1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland of an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech, and today we're going 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 1: to listen to another tech Stuff classic. This episode originally 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: published February third, two thousand fourteen. It is titled tex 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: Stuff Listens to Dolby. Yep, we're gonna learn about the 8 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: Dolby sound system and how that works. So let's listen 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: to this classic episode. If you've ever owned a stereo 10 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: in the history of ever, you've probably seen the Dolby logo, 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: which is that Yeah, certainly in the history of the 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: past thirty years, which I think for most of our 13 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: listeners that that qualifies. Uh. I know that we have 14 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: some listeners who maybe have owned stereos that are older 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: than thirty years. We appreciate you as well, of course. 16 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: So Dolby, who was this guy? What did he do? 17 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: While he was an electrical engineer famous for his work 18 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: in developing audio technology which was used in everything from 19 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: movies to uh to studio equipment to the stuff that 20 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 1: you could buy like consumer electronics. And he has absolutely 21 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: no relation to the musician Thomas Dolby known for us. 22 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: She blinded me with science, right. Apparently Thomas Dolby took 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: that stage name based on Dolby. Yes, yeah, his his 24 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: actual name is Thomas Robertson, but his stage name is 25 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: Thomas Dolby, presumably taking the name because of Dolby Laboratories 26 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: and Dolby himself, Ray Dolby, Ray, by the way, had 27 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: still has a son named Tom. So also a little 28 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: confused and confusion there um. But apparently and and you 29 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: uncovered this little tidbit that that Thomas or yes, yes, 30 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: Thomas Dolby, the musician stage person, had an agreement laid 31 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: out that he would not name any electronics equipment under 32 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: the Dolby brand, right right, he could not he you know, 33 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: there was some initial um tension between Dolby Labs and 34 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: Thomas Dolby, but that eventually got kind of settled down 35 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: in the agreement essentially was kind of a gentleman's agreement. 36 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: It was that Thomas Dolby could perform and and record 37 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: under the name Thomas Dolby as long as he didn't 38 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: put out like the Dolby stereo because I could be 39 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: confused with the actual Dolby Labs brand. So let's talk 40 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: about Tom, not Thomas Dolby. I mean, that's a totally 41 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: different podcast that we could do, because Thomas Dolby has 42 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: been very active in digital distribution. But Ray Dolby, so 43 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,960 Speaker 1: he was born back in nineteen three in Portland, Oregon. 44 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: His father was a salesman. Yep. Ray Dolby as a 45 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: kid got interested in electronics. He apparently, according to one 46 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: report I read, at age nine, Line, rigged up an 47 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: electronic signaling system that would allow you to alert someone, 48 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: similar to using something with Morse code. I imagine this 49 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 1: is something similar, like like a simple switch and uh, 50 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: something that either made noise or lit up. There weren't 51 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: details about exactly what it was. Yeah, I think that 52 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: this was from an interview that he had done with 53 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: a member of the m I E. The I Tripolie 54 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: back in the eighties at some point. So I didn't 55 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: have extreme details, but I found that very charming. He 56 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: was also fascinated as a child by the mechanics of music. 57 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: As a kid, he apparently played clarinet and remembered being 58 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: just engrossed by the vibrations of the reads and in 59 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: fact that fascination with music would go throughout his entire life. 60 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: His sons would talk about how he was not just 61 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: an engineer, nor did he ever wish to be seen 62 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: that way. He was an adventurer at heart and a 63 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: musician at heart, someone who truly appreciated the sound of 64 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: talented artists making music. And that was part of what 65 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: he was so interested in when he got into electronics 66 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: was being able to have a device that could record 67 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: and play back such stuff without any other artifacts getting 68 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: in the way. So in high school he uh joined 69 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: the projectionist clubs. So clearly a big man on campus. Uh, 70 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: obviously these are the the kids who are really interested 71 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: in cinema. They're interested in in all aspects of electronics technology. Yeah, 72 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: you know, all of that kind of stuff. And through that, 73 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: in nine he met one um Alex Panto excellent. Yeah, 74 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: he was the founder of a company called Ampex Corps yep. 75 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: And uh, and so here's here's the deal. Here's the scenario. 76 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: Alex Pontia comes to town and he's going to have 77 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: a meeting and in order, part of this meeting involves 78 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: showing a film and he needs to have someone to 79 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: run the projector so he reaches out to the local 80 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: school and says, hey, can you send me a kid 81 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,840 Speaker 1: who can run the projector? And Dolby volunteers. He says, 82 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: this sounds like something I would really like to do. 83 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: So he comes over and runs the projector, and he 84 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: and Poniatof hit it off. I mean they you know, 85 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: it's clear that Dolby is truly interested in technology, and 86 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: Ampex was really getting into building recording devices, both for 87 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: industry like geophysical recorders and also for you know, entertainment 88 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: industry as well. Eventually, so he Dolby shows this incredible 89 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: interest in the subject matter, and Poniatof is obviously impressed 90 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: and tells Dolbie, hey, you know, kid, listen. I know 91 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: you're in school and all, but I tell you what, 92 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: on weekends and on vacations, if you like, you can 93 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: come and work for me. And Dolby says sure, yeah. 94 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: Delbie was only sixteen years old at the time and 95 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: wound up working a little bit more than I think 96 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: that they originally expected. Dolby said that he was far 97 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: enough I had with his credit it's in high school, 98 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:03,359 Speaker 1: that he wasn't really worried about getting into colleges. He 99 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: figured he had it in the bag. So he wound 100 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: up at a certain point spending like three hours a 101 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: day at school and five hours a day at AMPEX. 