Innovating the Future of Sound & Immersive Media
What I Do
I work with early-stage startups as a fractional audio lead, ghost designer, or product sound strategist. I help define how your product feels and connects to people through sound.
I help teams:
- Craft product emotion through sound
- Build intuitive and expressive audio experiences from the ground up
- Avoid expensive design mistakes by thinking about audio early
- Design 3D soundscapes for VR, AR, and interactive media.
- Make cutting edge tech feel human through design
I help teams designing spatial or AI products create the right sound, feel, and UX—especially when building new audio hardware or platforms.
Who I Am
I'm Tom Smurdon, a sound design leader with 20+ years of experience. At Meta, I helped invent what immersive sound could do. I built and directed sound for the Oculus Dream Deck, First Contact, First Steps, and Bogo. I was Meta's Director of Creative Audio, leading teams across AR/VR, avatars, and more. Before that, I shipped over 45 games including Halo 2 and Guild Wars. I started in Seattle working at Bad Animals studio where I worked with bands like Soundgarden, Deftones, and the Foo Fighters.
