PreSonus Blog

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 2012… On August 22, 2012, PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc., hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new high-tech headquarters and research facility. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal led the list of guests of honor, attending in recognition of PreSonus’ contributions to the state and local economy.

A leading manufacturer of digital and analog hardware and integrated software systems for the professional audio market, PreSonus has expanded from 49 employees in 2009 to more than 130 employees worldwide, including the 80 full-time employees who are overflowing its current offices on Florida Boulevard.  According to PreSonus CEO Jim Mack, PreSonus has grown its revenues by more than 50% last year and is slated to enter new product categories to continue its growth.

Designed by local architects Ritter Maher, LLC, and developed by Moniotte Investments, the new 44,000-square-foot building—located at 19151 Highland Road—will cost approximately $8.3 million including land and development.  Completion is expected in the late summer of 2013. It will easily accommodate at least 125 employees—crucial because PreSonus is continuing to grow and hire—and offers many amenities that are not available in the company’s current space.

Among the unique features of this building will be a specialized high-tech recording studio/R&D space that is being custom-designed for PreSonus’ engineering and testing teams by the award-winning Walters-Storyk Design Group of Highland, New York. The 2,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art studio will feature a control room, a 500-square-foot live-sound room, two isolation rooms, a video-production suite, five test labs as well as a separate 1,500-square-foot live-sound room.

PreSonus’ rapid growth, local hiring, and emphasis on digital engineering qualified it for LED Digital Interactive Media and Software Development tax-credits. This program supports the creation of quality digital-engineering jobs that stay in the Baton Rouge community. Historically, companies like PreSonus have usually located on the East or West Coast. However, the tax-credit program has helped make it possible for PreSonus to grow and prosper in its home city, investing these funds in new engineering staff and in research and development. Many of the new hires are highly skilled digital-hardware and software engineers residing in the Baton Rouge area.

Much of the engineering team graduated from the LSU Engineering Department, and the company was recently named to the LSU 100 Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses. PreSonus also is working with LSU in an effort to develop local design talent through the university’s outstanding engineering programs and internships.

August 22 marks the beginning of the next stage of PreSonus’ growth and its continuing contributions to high-tech employment in Baton Rouge. Look for much more to come from this vibrant company.

Hey!

You’re invited to PreSonuSphere 2012 our second annual users conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER and/or get more info.

Sept. 28th & 29th 2012.

Mark Williams: Director of International Sales and Business Development 

On Stage: Mark’s academic background includes a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Alabama and a Master’s degree in multimedia management from Northeastern Louisiana University. He gained practical broadcasting experience at WVUA radio, the University of Alabama Center for Public Television, and KNLU radio, and he also worked for MK Magazine in Chicago. Mark has DJ’d, mixed live sound, and recorded hundreds of bands at an assortment of clubs in several American cities. At Bluff Road Recording in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he worked with such artists as Master P, Silk the Shocker, Al Hirt, Mystikal, and Outcast. For six years, Mark did production, promotions, and marketing for Invisible Records, and material that he recorded, produced, or mastered has appeared in such TV shows and movies as The Wood, MTV, VH1, BET, and The Box.

Now in his twelfth year at PreSonus Audio Electronics, Mark Williams currently owns a recording studio and media label, ALAB Media, and plays in a rock band. His new album is being produced by Martin Atkins, whose credits include Public Image Limited, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails.

Behind the Desk: Mark’s PreSonus bandmates marvel at how he successfully manages a territory that encompasses the entire planet except for the United States. He has built the PreSonus global-distribution network from the ground up and handles sales, service, training, shipping, and warehousing for customers in more than 60 countries. He also manages OEM manufacturing, custom equipment development, and a lot more. Mark is like a multi-instrumentalist who can play every instrument well: we don’t know how he does it, but we’re thankful he’s in our band!

“Working at PreSonus is an absolute dream. The company is filled with wonderful people who are intelligent and passionate about our products and our industry. Everyone here is an engineer, musician, or enthusiast. It’s also fantastic that we still maintain our small, innovative company vibe yet can move quickly to produce goods for the global market.”

Hey! Like Effects pedals? Like ’em weird? Check out Pigtronix. We did a little interview with them at The NAMM Show, and what a bunch of cool dudes (and pedals) they were. Watch Ryan get his mind blown.