102 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: It turns out that eventually Delby's not so it was 103 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: so concerned about staying in college either, at least initially. So. Yeah, 104 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: his he was obviously really eager to get hands on 105 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: experience with this. It was, you know, he didn't want 106 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: to just learn theory. He wanted to actually be working, 107 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: and he found it really exciting. By nine fifty one, 108 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: he was attending San Jose State College in California and 109 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: had picked the major of electrical engineering. Uh, and he 110 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: was still working with Ampex at that time. And within 111 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: the first year of his schooling, actually just after he 112 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: was just about to start a sophomore year, Ampex began 113 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: to develop something that would revolutionize the entertainment industry and 114 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: the home entertainment market. Eventually, the video recorders, So videotape 115 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: recorders were not a thing yet. Right, this is a 116 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: brand new technology, and he had the opportunity to work 117 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: on an early implementation of that. Videotape had the potential 118 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: to be a truly disruptive type of technology, which of course, 119 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: as we all know, that's what happened. I mean, you 120 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: saw it happen again and again. But he had the 121 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: chance to get in on the ground floor, and he 122 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: was so excited by that that he made the decision 123 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: to drop out of college and work full time at AMPEX. 124 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: But that also meant right, this was during during the 125 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: Korean War was about to really ramp up, and he 126 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: was He's spoken about being very aware at the time 127 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: that this decision would make him eligible to be drafted 128 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: and being a little bit concerned about that, which would 129 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,119 Speaker 1: turn out to be a fair concern. Yeah. He um, 130 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: you know, by not being a college student, that made 131 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: him eligible for the draft, and in fact, he was 132 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: drafted and he went into the army on April first, 133 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three. He was drafted into the army. And 134 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: during this was during the Korean War. Delby later said that, uh, 135 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: that was worth it because he got to work on 136 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: the heal recorder. Meanwhile, even you know, Dolby was removed 137 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: from the picture. He had to go and serve in 138 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: the army. Uh, AMPEX ended up shelving the video recorder project, 139 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: not because Dolby was removed from it. I mean Dolby 140 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: himself said, it's not because I wasn't there. That's not 141 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: why they did it. They did it because the company 142 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: itself was in financial trouble. There was a recession going 143 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: on at the time, and the company was hit pretty 144 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: hard by it, and so to to save money and 145 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: and to cut back on things that were, you know, 146 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: obviously big projects that could pay off, but it would 147 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: be a long term gain, they decided to pull back 148 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: on those. So this was one of the projects they shelved. 149 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: So he goes off and he joins the army. While 150 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: he's in the army, he teaches classes on electronics because 151 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: why not. Yeah, he still hasn't completed college himself. But 152 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: on January one, nine, he was discharged from the army 153 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: and rejoined Ampex, which had started UH decided to go 154 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 1: back and and launched the video records project again, so 155 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: he was working on that. He also went back to 156 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:07,439 Speaker 1: college this time. He did not go to San Jose State. 157 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,440 Speaker 1: He went to a little college called Stanford UM and 158 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: he completed his degree at Stanford. So by nineteen fifty six, 159 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: the video recorder goes into production. So this is a 160 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: big deal and Dolby, I think his name is even 161 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:25,559 Speaker 1: on one of the patents, at least one of the patents. Yeah, 162 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: this is Ampex's specific video record. Yes, and it's the 163 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: first to go into production. So Dolby goes to then 164 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: he applies and is accepted to go to Cambridge University 165 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: to work towards a PhD in physics. Um. He would 166 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: finally receive that in nineteen sixty one. Yeah, and uh, 167 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: and of course you know, obviously PhD in physics, he's 168 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: looking at acoustics, right, that was his main focus. No, 169 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: that's not his main focus. His main focus actually was 170 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: an X rays, long wavelength X rays. He was, yeah, 171 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: he was. He was convinced that this was what he 172 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: really was going to do for the rest of his life. 173 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: He was going to work and experiments and build things 174 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: that worked with X rays. Apparently at the time very 175 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: popular guy in Cambridge, partially because he had access to 176 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 1: professional recording equipment, and there were a lot of musical 177 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: groups in the area that wanted to be able to 178 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: record stuff, but they didn't have access to professional recording 179 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: equipment and you would get these really poor recordings. So 180 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,959 Speaker 1: he started getting invited to all sorts of events and 181 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: he would have people over at his place to play music. 182 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: Not keep in mind this is you know, this is 183 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: great stuff for Dolbie who loves music. You know, this 184 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:39,680 Speaker 1: is again him continuing this, uh, this keen interest in music. 185 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: So I'm sure he found it to be a wonderful 186 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: time of his life. Oh sure. He was also making 187 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: a big impact on the community in general. He around 188 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: the same time was consulting for the UK's atomic energy authorities, 189 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: so getting some good stuff on his resume. Oh yeah, yeah, 190 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: I know this for someone who was interested in making 191 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: the first video recorder, he's already branching out quite a 192 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: bit by this time. Also in nineteen sixty two, he 193 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: meets Dagmar ballmert Uh in Cambridge and she would become 194 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: the love of his life. I mean, every report I 195 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: ever read about the two of them talking very sweet, 196 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 1: talked about how parties they were always right there, you know, 197 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: backing each other up, and they they complemented one another 198 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: in various ways. So she was actually from Germany. She 199 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: was in Cambridge for a summer program when they met. 200 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: And the rest is, they say, is history. We'll we'll 201 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: talk more about them a little bit later on to um. 202 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: But then in nineteen sixty three, really cool. Yeah, don'll 203 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: be read about this opportunity in a newspaper for the 204 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization a k a. 205 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: UNESCO as most people would know about it. Um to 206 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,839 Speaker 1: to go to India and help consult to to build 207 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: up a little bit more of a kind of infrastructure, Yeah, 208 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: scientific laboratory in structures, specifically in the Punjab region which 209 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: is known as a very culturally rich area. And he 210 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:08,679 Speaker 1: spent two years there. And while he was doing that, 211 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: he continued to be really interested in creating equipment that 212 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: would be allowed to allow you to make high fidelity 213 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: audio recordings. Well, he had brought one of those professional 214 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: level Ampex I think it was the Ampex six hundred 215 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: tape recorders along with him, and UH would would invite 216 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: musicians to complay at his house so that he could 217 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: experiment with recordings and UH and he started to really 218 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: be bothered by something that is inherent in magnetic tape 219 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: recordings analog recordings, which is that you get this hiss sound, 220 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: particularly if you're playing the tape at lower speeds. And 221 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: we'll talk more about that as well, because in nineteen 222 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: sixty five, once he had concluded his two year stint 223 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: with Unesco, he decided to go back to London. There 224 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: was a dressmaker factory. I assume it was a factory 225 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 1: for dresses, not for dressmakers. I think they actually built dressmakers. 