posted 02-12-2004 09:31 PM                       

You know you've made an impact on society when your name becomes a household word. (Trademarked of course ) But the best businesses are those whose leadership can attract, keep, and inspire good people -- and Dolby is one of those businesses.

http://www.dolby.com/people/#rdolby

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Dolby Laboratories' Chairman and founder, Ray Dolby, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1933. While still in high school, he went to work for Ampex Corporation, where he ultimately became responsible for developing the electronics for the first Ampex professional videotape recorder, the precursor of every professional and consumer videotape system today. He received his BS in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1957 and, as a Marshall Scholar, left Ampex to pursue further studies at Cambridge University in England, where he received a PhD in physics in 1961.

In 1965 he founded Dolby Laboratories, with the initial goal of developing electronic systems for reducing the background noise, such as hiss, introduced by the tape recording process. With the success of those systems and many analog and digital innovations since, the Dolby name has come to be associated worldwide with quality audio from film soundtracks, home theater systems, audio and video cassettes, DVD, TV audio, and cable and satellite transmissions. Ray Dolby makes his home in San Francisco, California, with his wife Dagmar.

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I originally became aware of Dolby as a teenager, through my passion for music. At that time, the word was synonymous with the highest standards of quality in music recording and reproduction, and Dolby was a company steeped in the culture of the music business. The original process, invented by founder Ray Dolby, takes a sound signal and splits it into 4 frequency bands. During recording, the volume of low level signals in each band is increased while loud signals are left untouched. Then during playback, low level signals are reduced to their original levels, and the unwanted noise is reduced, as well. The Dolby process became essential for the rock and roll musicians I was listening to, who were experimenting with new 8-track, 16-track, and seemingly impossible, 24-track tape recorders, where the noise from each track, when added together, became a real detriment to quality. Dolby later found wide acceptance in consumer cassette decks, which because of the size of the tape and the slow speed at which it traveled over the heads had inherent noise problems, as well. Having conquered the music world, Dolby set their sights on film sound.

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Some Musings on Progress in Audio: A Quest for Better Sound at Affordable Prices
Ray Dolby

In the 37 years since my company was founded in 1965 the audio recording technologies we use in manufacturing and licensing have gone from 100% analog to over 90% digital. How did that happen? No one could plan such a dramatic change just by making a decision at a particular time. There were many technological developments in the intervening years, and no one could predict which developments would allow or even dictate a changeover from a wholly analog world to a predominantly digital audio world.

I believe that the driving force in these changes was not any particular recording technology itself but other issues such as operating convenience and price. The market seems to apply continuous upward forces on utility and convenience until satisfactory levels have been achieved. However, there is an incessant downward pressure on prices, which are largely determined by manufacturing costs. In the last few years a phenomenal decrease in the cost of manufacturing digital equipment has given digital products an overwhelming marketplace advantage that has totally transformed the face of audio.

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posted 02-13-2004 05:10 AM                       

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Has anyone made a more drastic impact on sound recording technology in many areas than Dolby? I can`t think of anyone.

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