PreSonus Audio Electronics, a company known for its audio-recording and live-sound software, hardware and related accessories, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It’s been a long road since Jim Odom and Brian Smith designed, built and sold their first piece of professional audio equipment back in 1995. Working in a borrowed garage space in their home city of Baton Rouge LA, they created the first affordable product that could digitally control analog audio signal dynamics.
“At the time we designed our DCP-8, other options were esoteric gear costing tens of thousands of dollars,” Odom recalled. “We were recording and wanted the same equipment as the big studios, but we couldn’t afford it. So, we built our own, starting PreSonus with three employees and an output of five or six units a week. Then and now, our philosophy has been to design products that people can afford.”
Moving twice to larger quarters, Odom and Smith went on to introduce such innovative products as DigiMax (2000), the first eight-channel microphone preamplifier with ADAT Lightpipe output; Central Station (2004), the first monitor controller with talkback; and some of the first multi-channel FireWire interfaces, including the FirePod (2004), FireStudio series and AudioBox USB (2008).
In 2006, a Hamburg, Germany-based startup company founded by ex-Steinberg developers began working on Capture and Studio One in cooperation with PreSonus. The partnership brought great results, leading to the acquisition of the company as PreSonus Software Ltd. By 2008, sales were up to $20 million annually, and Odom decided it was time for more professional leadership, so he could assume the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Longtime industry veteran Jim Mack was hired as CEO.
In 2009, the company launched its StudioLive series of digital mixers, and the innovation has just continued from there. In 2014, PreSonus reinvented the software/hardware mixing relationship by introducing UC-Surface touch-controlled software for the new StudioLive RM-series rack mixers. This software will be ported to support StudioLive AI console mixers early this year. The adoption of Dante and AVB networking support for StudioLive AI mixers, loudspeakers and WorxAudio line arrays will allow the company to provide even more innovative, tightly integrated live sound solutions.