UA Universe: It keeps Expanding...and Expanding...and Expanding...

• Employee Feature: Dr. Dave Berners
  
• Universal Audio to Show New Preamplifiers at AES
  
• LA-610 Is Out The Door!
  
• Plate 140 Plug-In for UAD-1 Previewed at AES
  
• LA-2A Inducted into the TECnology Hall of Fame
  
• Mix Foundation TECnology Awards
  
• Universal Audio AES Presentation Schedule
  
• AES San Francisco and Student Design Competition
  
• TEC Awards Music and Sound Auction
  
• Universal Audio Launches Soccer Team: The 1176ers!
  
• An LA-610 By Any Other Name...
• Precision Limiter User Quotes

Employee Feature: The DSP Doctor is In!

Dr. David Berners among some of his many books and periodicals

I once saw a quote on a forum that went something like this: "Man, the guy who made the algorithms for the 1176 and LA-2A must feel like a stud." I'd have to say most UAD-1 users would echo that sentiment. Dr. David Berners powerful brain is not only behind both 1176 and LA-2A plug-ins, but also the majority of algorithms that make up the UAD-1 Plug-In suite. Cambridge, Fairchild, both Pultecs and one of UA's latest plug-ins, the Precision Limiter also came to fruition from Dave's algorithm designs. Dave is not only one of the most talented and intelligent men I've ever met, but one of the humblest; Dave is always willing to take time to find interest in his co-workers, and is always happy to chat, philosophize, or answer any level of technical question.

Besides working as our primary algorithm developer, Dave is a member and contributing writer of AES and will be giving presentations at the upcoming AES 2004 convention in San Francisco (see related article below). He's also a regular writer for UA's Webzine column, 'Ask the Doctors'. Many UA employees will tell you however, that his best prose is found in the post-game reports of UA's soccer team, of which he is a member (see related article below).

Dave's working career began in an industry from which colloquialisms are penned: Indeed it does take a rocket scientist to design the most stunningly accurate hardware emulations and original DSP tools for the DAW. Read on...

What were you doing before you joined Universal Audio?
"Well, I was born on a cloudy day in April...just kidding! After I finished school with my MS in Electrical Engineering at Caltech. I started working for NASA on the Cassini space probe at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Glendale. The work was fun, and there were a lot of people who were great to work with. Still, I knew that what I really wanted to do was engineering for music. I moved up near Stanford because there was a lab there (CCRMA) where people were working on music-oriented stuff. I entered the program and also got a job nearby at the Lawrence Laboratories in Berkeley where I worked on nuclear fusion power research. We were designing an accelerator to test ideas for heavy ion fusion power research. That was pretty cool. Then, I stayed at Stanford as a part-time employee for about 6 years, doing audio consulting on the side. The job at UA was my first full-time job after graduating from Stanford."

How did you get involved with Universal Audio?
"I found out about UA because Bill Putnam Jr. and I were students together at CCRMA. Bill told me that he was looking to hire someone to do a good job with software emulations. It sounded interesting, so I took the job. The hardware versions of the 1176 and LA-2A were just being finalized, so I helped out with that, and also worked on the Kind of Loud Pro Tools plug-ins. Working on the hardware was really key for the later development of the 1176 and LA-2A plug-ins, and it gave me a legitimate reason to spend a lot of hours studying the designs of the 1176 and the LA-2A. "

Why do you prefer audio engineering to rocket science?
"I guess there are two big reasons. The NASA stuff I did at the Lawrence Lab was really satisfying and it was hard to quit, but what it really came down to was that working on audio gives me gut-level satisfaction, whereas the other stuff is much more academic. I remember when I was five years old describing to my dad what I wanted to do when I grew up, and him telling me that the job that I just described was called engineering. I was already playing music by then, So, I guess I'd say that music has always been a really fundamental part of who I am, and it's not something I could ever give up. "

What do you do when you're not making algorithms?
"I teach a class at Stanford that covers algorithms for compression, EQ, and reverb, as well as other signal processing stuff. There haven't been many classes taught on those topics, so that material really needs to be formalized as an academic subject. I also like to get a lot of exercise, play music, and fix/build things with my hands. (Dave is the regular bass player in Pearl Alley, a local blues band that also features UA's Dave Crane. -Ed.)

You've been keeping a motorcycle helmet on your desk. Is it safe to assume you found a new hobby?
"Oh, yeah. I'm in the process of getting my motorcycle license. I also just tried surfing."

Which of the algorithms you've designed was the most challenging?
"The 1176 was the most challenging algorithmically. It was difficult to digitally emulate the 20 microsecond attack time, but I'd say the LA-2A was the most challenging model as it was complicated to figure out how the electro-luminescent circuit worked under a variety of conditions."

Do you have a favorite algorithm?
"Wow, that's like picking a favorite child! I guess I'd have to say the Fairchild because we had less documentation than we did with the LA-2A and 1176 and we obviously couldn't pull apart somebody's $30,000 unit to see how it worked, but we were still able to build an extremely accurate model. It was also really neat to work with the guys at Ocean Way Recording who were so generous with their time, and their 'golden' Fairchild. The evaluations they did comparing our model to their unit were a big part of how we were able to create such an accurate model."

You've received a lot of praise from users, both famous and not-so-famous. Is there a particular testimonial that stands out in your mind?
"A number of very experienced professional engineers and producers, like Elliot Mazer, Brian Tankersley, Frank Fillipetti, Elliot Scheiner and John Fields have said some wonderful things about how much the emulations sound like the original hardware they used for years, and obviously, that's very gratifying, but we've also heard from tons of up and coming artists, engineers and producers who say that our plug-ins have dramatically improved the quality of their mixes, getting them a more professional sound than they've ever been able to achieve before, and that's really, really neat also."

So, what are you working on now?
"Ohhh, that's a secret, but I think our users are really going to love it!"

-Will Shanks, interview by Clare O'Brien

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Universal Audio to Show New Preamplifiers at AES
Universal Audio will undoubtedly make a splash at AES 2004 in San Francisco with its new line of preamplifiers aimed at the multichannel user. The Precision 8110 and 4110 carry eight and four channels respectively, and utilize all new design elements from the experts at Universal Audio.