Grammy-winners Ricky Martin, Jaycen Joshua want to improve the music-listening experience

Ricky Martin and music mix engineer Jaycen Joshua join Yahoo Finance to talk about their brand-new company centered around an immersive, audio technique called “Orbital Audio.”

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: We invite into the stream right now Jaycen-- Joshua Ja-- Jaycen Joshua and Ricky Martin. The reason I'm tongue tied here is both of you I've danced like a fool-- as a younger man, a lot of the music, Jason, that you were behind the scenes mixing. Ricky Martin, saw you on Broadway. Oh, many a hangover to long nights dancing to your music, so thank you.

RICKY MARTIN: Thank you.

ADAM SHAPIRO: But now there's something else we're going to be thanking you for. And it's the-- you know, you've got the Martin Music Lab, brand new company that's going to make it a lot easier for us to listen to the songs we love. So tell us about this. Ricky, why don't you go first?

RICKY MARTIN: Yes, of course. Thank you, Adam. Thank you for having us, and Julie, as well. We're really excited. I mean, when the pandemic started, I went crazy, to be honest. I wanted to invent something of impact for-- of social impact. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just wanted to create something of wellness because of everything that we were dealing with, with the pandemic.

So, you know, talking to this man, who is brilliant at what he does-- he mixed my last album. And I said, Jaycen, what are we doing? Let's just open this vortex, and let's just create something that will mean wellness for everyone around.

But we started playing with this new technique that we came up with. And all of a sudden, we are experiencing what would be the future of music. I think it's the perfect evolution of what it was and what it's going to be.

It's like watching television in black and white, and all of a sudden, we're watching television in color. With this, this is what we're doing with Orbital Audio. Do you want to explain more or less the madness of this? Because it's really insane.

JAYCEN JOSHUA: To put it short, it was definitely a love project at first. It was a passion project between Ricky and myself, with Ricky asking me to help him find this idea that he had in his head, where he heard music in multiple dimensions, meaning like, if you could put yourself in-- immerse yourself in the audio so you have that experience between you and the music, he was-- that was his passion. That was his main focus.

RICKY MARTIN: In other words, we've created this-- we've come up with this technique that, you know, if you have an amazing surround sound system with 10 speakers at home, and all of a sudden, that movie or that song you want to bring to your gym or if you want to take it to the yoga class or even to the airplane so you can experience everything just with your headphones, now you can do it. And that's where we are. We are-- it's like, what have we done? This is amazing.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Hold on a second because we want to throw to some sound so that everyone can hear what we're talking about. And then I've got a quick follow-up question for you about the experience of Orbital Audio. So let's go to that sound.

[MUSIC- RICKY MARTIN & STING, "SIMPLE]

[SINGING IN SPANISH]

OK, now the one problem, listening to this, is I have it on an Apple Mac, which is not the best speaker in the world. But when you talk about the Orbital audience experience, you know, when I'm listening to music, some people love bass. Some people like to hear more treble. I love orchestration, but then picking out the individual instruments within what I'm hearing. Is that what Orbital Audio is going to emphasize and make possible for me to do?

RICKY MARTIN: I wish we all had headphones on because this makes it you can really appreciate them with your headphones. And that's the idea. We wanted to bring Orbital Audio, the wellness of Orbital Audio, or the evolution of music to everyone. I want everyone to be able to experience this.

That little-- that child in the middle of a country in Latin America that has no money to buy headphones-- but he has headphones-- he can experience this. Or you can have the most amazing headphones and also enjoy this. That's the idea.

JAYCEN JOSHUA: I think the biggest thing was-- is the big step that we took in sound. Like, when we went from mono to stereo, that was a huge jump, obviously. But going from stereo to multi-dimensional, from up to down to behind you, to around you, in any direction with multiple instruments, it's just something that when people hear, they can't believe they're hearing, because it's that big of a step.

RICKY MARTIN: Yeah, we have all these artists that are already working with Orbital Audio. We have Bad Bunny, Residente, ASAP Rocky, Myke Towers. These are people that, all of a sudden, are in a studio, seeing how their music is evolving.

And at the same time, they're having a lot of fun with this. And it's been fascinating because us, as musicians, we think we've seen it all, and we've heard it all. And this is just the beginning of a new phase, of a new era for music.

