Best Sound Design Studios in New York (2026)

Introduction

New York has one of the largest concentrations of audio post and music companies working in advertising, and the 14 studios below cover the main kinds: mix houses, sound design specialists, music companies and sonic branding studios. They were chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the strength of their client lists.

Many of the studios below sit in the Flatiron District and Hudson Square, with others in Midtown, Chelsea and Brooklyn. The first half of 2026 was busy. Wave Studios NY mixed six Super Bowl LX spots, including two directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and Heard City worked on Michelob ULTRA's World Cup campaign with Lionel Messi. Several music companies on this list, among them Mophonics, Duotone and BUTTER, also shipped big-game or major sports work.

Every studio here has an active New York office in 2026. The list runs in no fixed order of merit, because the right studio depends on whether you need a final mix, original music, a sonic identity or all three.

The best sound design studios in New York

1. Sound Lounge

Independent, artist-owned · Flatiron District · soundlounge.com

Sound Lounge is an artist-owned audio post studio that has worked from Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District for 28 years. It is run by a group of partner mixers and sound designers, including Steve "Major" Giammaria, Marshall Grupp, Justin Kooy, Peter Holcomb and Tom Jucarone, with a staff of around 27. The studio lists four Emmys among its credits, along with Cannes Lions and Clio recognition.

It covers commercials, television, features and games, with recording, mixing, ADR, sound design and voice casting under one roof. Advertising clients include Cash App, Dell, Tiffany & Co., Unilever, Volkswagen, Wells Fargo and Xfinity, and its television work includes "The Bear".

2. Heard City

Independent · Flatiron District · heardcity.com

Heard City is an independent audio post company on West 22nd Street, with a second base in the Hudson Valley. It runs nine 5.1 mix rooms and a mix stage set up for 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos, and offers sound design, mixing, voice casting and recording. It is a member of the AICP.

The studio's 2026 work has been steady and high profile: Michelob ULTRA's campaign marking Lionel Messi's World Cup legacy, New York Lottery with McCann, TextNow's first major brand campaign with Katt Williams, the Hanes relaunch with Special and director Nick Ball, and Publix's "Our Pleasure".

3. Wave Studios NY

New York studio of Wave, founded in London in 1999 · Hudson Square · wavestudios.com

Wave Studios opened its New York studio in 2018. The company was founded in London by sound designer Johnnie Burn, who has won both a BAFTA and an Academy Award for his film work, and the New York team is led by partner and executive creative director Aaron Reynolds with executive producer Vicky Ferraro.

In February 2026 the studio handled sound design and mixing for six Super Bowl LX spots: Squarespace and Grubhub (both directed by Yorgos Lanthimos), Cadillac, Kinder Bueno, Coinbase and InvestAmerica. Other clients include Apple, Amazon, Delta, Ford, Verizon and Airbnb.

4. Sonic Union

New York · sonicunion.com

Sonic Union is a New York music and sound design company that combines audio post with original composition. Its services include sound design, final mixing, Dolby Atmos mixing and voice casting on the post side, and original music and sonic identity work on the creative side. It also runs its own Psyonic music catalogue.

Past work listed on its site includes Spotify with Droga5, Heineken, Pizza Hut and General Electric. The studio publishes reels for each of its engineers, which makes it easier to choose a mixer for a specific job.

5. Gigantic Studios

New York · Chelsea · giganticstudios.com

Gigantic Studios is a post-production facility on West 25th Street offering sound editorial, mixing, Foley and ADR, alongside picture editorial and finishing. It works across film, television and advertising, and has a screening room on site.

Its feature and documentary credits include "Nope", "Poor Things", "Hustle", "The Big Sick", "Waves" and "Fyre". It suits brands and agencies making longer-form or cinematic content that needs a full film-style sound team.

6. Antfood

Independent · Williamsburg, Brooklyn · antfood.com

Antfood describes itself as a global sonic studio and works mainly on music, sonic branding and audio design. It is led by partners Wilson Brown, Lou Schmidt and Pedro Botsaris, with its New York studio in Brooklyn and further offices in São Paulo, Amsterdam and Los Angeles. The studio says its audio is heard more than 2.5 billion times a day.

