Michael L. Dorrough (born January 1942), American inventor and audio engineer regarded as the “father of multi-band processing.” He is the founder of Dorrough Electronics and inventor of the Discriminate Audio Processor (DAP) in 1973, and the Dorrough Loudness Monitor. While the DAP product instantly changed audio processing in the broadcast world, the company is best known for its award-winning “eyebrow” scale audio loudness monitors in widespread use throughout the motion picture, recording and broadcast industries worldwide.

Biography

Born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Began his career as a recording engineer in 1963 at Casey Kasam and Bob Hudson's Emperor Productions. While focusing on recording, he maintained working relationships with several of the Los Angeles radio stations, bridging the gap between the two mediums, which enabled him to experiment with audio processing. Later at

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, he continued his research on his theory that audio processing should be directed toward perceived power and not on amplitude alone. The first composite tri-band processor was incorporated into the recording sessions of such artists as

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...

and

Carol Burnett Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. Her groundbreaking comedy variety show ''The Carol Burnett Show'', which originally aired on CBS was one of the first of its kind to be hosted ...

. In 1970 Dorrough Electronics was formed to market this product. Alware of the inconsistencies in the metering of program levels, he realized that to maintain consistent listening levels that there must be a relationship between the peak and the average content, and that both should be displayed on a common scale. His development of a LED meter displaying both peak and average ballistics with dual reference points is used for audio program level indications throughout the world. Dorrough is a native of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and lives in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

. He is married and has five children.

Awards and honors

* 1990

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products ...

: Fellowship Award presented for his development of multiband audio processing and the dual loudness meter, September 24. * 1993

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

: Technical Achievement Award for design and development of the compound meter known as the Dorrough Level Meter, February 26. * 2000

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...

: Radio Engineering Achievement Award for his significant contribution to the art of audio processing and audio monitoring, April 12. * 2000

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for the Dorrough Loudness Meter as the standard of the industry for accurately determining audio levels, July 11.

US Patents

* Dual Loudness Meter and Method; Patent number 4,528,501, June 9, 1985 * Dynamic Video Luminance and Chrominance Meter; Patent number 5,216,492, June 1, 1993 * Sequential Audio Switcher; Patent number 5,343,534, August 30, 1994 * Level Meter for Digitally Encoded Audio; Patent number 5,751,819, May 12, 1998 * Power Line Meter/Monitor with LED Display; Patent number 6,198,403, March 6, 2001

References

External links

*
This Week in Radio Tech Ep. 155 – Michael Dorrough 2-7-13Oral History Project Gallery—Michael Dorrough explains early studio signal processing

Michael Dorrough - Early Studio Recording

A History of Audio Processing: Part 2 – The Era of Multiband Processing
Living people 1942 births American audio engineers Engineers from San Francisco Emmy Award winners Engineers from California Academy Award for Technical Achievement winners {{US-audio-engineer-stub