Personal project · Chrome extension

8D Audio: every song in my playlist, in 8D

A Chrome extension that turns whatever's playing in on your web tab (Spotify, Youtube, etc.) into 8D audio.

Download the extension

Free · Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc · headphones on

01 · Inspiration

I love 8D audio, but I could never find it for the songs I actually wanted.

Falling asleep

Slow, circling sound helps me switch off and fall asleep.

DJ sets, but immersive

When a set moves around my head, it feels like I'm standing in the middle of the room.

The gap

8D versions only exist for songs someone else chose to remix. Most of my playlist has none.

So the goal was simple: every song in my playlist should just be 8D. No searching for remixes, no downloads. Press play on Spotify and it happens.

My thought process

I wanted to see the music move and feel in control of it. So the visuals borrow from soundwaves: two glowing rings, one per ear, that pulse on the beat. The controls borrow from a DJ board, with knobs you spin, motion locked to the tempo, and a drop. Kind of make-pretend DJing for my own playlist.

02 · Iterations

Choosing Interactions.

V1 · Plain popup

Captures the Spotify tab's audio and move it around your head.

V2 · Sound you can see

A ring for each ear that reacts to the beat, and tabs full of every DJ effect.

V3 · A DJ board

No repetitive effects & finalize visuals.

How the sound moves around you. Pendulum swings ear to ear, Figure 8 loops around each ear, and Wander drifts anywhere, even above and below you.

How much of the song moves. Turn it down to keep more of the original sitting still in the middle of your head.

How long one lap takes, counted in beats (8 to 28). The extension listens for the kick drum to find the tempo, so the motion always lands on the music.

The space around the song. Room is tight and bright. Cathedral arrives a moment later, swells in, and fades dark.

Four DJ knobs: a filter (turn left to darken, right to thin out) plus bass, mid and treble. Spin them like real knobs; double-click to reset.

Press to muffle the song and freeze the motion. Press Release and everything slams back in.

03 · Try it yourself

Put your own playlist in 8D.

1. Download the extension and unzip it.

2. Open chrome://extensions and turn on Developer mode (top right).

3. Click Load unpacked and choose the 8d-audio-extension folder.

4. Play a song on open.spotify.com, click the 8D Audio icon, and press Turn on.

Download the extension (.zip)

Based in

→

NYC.

SF.

Made in

China.

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