Sonic Spheres — An AMA Hang with Ed Cooke
🎧 Remember Everything — An AMA Hang with Ed Cooke
By Joseph Perla, Founder & CEO of Hangout
We recently sat down with memory grandmaster and serial entrepreneur Ed Cooke for an AMA Hang that took us from the art of memory palaces to the immersive world of Sonic Spheres. Ed brought his characteristic curiosity and imagination to every question, sharing candid stories about building low-cost, big-room audio experiences and how memory techniques shape our perception.
AMA Hangs are live music-fueled conversations hosted on Hangout.fm — part Q&A, part collaborative mixtape, and part storytelling session (more here). We play tracks live, trade memories, invite audience questions, and dive deep behind the scenes of our guests’ work.
👥 Bios
Joseph Perla
Technologist and music industry innovator, founder of Turntable.fm and Hangout.fm. Joseph’s work centers on reimagining how fans connect with music and artists through shared, community-driven digital experiences.
Ed Cooke
Memory expert, Grandmaster of Memory, and co-founder of Memrise. Ed designs mind-training tools and experiences — from memory palaces to immersive audio projects — to unlock human imagination and cognition.
💬 What We Talked About
- Origins of Sonic Spheres and its link to Stockhausen’s vision
- Building immersive “big-room” audio environments on a budget
- Translating architectural concepts into sonic parameters
- The connection between memory techniques, imagination, and perception
- Practical memory-building tips and spaced repetition strategies
- Ed’s next venture: MindMax and the future of AI-powered learning
🎤 Full Interview with Ed Cooke
🎶 Origins of Sonic Spheres
Joseph: What inspired you to build Sonic Spheres as a shared, “big-room” audio experience—did it grow out of memory work or something else entirely?
Ed Cooke: Sonic Sphere is based on an old dream of the composer St9ockhausen
He'd envisioned an evolution of the concert hall where you just face the music to a new klind of caoncert hall where you are held in a sphere with sound from hundreds of speakers above, below, left, right front and back
Ed Cooke: Total immersion, I'd read about this as a teenager and thought it was the coolest thing ever but I kept on expecting someone to repeat it
Ed Cooke: And eventually I decided with some friends to start building them ourselves... the dream being to create a kind of engine of consciousness, a place that totally transports you to pther worlds
🌍 Trying It Yourself
Joseph: Where can we try it?
Ed Cooke: There’s one where I live in a kind of part time commune in France called Feytopia
Joseph: Seeing that you built the one in France for ~$400, it's inspiring as a project for the common man. Do you think it's something that anyone can do?
Ed Cooke: Yes totally it’s like a weekend project really if you can find some help and the small ones are super additions to parties etc - even if only big enough for a handful of people
🎧 At-Home Experiments
Joseph: For folks without a dome, what’s the simplest at-home experiment to recreate one tiny corner of the Sonic Sphere magic on headphones?
Ed Cooke: I think the easiest thing to do is get a quadrophonic set up - four speakers / four channels- and sit in the middle
Ed Cooke: The vr devices otherwise have head tracking that can (at least in principle) allow the experience of omnidirectional sound by altering inputs based on head position
🏛️ Translating Architecture to Sound
Joseph: How do you translate architectural concepts like size, shape, and materials into sonic parameters? Does one “room” feel bigger or more enveloping than another?
Ed Cooke: There’s one where I live in a kind of part time commune in France called Feytopia
🔥 Burning Man & Future Builds
Joseph: If you could double the sphere’s size or add a novel sensory layer (haptic, smell), what would you tackle next—and why?
Ed Cooke: Actually we’re generally inclined to revert to the size of the burning man sphere we did which was 13m wide vs NYC which was 20m
The sound is crisper for physics reasons and the atmosphere more intimate
Joseph: Oh cool — did this premiere at Burning Man?
Ed Cooke: This is the burning man one btw
Ed Cooke: That said we are envisioning an epic sphere in Miami which will be part nightclub part immersive art space
🏜️ Virtual Burning Man & Hangout Origins
Joseph: Heh, Ed you’re reminding me of the virtual Burning Man in 2020; some of our friends—maybe you too—had an entry for that virtual burn. When I saw it, I thought, “wow, this is such an effort and it’s not as much fun as Turntable.fm.” That’s part of why I decided to bring this back as Hangout—it’s super fun, and a virtual burn would work really well with a community of rooms.
