But when Covid’s pandemic came to cut the sound, Karim changed discs. Between the birth of his children and the saturation of the kilometers swallowed solo for scattered concerts, he intends to call a new chorus. This is how Humarka Audio Production was born, with his partner John Patti, Sound Designer and composer. Humarka then was born, co -founded with John Patti, Sound Designer and composer. Their ambition: staying in the creation tempo, while offering emerging artists access to a human studio, accessible and tailor -made. “I wanted to fill this big gap between the poorly insulated room and the professional studios at 500 balls during the day.”
Pioneers in immersive sound
Very quickly, Karim sees further than simple stereo. Head on immersive sound, this acoustic grail which transforms listening into a sensory dive. “The immersive sound is like in the cinema: you no longer listen only to the left and to the right, you are wrapped in 360 °. The noise can come from behind your head, from above, from below … it’s as if you were experiencing the experience, not just that you heard it.” With his partner, he plugs into the growing needs of the video game industry. If the developers flourish in Wallonia – carried in particular by the Walga association – the studios specialized in immersive sound, they remain rare. “When I started 5 years ago, we were really the first in Wallonia. There were only two or three small nascent structures like us.”
No question here to change the sounds themselves, but to spatialize them: “We work with” Son “software integrated into 3D video game creation software. These are used in the VR, conventional games, mobile games, etc. It allows you to place sound in space, exactly as in real life. You are in a cafe, you hear cups, conversations behind you … It is this sound life that we are trying to recreate.”
With the rise of virtual reality and the vitality of the video game ecosystem in Wallonia – boosted in particular by the Haute École Albert Jacquard -, Humarka’s immersive expertise falls. “Five years ago, in Belgium, young talents all left abroad. Now, we create, we structure. And we want to keep our sound identity. At first, the studios bought banks of rights free, explains Karim Barouni. But it leveled everything. We lose the sound identity, and sometimes we find the same music from one project to another … Hello the already entertainment effect! “ With Humarka, each project is entitled to its own range, its acoustic signature. “We try to find acceptable budgetary solution so that these small studios can benefit from an original quality sound.”
A 100% audio video game
And the first notes have already found echo: Humarka orchestrated the sound creation of Gloomy Eyes, co -produced by Arte and developed by the studio Wallon Fishing Cactus. The studio also won a European prize for the game Les Smurfs en VR, produced by the Vigo studio in Wépion. A 100 % Namur project. “In video games, sound is often the poor parent, regrets Karim. When the budgets are tight, it’s often where you cut.”
But Karim is not eager only for past successes. Today, Humarka enters the studio for a new major challenge: the story of a king, a narrative game in co -production with France where everything is played out … in the ear. “It is a project where everything goes through sound. We embody a prince in an underground world immersed in darkness. The sound investigation guides us, without ever seeing what surrounds us. It is a purely auditory experience.” Rendered possible thanks to Wallimage and co -produced by Humarka, this epic project is expected for early 2026. “It took two years to establish funding before we could really start. In this job, we sometimes do a lot of work upstream to just have the right to work!”slides Karim.
With the conviction of a sound goldsmith, Karim militates for a revaluation of the soundtrack in audiovisual projects: “On Youtube, if your connection is bad, it is the image that is degraded, not the sound. If tone audio is ugly, that’s what people will hear first. Sound is your first impression. It deserves as much care as the image.”
From DJ to architect of sound universes, Karim Barouni has never lost the thread. While the world saturated with images, it continues to dig hearing landscapes. Worlds where voices resonate, where the silences are listened to … and where each decibel has his say.
Infos : humarkacom.odoo.com
