
An ode is typically a song or poem, dedicated to someone whose influence and worth you wish to celebrate. We dedicate this project to Nina Simone, Markus Acher and Pablo Gordienko. It is about listening —whether to the work of this remarkable trio, or to the voices of those you choose as your own heroes. Oda is about listening. Listening as a dedication.


You know Nina Simone. Markus, with his band The Notwist, has written and performed some of the most romantic songs of the past two decades. Both have been essential guides through the mysteries of life. And then there’s Pablo. For the past 35 years, Pablo has devoted himself to the astonishing masterpiece that is the Macaw Sanctuary. The lovely, little creatures that live there sing a song of hope and optimism for the future. Nina, Markus, and Pablo: quite a trio.


Oda is a small company on a long journey. We are in Tompkins Square, in the East Village in New York City. We're always here. Please send us a note if you'd like to come for a listen.


This site was designed by 

 and built by Dan Brewster, to whom we're very grateful. 


We are taking orders. All our orders are made-to-measure, for a particular space. We will design, build, install and tune for you. Just send us a note and we'll get started: nick@oda.co


Enjoy The Silence

It's a sound-system that plays the live sound from distant places, continuously, in real-time. Each one feels like a mobile, or another form of hanging art. Each one is composed of a number between one and many paper-made speaker panels that disperse the gentle sound waves received by a networked amplifier. We make it for your space, to measure, then install it, and tune it. We leave you set up to listen to our live streams or to music you might want to play through them. It will all sound incredible. 

What are Oda's sound installations about?

It’s very simple: we find places with natural sound of extraordinary beauty, and that we want to help preserve. We install microphones there, always switched on. The sound captured by the microphone is sent live, in real-time, at high-quality (we built the whole platform) to all our installations. So turning the sound-system on is like opening a window of sound to that beautiful place. As they are essentially in the same time zone, it coincides with your day and night cycle, which feels intuitively right, and has a very relaxing effect. It becomes a first-hand experience, in which you’re witnessing some beautiful moments unfolding before you. It’s special and it just doesn’t compare to listening to field recordings. Humans have been listening to sound like this for thousands of years and we think our brains just feel naturally at home. It only has positive effects for everyone involved. Sound is that special.

There is a toad in Macaw that we call Caruso. Truly an impressive baritone. He sings mournful songs every night from 11 pm to 2 am. That’s just one of the characters you’ll meet. It’s wild. 

What is all this about the live sound? 

Natural sound is a scarce resource. As such, we must source it ethically, ensuring it is gathered under fair conditions. The ecosystem and local life must not be disrupted, and we must never treat sound as a mere commodity. Those who sustain the land must be compensated, for without life, there is no sound.

Think about the last time you stayed at a luxury hotel. I’m sure they told you the story of the family who produces their olive oil near Sorrento, or the farm in Ecuador where the linen towels are sourced. And rightly so. But ask about the sound, and they’ll likely show you a Spotify playlist of ‘River Sounds’ by Various Artists. This is neither fair nor genuine—and frankly, it’s embarrassing.

Now, imagine instead being served live sound—a beautiful song from a Zorzal bird, sung at this very moment, broadcast live from a regenerated forest in Costa Rica.

Sound affirms that the land is alive now. Contrast this with how recordings are treated: the place where the recording was made may no longer exist, and no one seems to care. The transaction we propose is different: it is fair, and it confirms that the land is alive today. The demand for natural sound is immense. A quick look at YouTube will show you the numbers. But much of what you’ll find there are looped, artificial, commodified versions of nature's voice. With the rise of AI, the need for authentic, verifiable sound has never been greater.

Natural sound is the product of a living, thriving landscape. The people who maintain that land and its ecosystem should be the ones compensated. This is fair trade sound. With each installation we sell, the client pays an annual fee to the forest where the sound comes from. 

Why do you call this new thing Fair Trade Sound?

Oh yes. Promise. Like two cans and a string. It’s a whole operation. We have laid cables that go deep into different habitats of the Sanctuary, we place good stereo microphones in weather-proof boxes, and switch them on. Then we listen. We switch from habitat to habitat depending on what’s going on. Often there will be power outages or electrical storms that interrupt the stream, it's live, you see. But we could stay here forever. 

Is it really live sound?

We work with great initiatives like the Macaw Sanctuary in central Costa Rica. Macaw’s story is one of optimism and hope - a rewilded Eden from what used to be grazing land just 35 years ago. Pablo Gordienko and his team have created a marvelous garden and forest with over 350 bird species, more than 30 amphibians and close to 70 species of bats.

We present live sound gathered in the grounds of Macaw. Under the expert guidance of Hugo Santa Cruz, the local conservationist, we listen to a delightful dawn chorus every morning, lovely bird song as the sun sets and then the wild nights of frogs and toads. That’s when Caruso performs. 