The best-known example is its work evolving Netflix's "Tudum" sonic brand. Other clients include CBS, Google, Samsung, Verizon, Instacart, Vans, The New Yorker and the Empire State Building. Its Labs section publishes its thinking on sonic branding method, which is useful reading before a first meeting.

7. Squeak E. Clean Studios

Multi-city studio network · New York · squeakeclean.com

Squeak E. Clean Studios is a creative audio network with studios in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin and Melbourne. It offers custom music, sonic branding, music supervision and audio post, and runs a separate experiential arm, Squeak E. X.

Its portfolio includes Super Bowl work and campaigns for Apple, Gucci, Instacart, UGG, Tecovas and Xfinity. Because the studios share work across cities, ask which location will run the session if you want to attend in person.

8. BUTTER Music and Sound

New York · gimmebutter.com

BUTTER is a music and sound company working mainly in advertising, with composition, music production and sonic branding. In September 2026 it signed with Marni Reps to grow its Midwest business, and executive producer Renée Massé leads much of its brand work.

Recent projects include FanDuel's spot with The All-American Rejects covering a Johnny Cash song, "Sound of Clash" for Clash of Clans, and work for Hill's Pet Nutrition and Kalshi.

9. Mophonics

Founded in Los Angeles in 2003 · Gramercy · mophonics.com

Mophonics is a music company that opened its New York studio, a Gramercy penthouse with recording rooms and a voice-over booth, in 2007. Its headquarters is in Los Angeles. The company writes scores and songs for brands, and also handles music supervision, covers and remixes.

Its 2026 work includes the "He Gets Us" Super Bowl LX spot, an Audi film narrated by Morgan Freeman, AT&T's March Madness campaign and AMD's CES film. Longer-standing clients include Apple, Lexus, Samsung and McDonald's.

10. JSM Music

New York · Midtown · jsmmusic.com

JSM Music has made commercial music and sound design for more than 30 years from a penthouse studio on West 44th Street. It was ranked the top music and sound company at the 2024 Immortal Awards, and says it received 110 Cannes Lions that year, including four Grand Prix.

Recent clients include Progressive, Heineken, Lenovo, Verizon and Dollar Shave Club, and the studio had work in Super Bowl LX. Its scale suits large campaigns that need music, sound design and versioning across many cuts.

11. Yessian

Founded in Detroit in 1971 · New York · yessian.com

Yessian is a music and sound company run by brothers Michael and Brian Yessian. The business began in Detroit in 1971, and its New York studio on Fifth Avenue has been in production since 1999, with four rooms. It works on commercials and on experiential sound.

Recent work includes Brigit with Where Eagles Dare, Butterball's "Care hard. Cook easy." with Carmichael Lynch, and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices with ArtClass. Its experiential projects include sound for the Backstreet Boys residency at Sphere.

12. Human

New York headquarters · Flatiron District · humanworldwide.com

Human is a music company founded by composers, with its headquarters on West 20th Street and further offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and Paris. It offers composition, music supervision, sonic branding and licensing through its Librarian platform, and recently added audio post through a sister company, Post Human.

Recent projects include campaigns for Reddit, Hanes and Finch. The addition of Post Human means a brand can now take music and the final mix to one group, which simplifies scheduling on fast jobs.

13. Duotone Audio Group

New York · Hudson Square · duotoneaudio.com

Duotone is a music and sound company on Varick Street, with further studios in Los Angeles and Mexico City. It covers original music, music supervision, artist collaborations, sound design, audio post and mixing.

Its music supervision on Forward Midwifery's "Reproductive Refrain" won a Clio Gold. Recent clients include Pringles, Spectrum, Bushmills, Fanatics and Nissan, and the studio worked on Super Bowl LX advertising.

