Isaiah Chavous isn’t anti-AI, but he is on a mission to protect what makes art human.
Chavous’s stance is reflected in his footprint as a founder, which marries his passion for music. His mother, a single parent, introduced him to soulful music as a child, but he would take it to new heights by becoming a musician, something uncommon in his family.
At age 13, he was making and recording his own music. He described himself as becoming a “bit of a geek” in the band from sixth grade through high school, when he solidified his passion for music, leading him to create a brand called Wifi Kids.
“I used it as a vessel to be creative, not only to make music and put out music, but to host events and make merchandise and get into fashion,” Chavous told AFROTECH™.
He continued, “It also correlated to my first introduction to technical products — building websites, designing things, becoming efficient in Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. And I remember having a cracked version of all of the software to make music and edit videos on this old PC.”
While performing locally at a small indie venue in Colorado Springs, CO, Chavous had an epiphany that he wanted to democratize access to creativity and the technologies that support it. His goal was always to become a founder. He was infatuated with successful tech moguls like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
“The plan there was [to] really be a person who has global knowledge to make global decisions — be informed about what it is you want to build,” he explained.
In college, he decided to pursue a degree in political science and government and minor in business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He became student body president in 2020, managing a $26 million budget and a staff of 30 people, he told AFROTECH™.
“It’s the most autonomous student union in the country … and [I] got exposure to the world of real politics, real business, and having real stakes with people who rely on you and that you need to rely on to make things that are seemingly impossible happen,” Chavous said.
“That was the training ground. I’m forever grateful for that. And after I got the taste of that exposure, I realized that my dreams of having duality — of being focused on the idea of technology and creativity as a combination — was possible. That you can do it with precision if you have an excellent team around you and you can lead,” he added.
After completing his degree, Chavous went on to work at Jadu AR, a Los Angeles-based augmented reality company creating immersive mobile games. In his three years there, he learned what it takes to build something from the ground up, from having conviction in a vision to collaborating meaningfully with high-profile celebrities such as Lewis Hamilton, Snoop Dogg, Michael Bay, and Elton John, while still bringing his own point of view. The experience gave him end-to-end exposure to how technology, storytelling, team building, and fundraising come together, ultimately transforming his confidence into certainty about his own path.
Noctal
Chavous took a significant bet on himself and founded Noctal in 2024, carrying with him a mantra he wrote on a sticky note: “You only have to be right once.”
Noctal is an AI-powered sound design platform co-founded by Producer James Paul that features more than 200,000 100% human-made sound effects from award-winning foley artists, sound designers, and studios, according to information shared with AFROTECH™.
It empowers artists, creators, editors, advertisers, gaming teams, and film studios in their storytelling by pairing human-driven sound that can be purchased and approved for worldwide, perpetual commercial use.
“We’ve planted our flag with people, creatives, and artists first. And what that means for us is leveraging AI and machine learning to facilitate around and within your workflow, but optimizing more for control over automation,” Chavous mentioned.
“Artistry lives in the land of clashing ideas in your head and iteration. So, our goal is not end-to-end easy and done, although you could do it that way. It is the land of how quickly can you iterate? We want to give people the option to iterate and refine because that’s how creatives operate. That’s how artists work, that’s how stories are told. And to be honest, that’s how products are made,” he continued.
Raising $2M in Funding
Noctal has received $2 million in funding, including a $1.8 million raise in Spring 2024 led by Dan Caruso (Caruso Ventures), with participation from Media Empire Ventures, including Grimes, Jim Packer (Lionsgate), Tony Kemp (MLB), and Mitchell Smith (X, formerly Twitter). The investment is primarily going toward engineering, but will also support new technology, design, and the company’s storytelling initiatives.