In addition to the Macaw Sanctuary, we will work with the most inspiring and hopeful initiatives in rewilding. What you’ll hear wasn’t even there just a few years ago. These initiatives need more support. Economic exploitation of a land in regeneration tends to be at odds with preserving the balance of the ecosystem. This is about creating entirely new forms of revenue for these initiatives. Sound has a host of additional benefits too, we’ll get to those later.


What is the Macaw Sanctuary?

We use all of the sound data gathered for bioacoustics research in collaboration with two leading teams of researchers. Bioacoustics is of vital importance for environmental research, helping us monitor and act on the health of ecosystems. It holds extraordinary promise as an environmental monitoring tool that is accessible and grassroots. And, remember: it sounds amazing.

And what's this about bioacoustics? 

Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that each is unique and singular, carefully made by hand here in New York. Things just cost a little more money in this great city. But they don’t even compare in prices to the higher echelons of audiophilia, which is a pretty crazy world if you ask us.

Are the sound installations expensive? 

We have an annual funding goal to ensure the viability of each of the regenerated forests we work with, so we seek contributions to this goal from our clients, particularly the larger installations. You can decide if and how much you want to contribute once you live with it for a while. Our contributors do get quite a nice service: listening guides, additional locations to listen, etc. And as you get completely hooked to it after a while we’re confident that we’ll be able to support Macaw for years to come. And other rewilded paradises soon enough.

Do I have to pay for the live sound? 

Yes and no. Yes, because you can play any music you like on them, aside from the live sound we stream. We include the exceptional Wiim Amp, a compact yet powerful streamer amplifier that delivers outstanding sound. You can play music from any service, use AirPlay 2, and enjoy our live stream. But where they truly stand apart is in how they emanate sound. Unlike conventional speakers, which project narrow, directional beams that can be tiring—even harsh—our speakers immerse the room in sound. It’s as though the sound simply exists, effortlessly accompanying you in your space. It’s hard to describe in words, but you'll understand the moment you come for a listen.

Do the sound installations work as normal speakers?

It’s light. It's rigid. It’s very sustainable. It works ideally for what we need. It’s made in the East Coast. It’s a good example of the direction that product design has to move towards. We cannot keep on using heavier, non-sustainable materials except in cases where they are essential. We want to show that you can get a rich, very special full sound without all that extra weight. Just look at some of the other large speakers out there, it doesn’t make sense that we keep going like all is fine.

Why paper?

It's really very good. But words won't do, you have to come for a listen. It's silly to try to describe sound with words. Someone that knows a lot of about music, got grammys and all, said that they 'make music more fun' and that's exactly right. 

But do they sound good?

All our speakers are made in New York City. Everything is made directly by us, by hand. Each piece is designed with a particular space in mind. Once we’re happy with the build, we install them in your space. Then we tune them.
And listen.

You make them? 

We can make stands if you’d like, but we prefer hanging the speakers from the ceiling. Since they’re so light, a simple hook is all it takes—installation is quick and easy, barely ten minutes. Honestly, we wonder why more things aren’t hung from the ceiling. It reduces the need for extra hardware, saves floor space, and lets the speakers sway gently with the breeze. It’s a lovely setup—we can’t see a drawback. Think of hammocks and mobiles. Now, whenever we look at furniture and other objects, it seems like most things could be hung from the ceiling.

Also, if you are a caring person, you'll be happy to know that our hanging speakers won't annoy your neighbors as much as conventional speakers. As they hang, there is a lot less noise transferring to your neighbors's homes. It's only waves hitting your ceiling and floor. We play at loud volumes here, a lot, and our neighbor (hi Nana!) almost never complains. She plays loud music too, which we can loudly hear because she uses giant KEF speakers, but we don't mind because she has good taste. 

Why hang them? aren't you making stands for them?

We’ll still program music performances every now and then, but our focus now is on rewilded forests like Macaw. There are a number of reasons for this. One reason is that COVID kind of ruined the very idea of remote live music. Now we just feel like gathering with other people. Listening to these long transmissions from places was a discovery for us. It became our first interest. We loved though some of the shows we had during our first seasons and want to do some more of those, which means you can expect more from our favorite artists like Angel Bat Dawid, Laraaji, Mount Eerie, Marjorie Elliot, and more. 

What about the live music programme you had going before?

We're in the East Village, right by Tompkins Square. 

What's your address?

We'd prefer to start with projects close to home, just for practical reasons. We need to visit the space, design for the space, install and listen. But we can always talk about it. Send us an email (nick@oda.co) and we'll figure something out. 

Do you sell only to the US?

Did we mention the chocolate yet? Well, Macaw Sanctuary happens to make the best chocolate in the world. If you buy our speakers, we'll hook you up. 