About Sonic Studio, LLC

Sonic Studio, a name synonymous with mastering and restoration since the dawn of desktop digital recording.

Pioneering Ultimate Fidelity

The Sonic team has lead the way to high fidelity computer–based audio. Some of the seminal audio technologies and workflow methods created or first commercially debuted by Sonic boffins include:

Over the ensuing years, SonicStudio workstations were adopted worldwide by motion picture and recording studios, major record labels and high end mastering facilities. On award–winning motion picture soundtracks and more than two thirds of all commercially released CD, Sonic Studio’s transparent quality, streamlined workflow and ease of use allow top flight engineers to consistently win Grammy®, Emmy® and Oscar® awards for their exceptional audio work.

Sonic Studio History

Overview

Under the auspices of Sonic Solutions, the SonicStudio audio workstation has driven the professional production and delivery of commercial Compact Discs. The original “Sonic System” pioneered the desktop delivery of Red Book masters on recordable CD and DDP. To this day, two of every three commercially released CD titles were mastered on a SonicStudio workstation and are archived via SonicStudio applications.

Sonic Studio’s NoNOISE™ noise reduction tools and precise editing model also propelled our workstation to the forefront of sound production and restoration for television and film, with Dr. James Andrew Moorer collecting both an Emmy™ and an Oscar™ for technological achievement. And now, with the migration of film and TV archives to DVD, NoNOISE has once again become an essential part of the authoring process.

The Early Years

The Sonic System began life as research into real–time, computer–based audio production. The ASP hardware–based audio processor, designed by James A. Moorer after his work on the legendary Hydra at Stanford’s CCRMA, was a proof of concept for what is now considered a digital audio workstation. The ASP’s design started life in 1980 and was designed for real–time, multichannel EQ and mixing. SoundDroid, an in–house project of Lucasfilm’s Ltd.’s Sprocket Systems that was later spun off as part of The Droid Works, was a hard disk–based, non–linear, 2nd generation digital audio workstation that leveraged the research done on the ASP. Though the SoundDroid project was never commercialized and The Droid Works was later sold to Avid, the audio development team went on to first create the NoNOISE restoration system in 1987, hosted on a Motorola–powered SUN 1, the first true computer “workstation,” which had been developed in cooperation with Lucasfilm. The SUN ran UNIX, developed by Bell Labs and refined at UC Berkeley. Our current flagship products run on Mac OS, a modern version of that same UNIX variant, BSD Unix, that powered the original SUN workstation.

After evaluating the cost and complexity of their SUNs, the Sonic team decided to tap a new platform, Apple Computer’s Macintosh II, also powered by a Motorola 68000, to create the first production version of the Sonic Station later that year. By 1988, the Sonic Station was in service at EMI Abbey Road and Finesplice in London, and MCA in California, performing “miraculous” feats of restoration and starting a trend of mining back catalogue that continues to this day. That first system employed a dedicated NuBus hardware co–processor, with 4 Motorola 56000–series Digital Signal Processors (DSP), beginning a trend that continued through seven generations of hardware.

Demand grew for a turnkey Compact Disc preparation system and, in 1990 with the addition of the world’s first CD-R product, Sony’s $30,000, two piece, E-1/W-1 Compact Disc-Recordable system in conjunction with START Lab’s new media, the complete Sonic System was born. After a few years of development, the product was renamed “SonicStudio” and the rest, is history…

The Present Day

In 2002, Sonic Solutions decided to divest themselves of their original audio product line. To concentrate solely on the DVD content creation market, they formed a joint venture and, in 2004, that business was transferred to Big Endian, LLC to carry on the development, sales, and support of Sonic Solutions’ legendary audio workstation products.

Today, Sonic Studio, LLC continues to lead the industry in fidelity, value and ease of use. Our product lines address the needs of the world’s most discriminating audio professionals with powerful PCM and DSD origination, editing and processing capabilities, and integrated premastering for both CD, SACD and rich media distribution. The Sonic Studio range remains the standard for professional audio production. That’s why top engineers and record labels continue to trust the transparency.

For additional information on Sonic Studio, please contact our Marketing Communications Manager at 415-460-1201.