Museums, galleries, pavilions, heritage sites and whole cities: we write, translate, voice, score and mix audio guides that turn a visit into a story worth following, in every language your visitors speak.
Original Music Compositions, Sound Design, Brand Voices and Audio Post-Production.
Audio guides that bring places to life.
”Working along Chris and the WithFeeling team during the Expo 2020 on a sonic strategy was one of the most eye opening and fun experiences for me. I came to realize the importance of sonic and music in creating a sense of space, comfort, and wonder.
Marjan FaraidooniChief HR & Visitor Experience Officer ‑ Expo Pavilions & Exhibitions
20
Years of award-winning sound
1000
+
Voices across 100 nationalities
25
+
International award wins
An audio guide is the one voice a visitor carries through the whole building. We write it, cast it, record it, score it and mix it, in every language the room needs.
Every guide starts with the story and the space, not the equipment. We work with your curators, historians and exhibition designers to shape a script that sounds like a person talking rather than a label read aloud. Then we cast the voice from our roster of more than 1,000 professional narrators across 100 nationalities, so the English, Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin or French edition each feels native rather than translated.
Then comes the part most guides skip: music and sound. Original themes and transitions, atmospheres recorded in the space itself, the sound of a room the visitor cannot step into, all mixed for headphones, handsets, apps and in-gallery speakers alike.
Delivered as broadcast-ready files in whatever structure your platform needs: numbered stops, QR-triggered episodes, a walking route, a children’s edition, a descriptive edition for visitors with low vision.
From the first walk-through to the final file, one team carries the guide: writers, translators, voices, composers, sound designers and mix engineers under one roof in Dubai.
1. Walk the space. We start on site or on the plans with your curators and exhibition designers: the route, the stops, the dwell times, the rooms that need quiet and the rooms that need lift. That walk decides the shape of every episode before a word is written.
2. Write for the ear. Scripts are drafted with your subject experts and read aloud before they are approved, because a sentence that works on a wall label often dies in a headphone. We write to a length the visitor will actually finish, usually 60 to 150 seconds a stop, and build family, school and descriptive editions as their own scripts rather than cut-downs.
3. Translate and cast. Translations are adapted, not transliterated, then voiced by native speakers chosen from our roster of more than 1,000 narrators across 100 nationalities, so each language edition sounds like it was written in that language.
4. Record. In our Dubai studios or on location, directed by the WithFeeling team: the same director across every language so the pace, warmth and emphasis match from English to Arabic to Mandarin.
5. Score and design. Original music, transitions and sound design, field recordings and soundscapes recorded in the space itself, so a gallery of silent objects gains the sound of the world they came from. Where the exhibition calls for it we mix in spatial or binaural audio for headphones.
6. Mix, check, deliver. Every episode is mixed for the listening device, loudness-matched across the whole guide, checked on the handsets and in the rooms, and delivered named and numbered to your stop list with transcripts, in the formats your app, handset supplier or AV integrator needs. When the exhibition changes, we update the affected stops rather than starting again.
Expo 2020 Dubai: the official audio guides
Twenty episodes, two languages, one World Expo. For Expo 2020 Dubai we wrote, translated, voiced and produced the official audio guide series, from ‘Arabic Culture and Design’ to ‘The Journey of Al Rihla’. Expo historian Charles Pappas wrote and narrated the English editions; the Arabic editions were voiced by Emirati colleagues from inside Expo, cast deliberately so the story of the place was told in its own accent. Sessions ran in Expo’s own studio and on site, led by the WithFeeling team with Dr Federica, then SVP of Visitor Experience, and Chris Atkins, then Senior Multimedia Manager. Every episode was scored and sound-designed, so visitors heard the pavilions as well as the facts.
Listen to one of the twenty, in English and in Arabic:
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The Sound of
Expo 2020 Dubai
Sound strategy from the inside: the theme song This Is Our Time, the sonic identity built from its four-note hook, brand voices, broadcast and the twenty bilingual audio guide episodes, for the largest World Expo ever staged.
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The Sound of
Ithra
Original music for the record-breaking grand opening of Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, for Saudi Aramco with Filmmaster: a score that moved from raw energy to knowledge across 360-degree projection and a live national broadcast.