226 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: I think the robotics wasn't quite it's advanced at the time, 227 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: I don't think so. Yeah, he rented essentially what was 228 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: a corner in an old factory and created Dolby Laboratories. 229 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: He was using twenty dollars in startup money, which was 230 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 1: what he had saved plus borrowed from other folks, and 231 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 1: it had a grand total of four employees when it 232 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: first started. And their first product that they were working 233 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: on was something called Signal to Noise stretchers. Now that's 234 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: the technical name for what Dolby created. However that they 235 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: are to this day called Dolby's. Yeah, in the industry 236 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: they're called Dolby's And it didn't take very long for 237 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,199 Speaker 1: that to happen. So the whole point of signal to 238 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: noise stretcher, it kind of comes in the name signal 239 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: to noise. So if you think of something that's been 240 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: recorded to magnetic tape, the signal is whatever it was 241 00:13:55,559 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: you were trying to record, right, Noise is noise, it's 242 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,439 Speaker 1: stuff you don't want, it's artifacts, it's it's static. Yeah, 243 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: it distracts from what you were trying to capture. So 244 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,839 Speaker 1: if your goal is to create a recreation of the 245 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 1: moment that a sound was created, then you want to 246 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: reduce that noise as much as possible. And so this 247 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: was a method really of recording and playing back stuff 248 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: so that you would reduce that noise so that it 249 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: was inaudible, it was unnoticeable. And we'll talk about how 250 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: he did that in the second half of this of 251 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: this episode. But anyway, this was, you know, really meant 252 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: to be kind of a side project. It was meant 253 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: to be the thing that allowed him to make, you know, 254 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: to fund the other things he was going to do, 255 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: specifically X ray experimentation. But as it turns out, don't 256 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: be hit on something that a lot of people found 257 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: really fascinating and valuable and it took over his life. 258 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: Well even even at the time, very high quality media 259 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: like a like an LP, like a record. Um, we're 260 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: recorded from a master tape, a master magnetic tape. So 261 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: this impacted a huge segment of a few different industries. 262 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: Oh sure, if your master tape has a hiss on it, 263 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: then that hiss gets transmitted to every other copy that 264 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: you make. Right, So if you're able to create a 265 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: system where you remove that hiss so that you have 266 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: the highest quality master tape, then whenever you are making 267 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: a new copy, then you are there across your copying 268 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: the hiss as well. Yeah. So if you if you 269 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: can get rid of the hiss, that's awesome. And that's 270 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: why it ended up being such a big deal. Um, 271 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 1: And so early on it was really focusing mostly on 272 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: on studio level quality, right we're talking professional recording studios, 273 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: not something that you would find in your average the 274 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: playback device that a consumer would have right right right there. 275 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: Their first customer was Decca Records. Yeah, yeah, and ended 276 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: up being a pretty import customer. So Decca Records they 277 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 1: come up and they say they want to use the 278 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: Dolby System on a series of recordings made by Vladimir 279 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: Ashkenazi of Mozart Piano Concertos, which you know already it's 280 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: speaking to Dolby's heart, and so Dolby says that, uh, 281 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: you know, he realized that the noise reduction, which he 282 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: thought was gonna be that little side project was going 283 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: to become, uh, the main thing he worked on for 284 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,520 Speaker 1: the at least the foreseeable future. So nineteen sixty six, 285 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: Dolby Mary's Dagmar So uh, they end up eventually having 286 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: two children, Tom and David. Tom is a novelist and 287 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: a journalist and editor, and David sits on the board 288 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: of directors for Dolby Labs. So they're both very successful. Um. 289 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty eight, Dolby is convinced by a man 290 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: named Henry Class, who at that time was president of 291 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: the k l H Research and Development Corporation, to create 292 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: a consumer version of his signal to noise stretcher technology. 293 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 1: All right, because up until this point it had all 294 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 1: been these these really high end, pretty expensive versions for 295 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: for that professional studio that for doing like doing those 296 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: master tapes, right, it was it was meant as a 297 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: as an industry thing. So it was you know, originally 298 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: Dolby was thinking that his stuff that he was working on, 299 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: it would trickle down to consumers, but in a way 300 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: that the consumer would never notice, or in a way 301 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,920 Speaker 1: that the consumer would never have any direct participation in. Yeah, exactly, 302 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,440 Speaker 1: because because you know, the consumer would be able to 303 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: enjoy the benefits by playing something and not hearing that 304 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: sounds better than that other thing, right, but they wouldn't 305 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: be able to create their own stuff. Right well, Claus 306 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: ends up saying to to Dolby that, hey, you should 307 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: really make a consumer version of this. Dolby says, well, 308 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,639 Speaker 1: there's not really a market for it. I can't see 309 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: consumers jumping at this. So then what Clus does is 310 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,640 Speaker 1: something kind of sneaky to convince Dolby otherwise. He goes 311 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: back and he tells some of his engineers, hey, eyes, 312 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: let's kind of reverse engineer this. Take Dolby's Type A 313 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: what would eventually be called the Type A Dolby's um 314 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: and reverse engineer so that we can make a consumer 315 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: level of our own. They do that. He then takes 316 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 1: that to Dolby and says, look at what I did. 317 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: I took your stuff and I made a cheaper version 318 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 1: for consumers. Someone else is gonna do that and they're 319 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:24,199 Speaker 1: gonna beat you to the market, so you should do 320 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: it first. And Dolby says, huh, how about that. You're right, 321 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: I should do that, And so Dolby that goes to 322 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: create a consumer version of his signal to noise stretchers 323 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: called Type B. So Type A is for the professional studios, 324 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: it's it's more sophisticated, it covers a greater range of sounds, 325 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: and we'll go over that in the second half. To 326 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: Type B is less expensive, more limited. But then for 327 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: your average consumer it was perfectly right, unless unless you're 328 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 1: an expert in the field and have an extremely good 329 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 1: year and etcetera, etcetera. Was basically fine, and then they're 330 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,959 Speaker 1: on Dolby Labs would end up releasing updates. They had 331 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: a Type C come out that was a more sophisticated version, 332 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: and then eventually they had a spectral recording which was 333 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: an even more sophisticated version of the same basic approach. 