Ed Cooke: Yeah we did Sparkleverse
Joseph: September 2020; I incorporated Hangout September 21, 2020
Ed Cooke: It absolutely convinced me that there online space can be so much more intimate than it normally is
🧠 Memory, Imagination & Perception
Joseph: How did you first get into memory techniques?
Ed Cooke: So I got into memory just playing around with the different imaginative techniques involved when I had nothing to do for a couple months due to being in hospital
Joseph: What’s the essence of memory work?
Ed Cooke: The essence of all memory techniques is imagination - recalling is basically imagining, as is perceiving and storing something that happens in the first place
Joseph: How do memory palaces actually work?
Ed Cooke: Anyhow memory palaces are these great imaginative endeavours where you translate unmemoravle ideas into images you imagine around spaces
Ed Cooke: “Few people have the imagination for reality”- Goethe
Joseph: Does memorizing abstract things like cards ever feel futile?
Ed Cooke: Memorising packs of cards is I got to say a dubious use of time haha
Ed Cooke: But its more the poems and quotations you learn that create a reverberant tapestry in your perception
🔄 Routine & Mastery
Joseph: What’s the next step for someone trying to build lasting memory habits?
Ed Cooke: I think the next step is simply one of routine and discipline to find a way to repeat and rehearse those memories (spaced repetition etc) in such fashion that you retain them in the long term
🔮 MindMax & What’s Next
Joseph: What’s your next startup? Tell us about the vision.
Ed Cooke: Oh yeah I’m working on an app called Mindmax which aims to help nurture human genius in the age of ai
Ed Cooke: MindMax: Unleash your genius y’all can try the beta here if of interest
Ed Cooke: It personalises at 7 different levels to your existing knowledge, diction, interests, context, pacing, questions, answers etc to create kind of interactive podcasts on whatever you wanna learn
Ed Cooke: Amazing well thanks for having me really appreciated the hang !
🎶 Our Playlist + Liner Notes
Tracks that shaped the journey through memory, creativity, and sound:
1. Simple Minds — “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
The classic ’80s anthem—anchoring memory and emotional recall.
2. Doechii — “Body Offer”
Bold and inventive—mirrors the experimental spirit of Sonic Sphere.
3. Maroon 5 — “Memories”
A reflective thread on the role of songs as emotional bookmarks.
4. Doechii — “Crazy”
Chaotic energy—matching the unpredictability of immersive experiences.
5. Nicki Minaj — “Starships”
Uplifting pop anthem to launch any communal celebration.
6. Doechii — “Pencil Pouch”
Quirky and sharp—an ode to playful reinvention.
7. ODESZA — “A Moment Apart”
A gateway into dreamscape spatial audio worlds.
8. Doechii & SZA — “Persuasive”
Intoxicating layers—evoking movement and emotion in all dimensions.
9. Lane 8 — “Little by Little”
Layered melodies—capturing how tiny memories build lasting structures.
10. Doechii — “Stressed (A COLORS SHOW)”
Minimalist power—reminding that even stripped-back performances can be transformative.
11. Bicep — “Atlas”
Driving beats—ideal fuel for immersive sound sphere adventures.
12. Doechii — “Girls”
Empowerment and narrative woven into sonic textures.
13. Bonobo — “Cirrus (Live)”
A masterpiece of movement and atmosphere—perfect for spatial explorations.
14. RÜFÜS DU SOL — “Innerbloom (Live from Joshua Tree)”
A breathtaking slow-burn—sonic immersion at its finest.
15. Doechii — “Persuasive” (Solo Version)
Returning to where we started—layered with even deeper intimacy.
🚀 What’s Next
We’ll be back soon with more AMA Hangs — blending music, memory, and the cutting edge of technology. Want to join the conversation? Reach out on X (Twitter) or on Hangout.fm.
Huge thanks to Ed for taking us on a journey into memory and sound. Until next time, keep imagining.