This week Adobe MAX took place in Los Angeles, the magical land of entertainment and always summer, and I had the absolute honor to present one of this year’s Sneaks: #ProjectSoundStager, a full agentic workflow for AI-driven sound design for video! (Full video at the end of this post!)

The idea of doing a live demo in front of nearly ten thousand in-person attendees, plus thousands more tuning in online, was absolutely terrifying, exhilarating, and unforgettable!

Project Sound Stager began as an intern project by the brilliant Suhyeon Yoo, co-mentored by Anh Truong, Prem Seetharaman, Justin Salamon, and myself. Originally, Anh was set to present the Sneak, but after she decided to leave Adobe, the “burden” (but truly, the honor!) of presenting it was passed on to me.

Presenting a Sneak at Adobe MAX has been one of my aspirations since I joined Adobe four years ago. So, even though I had plans to be in Barcelona this week for DCASE, I made the decision to cancel everything and take on the challenge of presenting this incredible collaborative project at the legendary Peacock Theater: yes, the same stage where the Emmy’s have been held!

After two months since I knew I would be the one presenting this project, and after hours and hours of practice, and after the first few moments (when I realized my mouse was not working and fixed it just seconds before the spotlight turned on!), I felt really good up there, and I was able to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience :D

Being backstage was literally magical. There were dozens if not hundreds of people working tirelessly to ensure everything ran smoothly. Being back there, behind the giant stage screens, surrounded by so many professionals running the show, felt what I imagine being at NASA ground control might feel like. It really does take a village to pull off a production of this scale!

From the amazing host and multi-talented titan Paul Trani, to the brilliant technical event producer Serge Jespers (who also crushed it as the DJ that night!), every detail was handled with precision and care. Radomir Mech, our “school teacher,” kept all the Sneaks presenters on track, making sure we were in the right place at the right time. And then there was Jessica Williams: hands down the best Sneaks host in the recent years (if not ever!). Her talent and hilarious energy lit up the stage and made the night extremely amusing (and out lives as presenters so much easier!). I also had the privilege of sharing the stage with an incredible group of co-presenters. Each one brought something unique and inspiring to the table, and getting to know them was truly one of the highlights of the experience. What an amazing group of titans!

Last, but definitely not least, I want to give a big shout-out to the following incredible set of humans that made this specific Sneak presentation possible: Adolfo Hernandez for the endless sound design-related conversations, recommendations, inspiration, and incredible energy; Ailie Fraser for the amazing coding and communication skills and for polishing the app so robustly and always being so on top of it; Lee Brimelow for the base code, incredible debugging support, and emotional support during the event (he presented his own Sneak, which is absolutely mind blowing!); Justin Salamon for his overall support, his specific and thoughtful feedback, and for being the best manager I could ever dream of (and life-long friend <3!); my amazing teammates Prem Seetharaman and Hugo Flores García, whose talent, passion, and research skills constantly inspire, humble, and blow me away; and finally huge thanks to Gabi Duncombe for creating such a wonderful video and being one of the most creative humans I know: I’m a big fan of all your incredible work! Thank you all for being such incredible collaborators and humans. I’m deeply grateful for your help and support, titans!

And here it is, the video of my presentation!