334 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 1: Class would wind up continuing to to interact with Delby 335 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,199 Speaker 1: in this industry. Yeah, he ends up creating a company 336 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,919 Speaker 1: called Advent Corporation, which would produce the first consumer cassette 337 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,439 Speaker 1: deck that had the Dolby technology in it. Now that 338 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: wasn't the first one that was a consumer product. The 339 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,760 Speaker 1: first consumer probuct was real to real deck. So this 340 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: is before cassettes really had had started to become a thing. 341 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,119 Speaker 1: But real to real recorders. If you were, you know, 342 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,399 Speaker 1: an amateur musician or even a professional musician, but you 343 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: want to record your own stuff, then this is the 344 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: kind of technology you were using at the time. So 345 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one that's when Dolby Labs begins to experiment 346 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: by going outside of just the audio recording industry. There's 347 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: still very much it's still audio centric, but they're looking 348 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: at an other industry that they can impact, and that 349 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: that was movies. And this would be this would be 350 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:09,360 Speaker 1: a huge, huge player in in a Delby's personal success 351 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: and and be just the film industry. Yeah, so they're 352 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,679 Speaker 1: looking at making movies sound match the quality of the 353 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,920 Speaker 1: images because uh and Lauren, I saw that you you 354 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: pulled this into the notes as a perfect example. The 355 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: problem was that movies at that time we're relying on 356 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: the same basic sound systems that have been developed decades earlier. 357 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there had been so many innovations in um 358 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: in film quality itself over the past, of the recent past, 359 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: of of the nineteen sixties and fifties, but really like 360 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: gone with the wind was the industry standard of audio production. 361 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,360 Speaker 1: And that had happened thirty five or forty years previously, right, 362 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: So Dolby ends up looking into creating a system that 363 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: would make much more clear, crisp sound for movies. Uh. 364 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: And so the first home that gets released that has 365 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,639 Speaker 1: the Dolby treatment to it is a little film called 366 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange and Oh, my Drew gees if 367 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,119 Speaker 1: you don't vitty, well what I say, things changing s 368 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: scory these days and people quick to forget. Just remember 369 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: that without this, our movies wouldn't sound nearly as good. 370 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: And here here's the reason why Dolby was so influential, 371 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 1: really early early on, because not only did it work, 372 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:32,360 Speaker 1: but it wasn't expensive for theaters to incorporate into their systems. 373 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: Like this is this is not surround sound we're talking 374 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: about here. This is just the sound quality. Yeah, this 375 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,880 Speaker 1: is just the clarity, removing that hiss, because the same 376 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:42,719 Speaker 1: hiss was apparent in uh in film as it was 377 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: in yeah, in magnetic tapes. So this was a way 378 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,679 Speaker 1: of being able to create this, this crisp sound that 379 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: theaters didn't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars 380 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: to fit. Yeah, they didn't have to do that. So 381 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,719 Speaker 1: it ended up becoming an industry standard because it worked 382 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: and it was cheap. And when it works and it's 383 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: cheap and becomes a standard, that means you have a 384 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: constant supply of customers. So Dolby had struck gold with this. 385 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: This was going to end up being one of the 386 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: biggest businesses for Dolby moving forward, because you had an 387 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:22,400 Speaker 1: entire industry dependent upon that that particular methodology to make 388 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: movies sound good. And it became one of those things 389 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: where if you saw that the movie incorporated Dolby Sound, 390 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: you knew you were in for a special treat. We'll 391 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: be back to talk more about Dolby and just a moment, 392 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break, all right, getting 393 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: back to ray Dolby. So he was already seeing success 394 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:54,160 Speaker 1: in audio, uh well, audio hardware, both on the on 395 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,199 Speaker 1: the the professional side and on the consumer side. He 396 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: was starting to see success in the motion picture industry. Um, 397 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: and then it starts to work on some other stuff 398 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: for movies. In nineteen uh a lot of things happened. 399 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: First of all, he relocated the headquarters of Dolby Labs. 400 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 1: It had been in London, as we had said earlier, 401 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: they moved it over to San Francisco, California. So he 402 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: goes over to to to uh. I was gonna say 403 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: San fran but boy, they hate that. I would also 404 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: say Frescope. If they hate that more, We'll just say 405 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:28,120 Speaker 1: the city. So he takes it to the city in California. Well, 406 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,280 Speaker 1: they still keep their London office, and they still keep 407 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,360 Speaker 1: the London office open, and they then introduce a multi 408 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: channel technology for films that becomes known as surround sound. 409 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,199 Speaker 1: So multi channel is pretty self explanatory. There are multiple 410 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: channels for the sound, and you have multiple speakers and 411 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,239 Speaker 1: you send different channels to different speakers to create the 412 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: effect of sound surrounding the person in the in the theater. 413 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: So that way, if you have action on the screen 414 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: that's heavily taking place on the left side, you can 415 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: amplify the stuff that's on the left rather than on 416 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,120 Speaker 1: the right and give the impression that you are right 417 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: there in the middle of things. You can even isolate 418 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,360 Speaker 1: sounds so that particular sounds play either more on one 419 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: side than the other or just on one side. And 420 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: if you've been keeping up with surround sound, both in 421 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: the film industry and in just home entertainment center centers, 422 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: you know that the numbers keep going up, like you 423 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 1: had five point one and then like six point one 424 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 1: and seven point one. Then mostly that really refers to 425 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: the channels, all right, it's the number of channels that 426 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: are involved, and it's usually uh, I think it's five channels. 427 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: And then the point one is technically the effects channel. 