原创 Analog Devices的Denis Labrecque的简介

英文原文链接

时间：2007年5月30日

I also want to thank Brian for starting this ball rolling. With the roster of contributors that he is assembling, I’m certain that this will go in several interesting directions. My particular slant on “How We See CE” will be primarily from an audio perspective, but, as Brian knows, I have no end of opinions on everything, as I have been consuming electronic products for quite a while now!

Now for my story. While my DSPS Marketing Programs Manager position at Analog Devices has me involved with all of the markets our processors are in (more on that later), my prior background and life-long passion is audio - specifically, pro audio/music industry “stuff”. Yes, I’m an “audiophile” ….an electronic musician and recording engineer. …an audio geek, and proud of it. So how did this all start? I felt the pull of music in the early 70’s, not just as a fan, but becoming very interested in how music was being made – and wanting to be a part of it. As I didn’t have (at the time) any particular musical talent, I decided to get into the industry from the electronics side, by enrolling in the EE program at University of Connecticut. This was at the time that recording studios were fully embracing increasingly sophisticated electronics (check out an excellent DVD on the evolution of the modern recording studio - “Tom Dowd & the Language of Music”).

This was also the time that new sounds we being produced by instruments called “synthesizers” (The “Moog”and ARP, among others - think the beginning of “Baba O’Riley” by the Who, or the end of “Lucky Man” by Emerson Lake and Palmer). I started school, then wound up actually making synthesizers for a couple of companies - going from soldering resistors and capacitors on analog circuit boards to eventually supervising a team of 30+ putting synthesizers together.At that point my college goal of getting an EE became unnecessary <grin> - I was where I set out to be - in the music business! (I did eventually go back to school and get an AS in music, a California teaching certificate in electronic music, and even further expanded my education by recently getting Bread and Pastry Arts certificates from the California Culinary Academy…but that’s a very different blog!)

By the 80’s I started a small project recording studio, worked in a record store, freelanced as a live sound engineer, etc. As none of that amounted to any real money and, as I was married with a baby on the way, I decided that software was the future! I moved to California and joined Passport Designs, a startup company that was responsible for spawning what is now a huge business of hardware and software for musicians. Doing everything from copying disks to helping develop user interfaces, going from production manager to Vice President of the company, I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the evolution of an industry. Today, everything you hear - from the latest diva-of-the moment to the San Francisco Symphony’s “Mahler” - is recorded, mixed and produce on computers. Technology plays such a big role in the industry they even gave a Grammy a couple of years ago to Digidesign for their ProTools recording hardware/software!

Fast forward a bit to the late 90’s where I got back to hardware at Emu systems. I was the product manager of their first computer-based product, the award winning Audio Production Studio.Then back to software at Staccato Systems, a company founded by several ex-Stanford CCRMA folks. Staccato developed a software-based synthesizer that was licensed to Analog Devices for their SoundMAX PC audio codec products, and the company was subsequently acquired by Analog in 2002.

My current position at Analog, DSPS Marketing Programs Manager, is a very interesting and enjoyable one, pulling together much of my background. My team’s role is to bridge the gap between the product managers/engineering teams and the DSP marketing “machine” – PR, ads, events etc., providing clear and consistent promotional programs. At Analog, our family of processors (Blackfin©, SHARC©, and TigerSHARC©) span an incredibly broad range of markets and applications including industrial, medical, automotive and consumer. While I manage programs across all these markets, I of course still have a particular affinity for where our audio-centric devices are found – high-end home theater, automotive multimedia systems, portable media players and pro audio products. And yes, I still get to play with synthesizers – but now from the inside!

As Brian knows, I could go on (and on…) but I’ll stop now - I’m looking forward to contributing to this series!

(By the way: What do you call a guitarist without a girlfriend? Homeless!)