Damien Quintard started recording, mixing and mastering the rising classical star
Teodor Currentzis and his orchestra musicAeterna in 2012. Throughout the years, Currentzis became a friend and a mentor who helped improve Quintard's technique and detailed work. Their collaboration resulted in a series of recognized awards, particularly for Tchaikovsky's
6th Symphony and Mozart's
Don Giovanni that won respectively the Gold and Silver Record Academy Award in Japan – that being the first time in 55 iterations that the same artist wins the top two prizes consecutively. These recordings successfully won several awards, counting the
Diapason d'Or (2017) and the
Gramophone Classical Music Award (2018) for Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 as well as the
BBC Magazine Music Award (2017) for Mozart's Don Giovanni – amongst many others. In 2015, he worked with
Dimitris Papaioannou and Vangelino Currentzis on the production of the
Baku European Games Opening Ceremony in Azerbaijan. The ceremony was nominated by the
National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences for an
Emmy Award, granting the Sound Engineering and Production Department a golden statuette for
Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing. This particular production focused on the unusual blending of different genres going from
Lady Gaga’s live performance and interpretation of
Imagine by
John Lennon to
Jean Sibelius and traditional
Azeri music. Quintard and Peter Qvortrup, CEO of Audio Note Ltd, started their collaboration in 2016. Both pushing, with their respective companies, to create a revolutionary line of audio equipment. To this day, Quintard’s Paris studio The Mono Company is equipped with four Audio Note systems including Tomei AN-E Alnico Sogon and Meishu AN-E SPeHE. In 2018, he co-produced with Les Films Jack Fébus as Lead Sound Engineer the broadcast of the
Sónar Festival in Barcelona, Spain where acts such as
LCD Sound System,
Laurent Garnier,
Thom Yorke,
Richie Hawtin and
Gorillaz were recorded live. In 2019, DAU, a project quoted to be “the most insane shoot of all time” by the Telegraph and “the most expansive, complicated, all-consuming film project ever attempted” by GQ opened its world premiere in Paris. Film director
Ilya Khrzhanovsky and musical producer Vangelino Currentzis along with Damien Quintard joined their minds to create an experience blending live performances and complex sound processing during 30 days and nights. For the Grand World Opening of the project happening between the
Théâtre du Châtelet, the
Théâtre de la Ville and the
Pompidou Center, Quintard was assigned as Head of Production and Performances as well as Head of the Sound and Concerts Department where he worked with and produced artists such as
Teodor Currentzis,
Brian Eno, Marko Nikodijevic and
Arca. That same year, he collaborated with the French Artist
Philippe Parreno,
Arca and Oscar winning sound designer Nicolas Becker to create a piece for
MoMA’s 2019 reopening: Echo, an installation using motorized sculptures, light, video animation and hyperspatial speakers which responds to the room’s sound.
Parreno refers to Echo as a “sensible and sentient autopoetic automaton that perceives and reflects.” In 2019, Quintard also founded SoundX (Sound Exploration Technologies), an innovative company that provides tools and solutions for more inclusivity. The first project, numéro un - designed in close collaboration with the
National Institute for deaf children of Paris - is the first ever AI built for and calibrated by the deaf community. The AI translates in real time sounds into vibration and sends the adjusted signal to the first patented vibration pack entirely made for the deaf community. This is part of a global ecosystem where SoundX links the effort of multiple institutes across the world to create a common language that crosses all borders. In 2020, Damien Quintard contributed to the development of the
Dolby Atmos Music format, making The Mono Company, the first Dolby Atmos Music Certified studio in France. Early productions had an immediate success with amazon exclusive release from Warner music:
3D Classical hits breaking all streaming records for an immersive release. Quintard produced the immersive mix of the first French music release in this sound format:
Takotsubo, from the band
l’Impératrice. Singer Flore Benguigui, says of the
Dolby Atmos mix: “I was blown away by the experience…there’s a warmth and a feeling of closeness, it’s much more human and touching. I would describe it as a fusion of sound and space.” Considered as one of the reference mixers for the format, Quintard is working closely with Warner, Universal, Sony, Amazon, Because as well as with artists from the
French Touch movement such as
Justice and
The Supermen Lovers. Quintard also received in 2020 the distinction of being nominated and entering the Forbes 30 under 30 list. This list represents Forbes top pick of the 30 brightest young entrepreneurs, leaders in France. In 2021, Quintard became the sound Director for
GES-2, a cultural center in Moscow, Russia. Part of the VAC foundation, Quintard designed the entire audio system and concert capacities of
GES-2 in collaboration with
Renzo Piano to make it a vector of local and international culture. In more recent history, Quintard teamed up with
Brad Pitt in a joint venture to bring back to life the iconic Studio Miraval. Created by
Jacques Loussier & Patrice Quef, French jazz pianist, in the late 1970s to the early 1990s, the Studio was one of the most prestigious studios in Europe. Recording part of “
The Wall” of
Pink Floyd and other artists like
AC/DC,
The Cure,
Muse,
Wham!,
Sade,
Steve Winwood,
the Gipsy Kings,
Sting, and
The Cranberries. Pitt and Quintard rebranded the new studio “
Miraval Studios” and has capacities for recording a wide variety of music and includes cinema and post-production facilities. == Quotes ==