428 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,159 Speaker 1: It's point one is that technically the subwoffer because if 429 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,600 Speaker 1: you have a five point one's set up, it usually 430 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: means that you have a front center speaker, front left, front, right, back, left, 431 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: back right, and then you have the sub wolfer right 432 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: for forgetting those those vibrated soul shaking effects. Right, you know, 433 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: that's the that's what makes the movies like uh like 434 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: like Event Horizon really watchable, you know when you get that. So, yeah, 435 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: any any time that you have the elder gods coming 436 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: for you, it's great if you can really feel it 437 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: in your spleen. Yeah, if every time the Taranto source 438 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: Rex takes a step in dress a park, the water 439 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:17,880 Speaker 1: on your table actually actually shakes, then you know you've 440 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 1: got a really good sound system exactly. So yeah, it 441 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: surround sound comes out. And there were some there were 442 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,440 Speaker 1: a few movies that that took advantage of it early. 443 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,639 Speaker 1: But there was one in particular close to my heart 444 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 1: that really leveraged it, little independent film that came out 445 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen Star Wars. I was thinking Close Encounters of 446 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: the third kind of Star Wars is good too. No, 447 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: of course it was Star Wars. And both Star Wars 448 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: and Close Encounters did take advantage of surround sound. Both 449 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: did come out in ninety seven. And those movies had 450 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: so much going for them. I mean, they were capturing 451 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: people's imaginations, they had incredible scores. John Williams worked on both. Uh, 452 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: they were they were movies that hit just at the 453 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 1: right time. They were so big budget, there were such blockbusters. 454 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: That was kind of the beginning of the entire blockbuster era. 455 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: And and it's kind of a chicken and an egg 456 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: issue of whether they caught on so well because they 457 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: had this terrific sound quality, or that the sound quality, 458 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,359 Speaker 1: because it was attached to these incredibly popular movies, thus 459 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,480 Speaker 1: became more popular. It doesn't really matter. I mean, I 460 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: would say that the sound was certainly an integral part 461 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: of what made those movies an amazing experience. And in fact, 462 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 1: George Lucas gives incredible amounts of credit to Dolby and 463 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: Dolbie Labs for making Star Wars immersive. He said that, 464 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,119 Speaker 1: you know, that's what gave me the ability to create 465 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: the experience I had imagined. Grant he said that way 466 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: back in the in the late seventies, I suppose when 467 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,119 Speaker 1: he went back and decided to ruin the Star Wars 468 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: movies with all the special editions, he was thinking that 469 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,360 Speaker 1: maybe he didn't really achieve what he had planned on achieving. 470 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: That's kind of commentary will skip on the rest of that. 471 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: But but but at any rate, this was you know, 472 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,879 Speaker 1: this was a huge industry game chain and I believe 473 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 1: that tech stuff that that Jonathan and Chris, you guys 474 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,680 Speaker 1: did a whole episode on surround sound back in Yeah, 475 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,679 Speaker 1: So if you want to learn more about how surround 476 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,480 Speaker 1: sound works, definitely go back and listen to that podcast. 477 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,920 Speaker 1: It's from August time. The name is what is surround sound? 478 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: If you're looking for it, yep, yep, So go check 479 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: that out because we're not going to cover surround sounds 480 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: so much as we're gonna cover the signal to noise stretchers. 481 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: At the end of this episode. Um, now, when we're 482 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: getting into an interesting time in Dolby Labs is history. 483 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: At this point. In nineteen seventy nine, William Jasper joins 484 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: Dolby Labs, and Jasper was a little different from the 485 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: average person who worked at Delby. Basically everyone who worked 486 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: there at the time was a technician, yeah, including Dolby himself. 487 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 1: And so that works great when you're building products, but 488 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: any person who is especially handling a complex business will 489 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,200 Speaker 1: tell you if you don't have the expertise and things 490 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: like managing a budget and people and cetera, yeah, that 491 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 1: that your company can end up going straight, uh, even 492 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: if you are working your hardest to make sure that 493 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,440 Speaker 1: doesn't happen. And they were working their hardest, I mean there, 494 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: but their response to having any kind of monetary problem 495 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: was to innovate wonderful new technology, which is, you know, 496 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: a fine thing for a business to do, but also 497 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,360 Speaker 1: so expensive and also yeah, it's also not the best plan. 498 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,920 Speaker 1: So essentially what's saying what we're saying here is that 499 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: anytime Dolby Labs got into some financial uh you know, 500 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: like like they're starting to creep toward the red right, 501 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,479 Speaker 1: like they're gonna lose more money than they bring in 502 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 1: then they would end up making some sort of new 503 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: product and that would stave off that and make make 504 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: sure that they were doing okay. But that was a 505 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: lot of short term reactions, and bringing Jasper on as 506 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: a manager was sort of a long term solution, saying, well, 507 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: let's get someone in here who knows how to manage people. 508 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 1: And that's exactly what Jasper's background was in. So Jasper 509 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: starts by making some pretty tough choices. For example, he 510 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: ends up laying off about a third of Delby Labs 511 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: employees in both the San Francisco and London offices. He 512 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: said that the purpose for that was because of budgetary problems, 513 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: like you had to do it in order for the 514 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: company itself to remain strong. Um, so they continue to innovate. Yeah, yeah, 515 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: despite all of those, all of those layoffs. Um, you know, 516 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: Jasper kind of got the system working again, and over 517 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,680 Speaker 1: the next decade they would they would introduce surround sound 518 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: systems for television, compact discs, and laser discs. Nineteen eighty, 519 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: Dolby Labs would introduce the C type Dolby's that I 520 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier in this episode, which you know, the higher 521 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 1: grade consumer version of the those original type stretchers right. Um. 522 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: In two they would introduce Dolby Surround for home video right, 523 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: which again for people who are big home entertainment theater enthusiasts, 524 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: that was a huge deal. In nineteen eighty three, William 525 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: Jasper would become the president of Dolby Labs. By the way, 526 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: all through this time, Ray Dolby retained ownership of the company. 