Podcast
Building Your First Audio Product w/ Matt Robertson (Bjork, Ellie Goulding) | Ep 32
Musical director Matt Robertson shares his journey creating StageBox, a simplified plugin host for live performance, and the lessons learned bringing an audio product from concept to market.
Matt Robertson, a musical director for artists like Bjork and Ellie Goulding, joins us to discuss his journey from concept to launch with StageBox, a streamlined plugin host designed for live keyboard performances. Unlike existing solutions that can overwhelm users with complexity, StageBox prioritizes intuitive design and simplicity, allowing keyboard players to quickly set up software instruments for live shows without extensive technical knowledge. Matt shares how his two decades of industry experience informed every design decision, from the one-page UI to the carefully limited feature set that covers 95% of use cases while maintaining ease of use.
The conversation explores the creative parallels between software development and music production, revealing how both disciplines require problem-solving within constraints and balancing artistic vision with practical limitations. Matt discusses the challenges of translating intuitive ideas into technical specifications, working with developers to refine features, and making difficult decisions about what to include in version one versus future releases. He also addresses the financial considerations of bringing an audio product to market, emphasizing the importance of viewing budget as a value proposition rather than just a cost, and how he balanced monetary investment with the abstract value of creating a tool he personally needed.
Throughout the development process with The Audio Programmer agency, Matt learned to embrace iteration and adapt his vision based on technical realities and beta tester feedback. The discussion touches on broader industry topics including the role of AI in creative work, the importance of human connection in both music and software development, and how creating StageBox may open new conversations in his career as a musical director. For aspiring audio product creators, Matt's experience demonstrates that combining deep domain expertise with a willingness to learn the development process can result in products that solve real-world problems in elegant ways.
Originally recorded on Sep 12, 2025