JULIE HYMAN: Ricky, speaking of you think you've seen and heard it all, I mean, obviously the pandemic has changed a lot. And as you've talked about, this is kind of where you're putting your creative energy. I think you were supposed to be on tour right now, right, with Enrique Iglesias?

RICKY MARTIN: I was, yes.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah. So if you guys, very briefly, could just-- what's the biggest change you think coming out of this to the music industry, particularly the live music industry?

RICKY MARTIN: That's your--

JAYCEN JOSHUA: Well, I mean, there's no touring anymore. So the way the artists are getting their-- I guess you could say their visuals or their concerts out is via IG Live or YouTube or any format that just shows them performing. But, you know, it takes away from that intimacy that you have, being at the concert.

So imagine putting your headphones on, watching the same show, and seeing the guitar player or, for example, the record you played, Sting and Ricky. When they're walking around stage or walking behind you, you're actually feeling that experience. You're feeling that you're inside the audience because you can feel the audience all around you.

It just takes you into a zone or a mindset, if you will, that makes you really truly feel that you're inside something and a part of it, instead of just listening to it.

RICKY MARTIN: And that's what we're doing right now. We're trying-- and I mean, Orbital Audio translates, obviously, to music, but it will also translate to movies. And it will also translate to gaming. And it will also translate to wellness apps. Right now, we're working-- we started a conversation with wellness apps that have been working directly with children.

So we're ready to present and offer, in this case, the world, just a healing tool. We haven't seen anything yet when it comes to the PTSD that we might get out of this lockdown. So we are preparing the mattress for everyone to have a place to go to, to feel well with your headphones.

Yes, we are having fun. We're having fun with what this could become in the music industry and in the gaming industry and, obviously, music, like I keep insisting. But this is the natural evolution of music.

But for wellness, we have to focus on the intention of this. When we started creating it, it was wellness. It was about people being able to have something to lean on when they're feeling out of their skin.

INES FERRE: Ricky, Jaycen, great sound technique that you guys have come up with. Speaking to musicians, many have told me they feel like this is going to be the last industry to get back on its legs, following the pandemic. You have the virtual concerts, but they're not the same.

What is needed to help artists navigate this pandemic? Is it another stimulus package? Is it something more that can help artists in this time?

RICKY MARTIN: That's a good question. I think that right now, what I am doing, my defense mechanism is to focus on what's going to be happening with this project. I do definitely want to do music. Do we-- I need the audience.

I'm going to be honest. The level of anxiety that I was feeling in the beginning of this when I had to cancel the tour and when they told us, hey, Ricky, maybe that's going to be the last time you're going to be performing in front of a live audience, I needed air. I needed air.

I don't know if we need a package, a stimulus package. I'm not going to say no to that. But right now, I am focused on the stillness of what music is giving me. Right now, I'm working on the serenity that I need in order to push through what we're living through and what we're going through.

And at the end of the day, it's the reaction of the people, of the industry, of my colleagues. They're just focusing on the moment. And they're not going crazy. Like, I was going crazy on a future that doesn't exist. But this is giving us a lot of hope, not only to us, but everyone that we've been working with.

JAYCEN JOSHUA: And fortunately enough, you know, the music business hasn't taken a hit. It's actually the one industry that has improved, if you look at the streaming numbers. So there's never been really a hit towards the music business, but there has been a hit towards the touring business, a big, big, big hit.

And I truly believe that sooner than later, the industry will get back. But more importantly, when it does get back, it will have that time for the creatives to take, you know, that year or two years to self-reflect and understand how lucky we have it and probably come out with better material.

ADAM SHAPIRO: To wrap this up, because most of our audience is an investment-minded audience, where do you guys invest? You're both highly successful, even in quiet periods like this. I would imagine you're looking at opportunities. Where do you see opportunities?

JAYCEN JOSHUA: Honestly, it depends upon the election results. But if we just follow the pattern, I would just, you know, stick to what you know and what you believe in and what you love. I follow that same theory that a lot of guys do with investing in things that you feel will change the world. So, you know, the standards-- the Amazons, the Teslas, the Apples. You know--

RICKY MARTIN: Orbital Audio.

JAYCEN JOSHUA: Orbital Audio, and not to, you know, sound-- it can. You're talking about something that, you know, now, if I told you, you can take that long flight from New York to Paris and watch your favorite movie, but watch it in surround sound.