527 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: He was the chairman of the board until the late 528 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: the late odds, the late two thousand something, so he 529 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: he was, um, you know, he was actually at this 530 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: time the really the sole owner of the company, so 531 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 1: it's still privately held company. At this time seven, Ray 532 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: Delby becomes an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of 533 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: the British Empire, which means, I guess said O B 534 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 1: E at the end of his name. It does not 535 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: mean he's a knight. Knighthood would require a higher ranking 536 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 1: than O. B. E. But still he was not more 537 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: highly regarded in the eyes of Her Majesty the Queen 538 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 1: than I don't worry, Jonathan, I'm still waiting them. She 539 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: never returns my calls. Yeah, anyway, I'll have her over 540 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: for tea sometime. I swear it So nineteen eighty nine, 541 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: Dolby receives an Oscar for his contributions to the motion 542 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 1: picture sound Uh seven, he received an award from then 543 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: President Bill Clinton. Stn't when we can still call him 544 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: President Clinton. He's not the current president. No, but you 545 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: get that title forever, you know, I mean, I don't 546 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: have that title. But one day he doesn't return my 547 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: calls either for the for the record, at any rate, 548 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: he was awarded. Dolby was awarded the National Medal of 549 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: Technology and Innovation. And here is Dolby's speech, which I love. 550 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: The first part of your life is education, the second 551 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: part is hard work, and then you get discovered and 552 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:35,920 Speaker 1: people start handing you awards. That's exactly how short and sweet, 553 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: very very modest man by, a very humble according to 554 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: all reports that I read, where he loved working on 555 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: the stuff he worked on, and he loved also we'll 556 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: talk about some of his hobbies. He loved those very 557 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: much as well, and of course his family. But was 558 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 1: not the kind of person to, you know, revel in 559 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: these things or boast in them. He was just very 560 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 1: determined and enjoyed working on something. Yeah, yeah, I think 561 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: he was just one of these people who had that 562 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 1: drive to create all of this stuff in the experiment. Um. 563 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: For for that, he was awarded in two thousand three 564 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: by the Emmy's with a Lifetime Achievement Award yep, and 565 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 1: two thousand four he was inducted into the Royal Academy 566 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: of Engineers. In two thousand five, Dolby Labs then finally 567 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: goes public and this move ends up getting uh, Ray 568 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: Dolby around, like his shares are worth around two hundred 569 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,400 Speaker 1: million dollars at that point. Yeah, he became a pretty 570 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: much instant billionaire. Yeah. Yeah, that that rocketed him to 571 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: billionaire status. And in two thousand nine Dolby retires as 572 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 1: the chairman of the company board. And uh yeah it was, um, 573 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 1: you know, pretty pretty remarkable time for Dolby Labs and 574 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,959 Speaker 1: also sadly for Ray Dolby because it was around this 575 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: time also that he discovered that he had contracted Alzheimer's. 576 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: So uh and by two thousand eleven he had officially 577 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,600 Speaker 1: retired because even even a stepping down, he was still 578 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,840 Speaker 1: working on things. He was still working on systems and 579 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: um yeah, so that that kind of is the you know, 580 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: and of course he passed away September twelve. Yes, yeah, 581 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: so that that's a look at his life. But more 582 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: than that, I mean he obviously he won multiple awards. 583 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: He won Oscar Awards, Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award. He 584 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 1: has a theater named after him, the Theater where the 585 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,719 Speaker 1: Oscars are held every year, theater right as a as 586 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: a tribute to him, his Adobe Labs secured the name 587 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: of that for the next twenty years. Yeah, that was 588 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 1: formerly the Kodak Theater. I've actually visited that theater and um, 589 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: because I I've stayed in Hollywood a couple of times 590 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: and I stayed near that theater. It's a really it's 591 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: a really interesting place. I mean, it's a cool design. 592 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: I like it a lot. Um And then you know, 593 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: let's talk about some of his hobbies, some of his interests. 594 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: He was. He sat as the director of the San 595 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 1: Francisco Opera for a while. Um, he was also on 596 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: the He was a governor of the the Symphony, the 597 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: San Francisco Symphony as well. Obviously, that love of music 598 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 1: doesn't go away. Sure, And when you're as big a 599 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: person as doll be Er, as as you know, influential, influential, 600 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:18,239 Speaker 1: then I'm not sure if he was that tall. That's 601 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,839 Speaker 1: not what I was saying. Um. He also was an 602 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: amateur pilot. Yep. He loved sailing and boating. He had 603 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: a yacht. He also liked to drive for pleasure. I 604 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,920 Speaker 1: loved reading about some of his driving adventures. Like he 605 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 1: he drove a vintage Jeep around for a while just 606 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,360 Speaker 1: to explore the San Francisco area and California in general. 607 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 1: He also for a while enjoyed driving essentially what was 608 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:44,719 Speaker 1: the same thing as a tour bus, like a like 609 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: a tour bus that rock musicians would use. He liked 610 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: driving one of those around us. So curious. It's a 611 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: very interesting character and um. Also he and his wife 612 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,319 Speaker 1: both uh were philanthropist. She still is obviously, She's still 613 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: very much involve and philanthropy, all right. She she inherited 614 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: his his his multitudinous fortunes, and he was worth around 615 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 1: two point four billion dollars at the time of his death. 616 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,799 Speaker 1: And one of the projects they donated money to was 617 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: they donated like thirty five million dollars to the University 618 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,799 Speaker 1: of California, San Francisco for stem cell research projects and 619 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 1: instead of flowers when when they announced the passing of 620 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 1: Ray Dolby, the family said, well, and lieu of Flowers, 621 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: why not make a donation too, And they listed a 622 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:35,120 Speaker 1: couple of different medical facilities that specifically do Alzheimer's research 623 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 1: and a little bit into leukemia as well, which is 624 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:41,719 Speaker 1: he actually passed away from right right, So uh, you 625 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,360 Speaker 1: know there they were very much active, and she still 626 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,240 Speaker 1: is in scientific endeavors not you know, it's all sorts 627 00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: of philanthropic endeavors, not just the arts, but also the sciences. Um. 628 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: So that's and to really, I think, to be fair 629 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: to Dolby, he would not distinguished between the two. He 630 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 1: felt art and science really it were interwoven. Oh sure, well, 631 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,280 Speaker 1: you know it's he he was so influential in bringing 632 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:07,839 Speaker 1: in bringing the two together. You know, it's you can't 633 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: have you can't have art without the applications that allow 634 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: more people to experience it. And you know, this has 635 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: been a fun time to look back on on his 636 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:21,160 Speaker 1: life and his contributions. We've got more about the Dolby 637 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:24,640 Speaker 1: Sound System coming up, but first let's take another quick break. 