Some history from the Sonnox site
Sony Oxford,
which was originally set up in the late 80's to design a high end pro
audio DSP system and bespoke software design tools. The target was to
take Sony into the high end recording studios. The team that
initiated the Oxford Group, combined a number of varied disciplines
which included:
•Digital
hardware design including DSP ASICs.
•High Quality
analogue audio and convertor design.
•Software and
specialised audio algorithm design.
•Mechanical and
graphic design.
•User interface
design.
•Record/mix
engineering.
The first
product was the Sony OXF-R3, or "Oxford" , as it's often
called. A high end digital mixer, it's greatly favoured by those who
care most about their sound, and it's that technology that the Oxford
Plug-Ins are based on. Our philosophy has always been to bring the
highest quality audio to the pro market at an affordable price.
Although
software maintenance of the OXF-R3 continued for some years, the core
activities of the group diversified. Oxford became the world leader
for development of 1-bit audio processing (DSD, the basis for SACD),
and additionally took a variety of R&D contracts from various
groups in Sony such as audio compression and delivery for the Disk
Technology Company in Japan, and audio processing and editing for a
Sony group in California that was developing a video workstation
product. One notable success has been a spin off technology from DSD
into an AES-recognised standard multi-channel audio interconnection
system called SuperMac. In parallel with these projects we
diversified further by re-purposing much of the original OXF-R3
development towards plugins, initially for Pro Tools. In April 2007
this plugins business was spun out of Sony and became Sonnox Ltd.
The Sony Oxford
Team consisted of a bunch of dedicated enthusiasts who cared
passionately about what they do, and this theme is carried forwards
with Sonnox. Most of the team are musicians and all have worked in
pro audio in various roles.
Philosophy
In line with our
philosophy, our aim is to position our products with an emphasis on
quality first, combined with operational ease. We always take the
time to make it right!
High End Quality Audio
Our pedigree,
for want of a better term, is the high end recording studio where
quality is crucial. Our technology has won over many a ‘golden ear'
who previously maintained you could ‘hear digital'. (That may have
been the case in the past!) We have a number of Grammy Award winners
that bought the OXF-R3 console, including George Massenburg, Peter
Gabriel and Mick Guzauski. We are currently selling the plugins to
these same luminaries, and many more besides!
Audio Engineering and Mastering
一番興味を持つのはマスタリングです。プロになることはないでしょうけど、個人的な趣味の範囲内でやっていくことを面白いと思います。マスタリングは経験が重要で、なおかつ多少のdegreeも必要です。聞く側がどんな場合においても同じように聞けるようなことが一番望ましい。聞く・感じる；さらにはバランスの良い音源・楽しみを作るなど＝マスタリングは非常にアートに近く、とてもいい趣味である。