Sometimes it’s the first call of a rainforest waking up at dawn. The echo inside an ancient temple before the crowds arrive. Or the strange, almost otherworldly soundtrack beneath the surface of the Great Barrier Reef.
Those are exactly the moments Australian founders Shaun Clifford and Alice Moffett spent years chasing across eight countries. Not with a camera, but with microphones.
Their app, Luvia, isn’t filled with AI-generated birdsong or stock-standard rain sounds.
Every soundscape is built from recordings captured on location, from Kyoto’s centuries-old temples and Guatemala’s Tikal ruins to Australia’s Northern Rivers and Lady Elliot Island.
Better yet, they’re woven together in real time, meaning no two listening sessions are ever the same.
The pair describe it as “audio provenance”- knowing exactly where every sound came from, who recorded it and the story behind it. In a world increasingly filled with synthetic everything, Luvia takes the scenic route instead.
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“We travel. We record. We document,” says co-founder Shaun Clifford. “When AI rules technology, what will be left? Storytelling, connection, and novel creativity.”
That philosophy extends beyond your headphones, too. Part of Luvia’s revenue supports conservation initiatives, and the cultural custodians connected to the places featured, helping protect the landscapes and traditions that make each recording possible.
You probably can’t disappear into a Kyoto temple or a rainforest before your next meeting. But you can spend a few minutes listening to one. And we reckon that’s not a bad second option.
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