638 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: Let's take the last part of this podcast to really 639 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,360 Speaker 1: talk about what put Ray Dolby on the map. The 640 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: signal to noise stretchers, Like what exactly was that all 641 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,440 Speaker 1: about and how did they work? Yeah? Yeah, okay, So 642 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:48,360 Speaker 1: what actually causes tape hiss? Okay, So magnetic tape you know, 643 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,640 Speaker 1: has a little magnetic particles in it that that's what stores, 644 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: you know, and encoded. So it's that grain structure that 645 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 1: let's see store it, right, and that grain structure actually 646 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,960 Speaker 1: creates that hissing noise. So it's the it's the medium 647 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: itself that produces the hiss, which means you cannot remove 648 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,440 Speaker 1: You cannot remove it because if you if you had 649 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,359 Speaker 1: a smooth tape, then you wouldn't be able to store 650 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: anything on it. So that's the that's you know, the 651 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,560 Speaker 1: kind of the double edged sword. It allows you to 652 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 1: store sound, but it also will create this his So 653 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,799 Speaker 1: how do you handle this? Well, you know, first of all, 654 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,840 Speaker 1: it's really noticeable. Uh, if you have something that's playing 655 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:29,360 Speaker 1: at a low volume, particularly at a higher pitch, or 656 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,439 Speaker 1: something that's that's recorded at a low volume, right right, right, 657 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: So when you play it back any of those low 658 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,520 Speaker 1: volume parts, you're going to be you're going to notice 659 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 1: the hiss more if it's a louder part in the recording. 660 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:44,920 Speaker 1: Like let's say that you've recorded a symphony and the 661 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 1: symphony starts off softly but then builds to this well, 662 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:51,359 Speaker 1: during the crescendo, you may not notice any hiss at all. 663 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it's just the the sound itself is at 664 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,960 Speaker 1: an intensity where there's no noticeable hiss, but maybe at 665 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 1: the softer, slower parts you can kind of detect it. 666 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: And that was what Delby found to be infuriating and 667 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: needed to be wiped off the face of magnetic tape. 668 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,280 Speaker 1: So what he did was well. And also we should 669 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,480 Speaker 1: mention that this is more noticeable if you're playing the 670 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,840 Speaker 1: magnetic tape back at a slower speed, so real to 671 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:18,839 Speaker 1: real tape plays tape quickly compared to cassette tape. Right, 672 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,920 Speaker 1: So if you're doing real to real, that speed is 673 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:23,320 Speaker 1: about seven and a half inches per second, which equals 674 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,279 Speaker 1: out to be about nineteen centimeters per second. But a 675 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,960 Speaker 1: cassette tape plays magnetic tape much more slowly, at about 676 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: one and seven eighth inches per second, or about four 677 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: point eight centimeters per second. So cassette tapes move slowly 678 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,880 Speaker 1: compared to real to real. So at that slow speed 679 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:43,760 Speaker 1: with that narrow band, if you're playing a low volume, 680 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,160 Speaker 1: high pitch sound, you're gonna hear a lot of hiss 681 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,560 Speaker 1: comparatively speaking. And and as Dolby was noticing that cassettes 682 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 1: were becoming more of a thing, you know what, more 683 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:55,960 Speaker 1: of a capable technology. Sure, yeah, yeah exactly, he was like, well, 684 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,000 Speaker 1: we've got to address this because otherwise no one will 685 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:00,480 Speaker 1: ever want to listen to anything. I certainly I won't, 686 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 1: so yeah, So what he decided to do is he 687 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,560 Speaker 1: came up with a system for both recording and the 688 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: playback of of stuff that you were recording onto magnetic tape. 689 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,320 Speaker 1: The recording element was a system where you would boost 690 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,920 Speaker 1: low volume signals going onto the tape, so you would 691 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:22,360 Speaker 1: artificially intensify them, you make them where they would essentially 692 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: overpower the hiss uh. And then when you would play 693 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,839 Speaker 1: it back, a decoder would interpret this and be able 694 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,279 Speaker 1: to play it back at the low volume right, so 695 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't get the the high volume played back 696 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:39,959 Speaker 1: at additional volume. Right. So, so here's how they would 697 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,360 Speaker 1: target the low volume parts, so parts of their quieter 698 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:45,520 Speaker 1: that gets targeted by a system and then it gets 699 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:49,879 Speaker 1: artificially boosted and then recorded to the magnetic tape. When 700 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,719 Speaker 1: it's played back at the you know it and the 701 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 1: decoder says, okay, play this at a lower volume the 702 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,839 Speaker 1: original volume that it was intended to be at. It 703 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,719 Speaker 1: reduces the hiss down by the same amount that the 704 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 1: signal itself had been boosted in the first place. And 705 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 1: so the his is still there, it's just inaudible because 706 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:11,560 Speaker 1: it's it's so quiet, so uh. And then since you're 707 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:13,800 Speaker 1: not treating the high volume parts, you don't have to 708 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,919 Speaker 1: worry about blowing out the capacity of the magnet tape 709 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,360 Speaker 1: to record that sound and then distored everything right, and 710 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,840 Speaker 1: the hiss also is not noticeable at the or or 711 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: it's not very noticeable at the high volume things because 712 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: as we said before, the sound is already drowning it 713 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,320 Speaker 1: out exactly. So in other words, it doesn't really remove 714 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,840 Speaker 1: the hiss. It kind of masks it, which is brilliant. 715 00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:37,239 Speaker 1: I mean, you don't have to remove it if you're 716 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 1: not able to hear it, right, it just goes this 717 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:40,920 Speaker 1: is not the hiss you're looking for. It's kind of 718 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,400 Speaker 1: to me, it's like theater. So if you're in a 719 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 1: theater like a stage theater, and you're watching a play. 720 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 1: You know, the set you see looks gorgeous, but if 721 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:49,920 Speaker 1: you were to walk behind that set, it would just 722 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,680 Speaker 1: be plywood and you know, stands and stuff like that, 723 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,960 Speaker 1: because it only has to look good from the side 724 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,040 Speaker 1: that you can perceive it. So if you can't perceive 725 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 1: the rest of it, don't don't bother building a set 726 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 1: that's never gonna be seen. Peter Jackson, um. So anyway, Uh, 727 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,799 Speaker 1: that's you know, that's kind of the low down the 728 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:15,879 Speaker 1: basics of how this worked. Now Type A Dolby's did 729 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 1: this with all frequencies of sounds, so whether it was 730 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:21,080 Speaker 1: a low pitch or a high pitch, it would handle 731 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,960 Speaker 1: that all of it, So that way you would have 732 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,840 Speaker 1: it would make all of the his the least amount 733 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,520 Speaker 1: of noticeable. It's possible, exactly. That's really awesome grammar. Sorry, 734 