Want a free AudioBox 1818VSL? It’s easy! I mean, I’d write some little thing on a scrap of paper and take a picture for a shot at a $600 prize, wouldn’t you? Heck yes. I mean, that’s all you have to do—and fill out a little form. You also have to make sure that the Sweepstakes is legal in your area. (AKA Void Where Prohibited)  We’ll deliver the prize to anywhere FedEx delivers.

It could be yours…

Here’s the short version of the rules:

1. Shoot a photo containing you, your PreSonus gear, and the #TeamPreSonus hashtag in the photo. See example below.
2. Upload said photo to your platform of choice. We recommend Twitter or Instagram.
3. Submit the link to your photo and some basic entry info to the form linked here. That’s it! Winner will be chosen at random on or around September 14.
4. The winner will receive anAudioBox 1818VSL! 

Sadly, I’m not eligible.

Complete, lawyer-appeasing official rules are over at Facebook.

[ZOMG, we just got a great e-mail from The folks at PAR, letting us know that we were nominated so GET OVER THERE AND VOTE, #TeamPreSonus!]

Congratulations! PreSonus’ Studio One 2 and StudioLive 16.0.2 have been nominated for 2012 PAR Excellence Awards in the Digital Audio Workstations and Small Live Controllers/Mixers/Worksurfaces (Under $2,500) categories, respectively. August 2012 marks the PAR Excellence Awards’ re-introduction as a reader-voted program, presented by the Editors and Contributors of Pro Audio Review (PAR) magazine. 

Online voting on the list of nominees by PAR print and digital readers (subscribers only) will be open from the mail date of the August issue through Friday, November 16, 2012. PAR Excellence winners will be announced in the December issue of Pro Audio Review and simultaneously online at prosoundnetwork.com, PAR’s shared website with sister publication, Pro Sound News.

Nominations for the 2012 PAR Excellence Awards were developed through the brain trust of PAR Editors and Contributors. Nominations were based on the “I want to own this” principle; gear selected should have a proven field track record, performed well via PAR’s “real world” review process, or — in the case of recently released products — have shown particular promise through demonstrations, beta-testing and among early adopters.

Click here to watch on Aug 15, 12 noon – 4 p.m. CST: http://www.presonus.com/videos/presonuslive/
NOT A RERUN: NEW STUFF!

We’ve got another live Terence Higgins Music SWAMP GREASE show coming up! This time we’re going to take the incredibly hot tracks we recorded in the last webcast and mix them into a finished product. Get an incredible behind-the-scenes look at some incredible talent—and incredible software: PreSonus Studio One. 🙂

Click here to watch on Aug 15, 2-4 p.m. CST: http://www.presonus.com/videos/presonuslive/

Hot off the Final Cut Pro, we’ve got a few more videos from the Summer NAMM show floor! First up is a look at Electro-Harmonix’s latest offerings. Mike from EHX bends your ear, while Ryan contemplates his gear hoarding problem whilst coveting a SuperEgo.

ROCK DUO BREAKERBOX RELEASE NEW SINGLE “SUMMERTIME”
CO-PRODUCED BY CHRIS BASEFORD RECORDED AT TOMMY LEE’S ATRUIM STUDIOS
“SUMMERTIME” IS AVAILABLE AUGUST 14 EXCLUSIVELY ON BREAKERBOX.TV
AND ON iTUNES AUGUST 28

###

BREAKERBOX TAKES FANS ON A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE RECORDING OF  “SUMMERTIME”  

BREAKERBOX opening for SEETHER at The Harbor, Buffalo, NY 7-12-12

Rock outfit Breakerbox (Christina DeNee and Scott Calandra) collaborated with producer Chris Baseford (Rob Zombie, Tommy Lee, John 5) on their brand new single “Summertime,” recorded at Tommy Lee’s Atrium Studios.  “Summertime”  is available on August 14 exclusively on Breakerbox.tv and on iTunes August 28th.  Breakerbox  reveals a behind-the-scenes video chronicling the recording of the song today (August 10) on YouTube.  See “Summertime” video here.

