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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.
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