial audio experiences that are supported by her 360° visuals and metaverse environments. So, when she brought that vision to Wonderfruit’s Polygon Live stage, it was a match made in hyperreal sound heaven.
Polygon Live: Our Sonic Playground (with nearly 100 L-Acoustics Speakers!)
For those who haven’t yet had the pleasure, Polygon Live is far from your average stage. Imagine a glowing, LED-drenched dome, pulsating with light, and armed with nearly 100 L-Acoustics speakers, in a 360° L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound system. It’s a true auditory playground, designed to completely envelop audiences in a soundscape unlike any other. And if you’re curious about the magic behind Polygon, be sure to check out our previous blog post about their immersive audio experiences here.
Halina, having explored spatialized sound from Abbey Road Studios to Dolby Atmos releases, was the perfect artist to truly unleash the power of Polygon Live. But what’s it really like to perform inside a sound system this powerful? And how does spatial audio transform the way we experience live music? Let’s go behind the scenes of her Wonderfruit debut.
Beyond Stereo: The L-ISA Way to Create Spatial Audio
Halina’s journey with Polygon began back in June 2024. She connected with Polygon Productions’ co-founder Nico Elliott, a visionary who, alongside business partners Archie Keswick and Adam Nicholas, has been building and expanding the Polygon concept for seven years. Their mission is to create spatial audio events worldwide, from Wonderfruit to the Amsterdam Dance Event and even the Formula 1 Pre-party in Singapore.
For Halina, whose past work has always centered around spatial audio, this collaboration was a natural fit. As she puts it, “the use of immersive technologies complements my interest in sound design and provides another dimension to deliver emotive electronic music with impact.” Having first been introduced to L-ISA technology at Abbey Road Studios in 2019, she was thrilled to perform a fully spatialized, 360° live set at Wonderfruit in December 2024.
Creating Spatial Audio for the Polygon Dome
Stepping into the Polygon dome, with its 2,500-capacity and unique network of LED lights, is an experience in and of itself. But as Halina eloquently describes, it’s the nearly 100 L-Acoustics speakers, mounted in a 360° L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound configuration, that truly transform the space. “There’s an ethereal quality to the structure,” she notes, “giving the impression that the dome is simply made of light and the auditorium is made of sound. The audience seems transfixed and lost in delight, given permission to lose themselves in the experience.”
So, for those scratching their heads about spatial audio, imagine your audio isn’t just a flat stereo track, but a collection of individual sound “objects.” Our L-ISA software enables engineers to precisely position these sound objects within a space, creating a truly three-dimensional soundscape. You can even apply spatial effects like delays and reverbs that dance and echo throughout the space. It’s like painting with sound, giving artists and engineers unparalleled control.
For her Wonderfruit performance, Halina collaborated closely with Polygon’s audio team, led by the calm and reassuring David Lopez de Arenosa, and specifically with engineer Davey Williamson. Halina would deliver stemmed projects from Ableton Live, which were then fed through our L-ISA software and processor. This allowed the Polygon audio engineers to “position the sounds in a fast and flexible way,” often with on-the-fly improvisation during the live set—a true performance within a performance.
Trust, Immersion, and a Future That’s Brighter (and More Clear)
As the set began, with Halina’s track ‘SPLIT’ filling the dome, the lead synth moved left to right, precisely as planned. The engineers and artists, with their on-stage spatial monitoring systems, could feel the music being reproduced for the audience in real-time. “The set landed well,” Halina recounts, “and the auditorium filled up with people enjoying the vibey combination of lights and music. The atmosphere was fantastic with an audience utterly immersed in the experience.”
Halina’s experience at Wonderfruit perfectly highlights a wider trend: the growth of immersive events. From the visual spectacles of Anyma to the sheer scale of the Sphere in Las Vegas, audiences are craving more sensory stimulation. And on the recorded side, spatial audio is rapidly becoming the norm, from AirPods to in-car speaker systems. We’ve hit a tipping point, and the future is sounding incredibly bright (and wonderfully immersive!).
And speaking of bright futures, Halina had such a fantastic time that she joined Polygon for their debut UK festival, Polygon Live LDN, this past May. This was no small feat, as it involved bringing two domes, nearly 200 L-Acoustics speakers, and 360° L-ISA immersive sound to a staggering 5,000 people per day. We were thrilled to see audiences in the UK experience the magic.
Stay tuned for more sonic adventures and groundbreaking spatial audio experiences powered by L-Acoustics.