“Breakerbox is a talented, hardworking band and being able to dive into the studio with Scott and Christina was an absolute pleasure,” said producer Chris Baseford. ” ‘Summertime’ is going to blow some minds.  We were able to create a heavy, aggressive yet melodic, hooky sound which a lot of people are going to dig!  Can’t wait to finish the rest of the new songs in the works.”

“Summertime,” is a departure from their darker debut album These Are Strange Days and captures the feeling of driving around in the summertime with your crush and just having fun.  Don’t let them fool you…the Breakerbox signature sound of hard driving guitars, integral rock drumming , unique funk synth work and DeNee’s powerhouse vocals are all there to prove #RockisAlive!  Even Tommy Lee praised the song when he messaged the band from the Motley Crue Tour giving them his rock stamp of approval.

“We are in a totally different place, a different mindset than at the time we recorded These Are Strange Days — it was in the midst of a bad Buffalo winter and we felt like we were on a little dark island,” said Christina DeNee. ” ‘Summertime’ was recorded in the middle of a Southern California summer, it is uptempo and reflects how we feel today..it’s a bigger, bolder rock sound and we weren’t afraid to take some chances.”

Adds Scott Calandra, “We have surrounded ourselves with great collaborators and players ,and with Chris, were able to take our music to a new place.  We truly are enjoying the fact we have found our sound and others get it and want to be a part of it.”

In addition to recording new material, the Buffalo, NY natives recently fronted a sold out show with  Seether  at the famed “Thursday at The Harbor,” concert where over 10,000 people were in attendance, the biggest turn out ever for an opening band in the history of the venue.  More dates coming soon.

Listen ::  Summertime
Listen :: These Are Strange Days
See :: Summertime Teaser Video
More Info :: Breakerbox.TV

Press Contact:  Lisa Vega / lisa@lisavegagroup.com / 213.247.3075 / www.lisavegagroup.com

[This comes to us from Steve Freeman of Camp Jam.]

Camp Jam is the ultimate and only national rock music camp. The camp was created by renowned rock guitarist/songwriter Jeff Carlisi of .38 Special and his longtime business partner Danny Lipson. Held in 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada, Camp Jam offers a number of unique music programs for musicians of all skill levels, including a summer day camp for rockers age 11-17, one for pint-size rockers ages 7-10 and week-long overnight music camps in Chicago, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Boston, San Diego, Seattle, DC and Denver areas for ages 12-17.

The camp has gained national prominence since launching in 2004. As an innovative summer camp, the Camp Jam program gives young musicians the chance to collaborate with their musical peers for the rock ‘n’ roll experience of a lifetime—from forming their own bands and playing a concert to hanging out with rock music legends and recording a CD. More importantly, Camp Jam offers them the opportunity to improve their performance skills, build confidence, and practice teamwork; all lessons that last long after their week at Camp jam is over.

As the national director, musician and instructor, it is important to me that Camp Jam has an educational element in addition to the overall band experience. In developing the curriculum we are always looking for ways make it better and more relevant to today’s musician. Audio software has drastically changed how we record music, so it was inevitable that Camp Jam would include recording as part of the curriculum at some time.

At NAMM 2010 I stopped by the PreSonus booth and was introduced to PreSonus and Studio One for the first time. I was really impressed with the software and contacted Brad Zell, their Marketing Communications Director, when I returned home. Brad offered to provide all our campers with a Studio One download code, so I began searching for the right person to write the curriculum and course outline to implement Studio One Professionsal into our 2011 schedule.

I was introduced to Darryl Swann, Macy Gray’s Grammy Award-winning producer, who picked up on the program idea and created a book for Camp Jam (available through the Camp Jam website) titled Killer Song Writing Producing and Recording. The book and course outline is easy reading with pictures and simple explanations.

For the 2012 curriculum, we put together pedal boards dontated by SKB that were crafted into complete studios in a box. Brad loaned Camp Jam several AudioBox 1818VSLs and Digimax D8’s for the project. These studios in a box were used in the recording class to record the original songs created by Camp Jam’s overnight campers.

This has been the best Camp Jam season yet, and we are very grateful to have a company like PreSonus interested in providing the tools we need to help develop these young rockers into seasoned musicians.

Camp Jam is offering readers of this blog $50 off registration for 2013. Just call 800 513-0930, code word PreSonus. This is a call-in only discount, so hit us up!

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