The Immersive Preservation Project | Indigenous Language, Song and Story

Why This Matters

A clear place to start. Something useful to keep.

Where We Start

Language lives in people.

It lives in relationships and practice. A recording supports living traditions; it does not replace them.

You do not need a finished project plan to begin a conversation. We start with what matters to you, then work out what to make and who needs to be involved.

We plan for life after the recording session, too: how people will find the recordings, learn from them and care for them.

How It Sounds

We record where the voice lives.

Immersive audio keeps a voice close while the room, the drum circle or the land is heard around it. The sound has a place, and the listener has a sense of being there.

We bring that care to the sound, while your community decides what to record, who may hear it and how it will be used.

The Album That Inspired the Project

It started with one album.

YB Nakota · 2026 JUNO Nominee

Nakota Tayhunyabi

YB Nakota · 2025

Nakota Tayhunyabi brings together drum-circle music, healing songs, and the voice of the artist’s grandmother. Jamie developed the immersive concept with YB Nakota and mixed the album in stereo and Dolby Atmos. YB Nakota was nominated for Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year at the 2026 JUNO Awards, with this album listed.

The album sparked a question: how could that sense of presence support language, learning and community memory? IPP grew from that question. Our first projects will help us test the approach, from recording through to use and care.

The origin of the IPP

The Program

Your priorities shape the project.

These are possibilities to explore together as we develop the program. Start with the part that matters to your community. You choose what to make and who takes part. We help plan the work and resources before recording begins.

Language

Shape recordings around what speakers, teachers and learners need. That might be words, conversations or stories chosen by your community.

Music

Record the songs and singers your community chooses. Keep the sound clear and full, with your community’s rules for listening, teaching and sharing.

Education

Turn approved recordings into resources people can use. A book for a Grade 4 class, for example, with words and recordings chosen by speakers and teachers.

Experience

Explore a listening space or display for a cultural centre. Let visitors hear voices and their surroundings, using only recordings approved for that audience.

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Your Starting Point

What would you like to keep or make? Tell us where you would like to begin.

Start a Conversation

The Process We Are Developing

A few clear questions. A plan built together.

We are developing simple starting questions to help shape each project. They open the conversation. The people involved set the pace, and cultural decisions belong to each community.

Every project budget includes pay for the Elders, language keepers and fluent speakers taking part.

Step 01

What Matters Most

What would you like to keep? What would make it useful? Who should hold it, and who may hear it? Who needs to take part, and when?

Step 02

The Plan

You decide what to make, who takes part and how it may be used. We set out the work and costs for your approval. Plan where the files will live, their backups and who will care for them. Ceremonial material is considered only with specific approval from the appropriate community authorities and participants.

Step 03

The Recording

Bring professional recording tools to the place you choose. Keep a clear record of each session, check the sound and review the material with your community.

Step 04

The Handoff

Deliver the recordings and resources you chose, with descriptions and rules for use. Help set up the storage and backups in your plan. Check that your community or chosen archive has the files and can use them. Confirm who takes over their care and when our working copies will be deleted.

Our long-term goal is to train Indigenous-led teams to record, describe and care for their own collections.

What You Leave With

Recordings and resources with a purpose.

You decide what your project will include before work begins. Depending on your goals, that could be:

Teaching materials shaped with speakers and teachers.
Listening copies for the people you choose.
Sound for a cultural centre display.
An organized collection of recordings, with descriptions and a plan for storage, backups and care.

We bring studio-quality sound to the recordings. For immersive projects, we deliver a master that can be used to make new listening versions as playback tools change.

Your community owns its recordings. Your choices about permissions and use are set out in writing, including the terms for any teaching materials.

Your community or chosen archive keeps the original and final recording files. We help plan their care and check the handoff. IPP does not provide independent long-term storage.

Recording Files and Listening Copies

We choose the files and listening versions to suit your project and equipment.

Original Files and Stereo Copies

Uncompressed original recordings, alongside listening copies for your equipment. Stereo copies use two sound channels.

5.1 Surround Sound

A listening copy for a room with a suitable surround speaker system.

Headphone Listening

A binaural version uses two headphone channels to give a sense of sound around you.

Dolby Atmos Master File

An ADM master stores the finished sound mix and where its sounds are placed. It supports compatible playback and making other listening versions. It still needs storage, checks and care.

Common Questions

Your recordings, your way.

What can we do with our recordings?

Your community sets the uses and audiences. Recordings might support language lessons, private family listening, community archives, or public installations. Each use must respect the permissions of participants and the community’s cultural protocols. Some material may remain restricted.

Who owns the recordings?

Community ownership will be set out in writing before recording. After handoff, the community or an archive it appoints is responsible for keeping the master files. IPP does not provide independent long-term storage. Before recording, we document participant permissions and your choices about access to working copies. We set out a deletion schedule for your approval, following confirmed receipt of the masters. IPP will not sell or independently publish the material.

Will our recordings be used to train AI?

No. Your recordings will never be used to train AI. Some audio tools use AI to help process sound. That is different from using your recordings as training material. Our no-training commitment will be included in the recording agreement.

Can we start with recordings we already have?

We can discuss your tapes, videos or audio files and what you want to do with them. Some may be suitable for transfer or careful restoration. We keep the original transfer separately. A new version with sound around the listener would be a creative interpretation. It cannot recover the positions of sounds that the original recording did not capture.

Who decides what gets recorded?

Your community and the people taking part. You decide what may be recorded, what stays private and what may be shared before recording starts. Community protocols and participant consent guide every session. Ceremonial material requires specific approval from the appropriate community authorities.

Who We Are

Community relationships. Immersive audio experience.

IPP brings together Creators Path’s work in Indigenous creative education and NOVA Studios’ recording experience. Together, we are developing a program shaped by each community’s goals.

Program Director

Jeremiah “Drezus” Manitopyes

Creators Path is an Indigenous-owned and led organization delivering creative education, mentorship, and youth programming in communities. Its existing work and relationships are a core part of how IPP is taking shape.

Founder Jeremiah “Drezus” Manitopyes is Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) and Anishinaabe (Saulteaux), from the Muskowekwan and Cote First Nations in Saskatchewan. As Program Director, he brings experience working with communities and helps guide the relationships and priorities behind the program.

Indigenous Owned & Led

Immersive Audio Partner

NOVA Studios · Jamie Kuse

Jamie Kuse is a producer and audio engineer. He produced Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ Red Future, winner of the 2025 JUNO Award for Rap Album/EP of the Year.

He was the immersive audio producer and mix engineer on YB Nakota’s Nakota Tayhunyabi, mixing it in stereo and Dolby Atmos. The album inspired IPP and was listed in YB Nakota’s 2026 JUNO nomination.

Jamie is co-founder of NOVA Studios in North Vancouver, home to a Dolby Atmos mixing room.

NOVA Studios is located on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

Professional Dolby Atmos Recording & Mixing

Get In Touch

Tell us what matters to you.

Have a language, song, story or collection in mind? Tell us what you would like to keep or make. You do not need a finished plan to start a conversation.

We also welcome Indigenous scholars, academics, language keepers and educators who would like to help shape the program and its training.

Email

jamie@ipproject.ca

Follow

@ipproject.ca

Mailing Address

NOVA Studios · Immersive Preservation Project
340 Brooksbank Ave, Unit 220
North Vancouver, BC

Start with what matters to your community.