14. Barking Owl

Offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago · barkingowl.com

Barking Owl offers music, sound design, mixing and sonic branding from offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It is led by CEO Kirkland Alexander Lynch, and its composer roster includes Atticus Ross, Kris Bowers, Dan Deacon and Dan Romer, with Morgan Rhodes on music supervision. It is a member of the AICP and the Association of Music Producers.

Recent work includes campaigns for the WNBA, DoorDash, Heinz and Apple, and in August 2026 it hired Adrian Womack as executive creative producer. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, so check which team will lead a New York project.

What to look for in a New York sound design studio

Decide first what kind of studio the job needs. Mix houses such as Sound Lounge and Heard City are built around rooms, engineers and fast turnaround on finals. Music companies such as JSM, Mophonics and BUTTER start from composition and bring sound design in around it. Some, like Antfood, focus on sonic identity systems that run across many touchpoints.

Choose the engineer as much as the studio. Most New York facilities book work around named mixers and sound designers, and their reels tell you more than the company reel. If a particular mixer's work fits the brief, ask for that person and confirm their availability for the final session.

Check the technical side early. Ask whether the studio can deliver Dolby Atmos, broadcast loudness specs and the full set of versions and cutdowns the media plan needs. Confirm how music rights and voice talent are handled, since these often decide the final cost more than studio time.

Finally, ask how files and approvals move. A single spot can produce dozens of stems, session files, alternate mixes and versioned deliverables, and confusion over which file is final is common. Studios with a clear naming scheme, one place where agencies and clients find the latest mix, and a simple way to collect feedback are easier to work with across a long campaign.

How Fabric helps sound design teams

Fabric gives a studio or agency audio team one workspace for its sessions, stems, references and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. Audio work leaves a lot of files behind, and the problem is set out in why audio sessions end up scattered. Fabric's cloud drive keeps session folders, stems and alternate mixes in shared team folders with the latest versions, and streams files on demand so they take no local disk space. A built-in viewer opens and plays files without a full download.

Recordings become searchable once they are in the workspace. Audio and video transcription handles WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4, MOV and WebM files, as well as YouTube links, with clickable timestamps. Together with search, which works by meaning across documents, transcripts and connected apps such as Google Drive, Dropbox and Gmail, that means a team can find a voice-over take or a client's spoken note from a session and jump to the exact moment.

For delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page and protected with a password. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a delivery and how long they spent with it. Agency producers and clients can leave threaded comments through a shared link without creating an account. Timestamped comments on audio and video are listed as coming soon on the annotations page.

There is a wider comparison of storage options in the best cloud storage for music production, and a page on Fabric for music creators.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best sound design studio in New York?

It depends on the job. For a final mix on a broadcast spot, Sound Lounge, Heard City and Wave Studios NY have the deepest benches of mixers and the strongest 2026 credits, including Wave's six Super Bowl LX spots. For original music and sonic branding, JSM Music, Antfood and Mophonics are the most established names.

What is the difference between audio post and a music company?

An audio post studio records voice-over, designs sound effects and mixes the final track to broadcast and platform specs. A music company writes, produces or licenses the music. Many New York firms now do both, and Human added audio post through its sister company Post Human.

Do New York sound studios mix in Dolby Atmos?

Several do. Heard City has a mix stage configured for 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos, and Sonic Union lists Atmos mixing among its services. Confirm the deliverable format at the quote stage, since Atmos adds time to a session.

How do sound studios work with editors and post houses?

The editor or post house usually sends a locked cut with an audio export, and the sound studio returns the final mix and stems for conform and delivery. Many agencies book sound and picture separately. Our list of New York post-production companies covers the picture side.

How should stems and session files be delivered?

Agree a naming scheme and folder structure at the start, covering stems, alternate mixes, cutdowns and session files. Deliver through one shared location that holds the latest approved versions, rather than a chain of download links, and keep session files so later edits do not need a full rebuild.

Related lists

Sound design studios in other cities: Los Angeles · London · Chicago · Toronto · Sydney

More in New York: Creative agencies · Post-production · Video production · Editing · Colour grading · Animation

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for music creators · Fabric for creative teams · Best cloud storage for music production