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:34,320 Speaker 1: I do it too. But the consumer version focused mainly 735 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,960 Speaker 1: on high pitches because that was where the problem was 736 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:40,040 Speaker 1: most noticeable, and so it didn't really bother with the 737 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: low pitches so much. Because most consumer quality recording equipment 738 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 1: you didn't have to worry about it as much. You 739 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,120 Speaker 1: didn't have to be so good that this is the 740 00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: master recording for something. Then uh, the Type C, like 741 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,560 Speaker 1: we said, handled a slightly wider range of frequencies than 742 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,080 Speaker 1: the Type B did, and once you get up to UH, 743 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:01,200 Speaker 1: I think it was spectral recording where they introduced the 744 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 1: ability to handle pretty much all volumes below a certain 745 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,960 Speaker 1: threshold and all frequencies. So it the goal was actually 746 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:13,279 Speaker 1: to do as little production as possible, to remove hiss 747 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,640 Speaker 1: without affecting the final sound, because the other risk you 748 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,239 Speaker 1: run whenever you do this sort of thing is that 749 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,040 Speaker 1: you actually affect the sound of the thing itself, where 750 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: you might remove the hiss, but you also somehow otherwise 751 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:28,759 Speaker 1: affect the sound and thus it's not a good recreation 752 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,560 Speaker 1: of what the original sound was. So, you know, it 753 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:36,160 Speaker 1: was a delicate line to walk. But as technology improved overall, 754 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,840 Speaker 1: um with with with computers and algorithms and everything that 755 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,160 Speaker 1: could go into this kind of process, and um, they 756 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:43,680 Speaker 1: were able to, I mean because because keeping costs down 757 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:46,799 Speaker 1: was always an important part of this Dolby system. Yeah, 758 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,640 Speaker 1: and of course we're talking here all about analog. Dolby 759 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 1: himself resisted the digital revolution quite a bit in the 760 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:57,400 Speaker 1: early eighties, but eventually Delby Labs did come around. Obviously, 761 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,480 Speaker 1: because if you've seen Dolby Digital everywhere now, but at 762 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:05,120 Speaker 1: the time, the the whole spectral recording idea that was 763 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,400 Speaker 1: mostly to try and extend the life of analog recording 764 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: beyond what most of the industry thought it was going 765 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:15,040 Speaker 1: to do. You know, they thought it was over. Spectral 766 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,240 Speaker 1: recording comes out like, okay, well you've extended a lifespan 767 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,720 Speaker 1: by like five years. And eventually Dolby Digital would become 768 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:23,000 Speaker 1: a big player in that space. But it was one 769 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:25,799 Speaker 1: of those things that Dolby himself resisted for a while. 770 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: He had a real soft spot in his heart for analog. Um. 771 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:32,160 Speaker 1: He felt felt that digital was a little a little cold, 772 00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:36,279 Speaker 1: and you know, early implementations were not the best, right 773 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,600 Speaker 1: were they were perfect? We'll say yes. Although Dolby Labs 774 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:42,800 Speaker 1: has certainly gotten into the digital space, yes, as we said, 775 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,440 Speaker 1: and they lead it now so or at least they 776 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,920 Speaker 1: are a leader. Um. Also, I mean they're they're continuing 777 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:53,759 Speaker 1: to bring out new systems. For example, Dolby Atmos, which 778 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:57,520 Speaker 1: is a sixty four speaker theatrical sound system. Some two 779 00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 1: theaters installed it when it first came out. But what 780 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: was really cool about this system, the sixty four speaker 781 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,839 Speaker 1: system is that it's so precise that you could even 782 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,879 Speaker 1: program a sound to come from only one of those 783 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,759 Speaker 1: sixty four speakers. So if you wanted to pinpoint a 784 00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:15,920 Speaker 1: specific point of origin for a sound in a theater, 785 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,960 Speaker 1: you could do that, which would be interesting because it 786 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:21,280 Speaker 1: would mean that your experience of that film would depend 787 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,520 Speaker 1: heavily upon where you sat, because if you sat closer 788 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:26,319 Speaker 1: to the speaker, it would be louder to you. If 789 00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,319 Speaker 1: you sit sat further away, it would be softer. But 790 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: either way, you sure there's I mean, there's always going 791 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:33,440 Speaker 1: to be a sweet spot in the theater. And I 792 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,560 Speaker 1: think that the general rule is that when when they're 793 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,359 Speaker 1: designing these kind of theater systems, the people designing them 794 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:41,439 Speaker 1: are sitting kind of two thirds of the way back 795 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,279 Speaker 1: and dead center in the room. And so if you 796 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,880 Speaker 1: really want to get the best sound system, and Holly 797 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,400 Speaker 1: Holly Fry did an excellent brain Stuff episode about this, 798 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,400 Speaker 1: and if any of you guys are watching brain Stuff 799 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:55,080 Speaker 1: over on YouTube or test tube, but it's generally designed 800 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:58,520 Speaker 1: so that so that anyone will get a pretty good experience, 801 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:02,000 Speaker 1: right right, So let's let's close this out with a 802 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 1: couple of quotes from the man himself from Ray Dolby. Um, 803 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,440 Speaker 1: here's one of mine, and it's it's the longer of 804 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,640 Speaker 1: the two. It's uh. I've often thought that I would 805 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 1: have made a great nineteenth century engineer, because I love machinery. 806 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:18,360 Speaker 1: I would have liked to have been in position to 807 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 1: make a better steam engine, or to invent the first 808 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:24,399 Speaker 1: internal combustion engine, to work on the first car. All 809 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:29,840 Speaker 1: my life, I've loved everything that goes. I mean, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, jeeps, boats, 810 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:33,760 Speaker 1: sail or power airplanes, helicopters. I love all of these things, 811 00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:35,839 Speaker 1: and I just regret that I was born in a 812 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:38,920 Speaker 1: time when most of those mechanical problems had already been 813 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:45,840 Speaker 1: solved and what remained were electronic problems. That's kind of funny. No, No, 814 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,560 Speaker 1: it's it's it's beautiful though. That's that's so and that 815 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:52,040 Speaker 1: really uh. I, especially having done a bunch of episodes 816 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:56,600 Speaker 1: relatively recently about some of the build up to modern technology, 817 00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 1: right and and talking about what was going on and 818 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:02,880 Speaker 1: in the eight in the early early twentieth century, that 819 00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:05,799 Speaker 1: was just fascinating to me. Another one that that I 820 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:09,520 Speaker 1: really love, and that wraps up this classic episode of 821 00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:11,480 Speaker 1: tech stuff hope you guys enjoyed it. If you have 822 00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:14,840 Speaker 1: any suggestions for future topics we can cover on tech Stuff, 823 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: let me know. The best way to do that is 824 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:19,080 Speaker 1: to hop on over to Twitter and use the handle 825 00:46:19,239 --> 00:46:22,000 Speaker 1: tech stuff hs W and I'll talk to you again 826 00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 1: really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 827 00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,560 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 828 00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,920 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 829 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:37,880 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.