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The Sound of
City Living Museum
How do you score a city? WithFeeling recorded Madinah live and composed a 30-minute soundscape for the City Living Museum, the Seoul Smart City Prize-winning project turning the whole city into a heritage experience for millions of visitors a year.
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The Sound of
GCC Pavilion, Doha
An immersive soundscape that flows the way the pavilion does, from desert into oasis, six streams gathering into one: music and sound design that carry visitors through the GCC Pavilion at Expo 2023 Doha, with Simmetrico Network.
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The Sound of
Foodsphere
The full sonic identity for Riyadh Oases FoodSphere, 11,000 square metres of themed dining and culture: over four hours of original music, soundscapes, voiceovers and effects, from Oud and Ney in The Apiary to Jazan field recordings in The Oasis, with bouqu for Riyadh Holding.
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The Sound of
Visit Terra
Original music and sound design for Visit Terra, the permanent home of Expo 2020’s Sustainability Pavilion: an ambient, emotional score for a destination film about the natural world, with Alsayegh for ECD.
AUDIO GUIDE FAQS
What is an audio guide?
A recorded commentary a visitor listens to while moving through a museum, gallery, pavilion, heritage site or city: numbered stops, a guided route or free-roaming episodes, on a handset, a phone app, a web player or in-gallery speakers. The best ones sound like a knowledgeable friend walking beside you rather than a label read aloud.
What does the WithFeeling audio guide service include?
Scriptwriting with your curators and subject experts, translation and cultural adaptation, voice casting from more than 1,000 professional narrators across 100 nationalities, studio and on-location recording, original music and sound design, the mix for headphones and speakers, and delivery in the file structure your platform or device vendor needs.
Which languages can you produce?
Any your visitors speak. English and Arabic are the core of most Gulf projects, with Hindi, Urdu, Mandarin, French, German, Spanish, Russian and more cast from native speakers. Arabic is recorded by native Gulf, Levantine or Egyptian voices as the site requires, and we cast Emirati or Saudi talent when the story belongs to the place.
Do you write the script or do we?
Either. Some clients arrive with approved curatorial text that we adapt for the ear; others give us the exhibition plan and access to the experts and we write from scratch. In both cases every script is reviewed and signed off with your team before a word is recorded.
How long does an audio guide take to produce?
Anywhere from two to ten weeks from approved brief to final files, depending on the scale: a short single-language guide can turn around in a couple of weeks, while a 30-stop multilingual guide sits at the longer end. Most of the time goes on scripting and approvals; recording, scoring and mixing are the fast part.
What formats do you deliver?
Broadcast-quality WAV masters plus MP3 or AAC versions at the specification of your app, handset or web player, named and numbered to your stop list, with transcripts for accessibility and any cut-downs, loops or trigger versions your platform needs. We work with whichever guide system, app developer or AV integrator you have chosen.
Can you make editions for children or for visitors with low vision?
Yes. Family and children’s editions with a different voice, pace and script, and descriptive audio that narrates what sighted visitors see, are written and cast as their own tracks rather than cut down from the adult guide.
Do you also do the music and sound, or just the voice?
Both, and that is the point. Original music, transitions and atmospheres recorded in the space turn a narration into an experience. The Expo 2020 episodes, the 30-minute Madinah soundscape and the GCC Pavilion at Expo Doha were all built this way: hear them above.
Which guide systems, apps and devices do you work with?
All of them, because we deliver the audio rather than the hardware. Whether your venue uses a handset supplier, a visitor app, a web player, QR codes at each stop, beacons or in-gallery speakers, we produce to that platform’s specification and work directly with your app developer, device vendor or AV integrator on naming, formats and triggers.
Where has WithFeeling produced audio guides and visitor sound?
The official Expo 2020 Dubai audio guides, twenty episodes in English and Arabic, are the largest single series. Beyond guides, our clients have trusted us with the sound of whole visitor experiences: the City Living Museum in Madinah, the GCC Pavilion at Expo 2023 Doha, the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Visit Terra at Expo City Dubai and the grand opening of Ithra in Dhahran. Hear them above.
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