Former Avid program manager Wojciech Ozimek on how AI agents can give small audio companies capacity they could never hire for, why support is part of the product, AI silos inside teams, and how to build your first agent.
Show Notes
Wojciech Ozimek spent almost 2 years shipping Pro Tools on Avid's technical program management team, working with the Avid Inner Circle plugin ecosystem. Today he runs Audio Product Academy, a course platform and meetup community for the business side of audio, and Augmented Pipelines, which helps audio and entertainment brands adopt agentic AI.
Wojciech joins Josh to talk about using AI the right way. His argument: audio is a small market with tight margins, and AI agents can give indie plugin developers and small audio companies capacity they could never afford to hire, but only on top of skills they already have. Along the way: open-source firmware and hardware as a platform, what vibe-coded clones of Pro Tools and FL Studio leave out (support is part of the product), why Josh refuses free work, AI silos inside teams, and the fundamentals of building your first agent: a clear goal, a master prompt, memory files, and respecting the context window. Plus his closing advice: get up from the computer and go watch your customers work.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:22 Origin story: bands, product management, and Avid
03:58 How the Audio Product Academy podcast and meetups started
06:32 A community for the business side of audio
10:33 What he's hearing across the industry right now
12:18 Open-source firmware and hardware as a platform
15:01 Value still wins in a flooded market
18:08 Josh: things go free, then standards return
22:22 Business models: hardware platforms vs. software
25:09 Vibe-coded clones and the 3 layers of a product
27:59 Open source and who does the work
30:44 QA, customers, and who can live with bugs
34:05 Never update mid-project, and a Saturday-night bug
36:51 Support is a promise
38:54 Why Josh pays people properly
43:10 Value, pricing, and what customers don't see
46:39 Guarantees have to be sustainable
48:27 Agentic AI as a lifeline for small audio companies
52:23 Josh: how I feel is irrelevant
55:50 Dr. Mix, and setting out to prove AI was rubbish
58:14 The software legends of the future
1:01:43 New instruments from outside the box
1:03:19 Full Metal Ninja, Method Man, and why taste still matters
1:07:08 Rip-offs, record labels, and the honest VC
1:09:44 Friction is part of the creative process
1:13:16 Josh: building the first plugin as a team
1:14:56 AI silos and shared agent memory
1:17:10 Living SOPs and Josh OS
1:19:53 The course: building your first agent for product work
1:27:16 Format, price, and who it's for
1:31:55 Tools: VS Code, Claude Code, and a guardrail agent
1:33:52 Wrap-up, and a product management course coming in November
1:37:14 Get out of the chair and watch your customers
Links
• Audio Product Academy: https://audioproductacademy.com/
• Building Your First AI Agent (course): https://audioproductacademy.com/courses/building-your-first-ai-agent/
• Augmented Pipelines: https://augmentedpipelines.ai/
• The Audio Programmer community: https://theaudioprogrammer.com/community
Guests: Wojciech Ozimek (Audio Product Academy)
What is The Audio Programmer Podcast?
Real conversations with the engineers, entrepreneurs, and creators building the future of music technology. From VST development and DSP to AI in audio, game sound, and the business of plugins, we go deep on the craft, the code, and the careers that make it all happen. Whether you're writing your first JUCE project or running an audio software company, this is your inside track. Hosted by Joshua Hodge, Founder of The Audio Programmer.