dbx (company)

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (November 2017) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Russian article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 2,163 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Russian Wikipedia article at [[:ru:dbx (шумопонижение)]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|ru|dbx (шумопонижение)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (November 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

dbx, Inc.

Type	Pro Audio Manufacturer
Industry	Audio
Founded	1971
Headquarters	Sandy, Utah , United States
Key people	David E. Blackmer, Founder
Products	dbx noise reduction systems, compressors, EQs, active crossovers,
Parent	Harman International
Website	Dbxpro.com

dbx, Inc. is an American producer of professional audio recording equipment owned by Harman International, a subsidiary of South Korea-based company Samsung Electronics. It was founded by David E. Blackmer in 1971.^[1]

The original company goal was: "To get closer to the realism of a live performance." Its early products were based on the concept of using decibel expansion which gave the company its name.^[2] dbx is best known for the dbx noise reduction system.^[3] The dbx noise reduction system used compression while recording an audio track and symmetric expansion when playing it back. They also manufactured the Model 700, a unique but short-lived studio recording system, briefly popular in some circles as a mastering format. Another early product was the eXpanded range DeciBel meter, a little solid-state meter that measured audio voltages both weaker and stronger than other bigger contemporary volume meters, built into an aluminum extrusion that was about the size of the meter itself, which was an earlier source of the company initials. That dBx meter was related to their earlier CBS 600 extended range volume meter, developed and built at CBS.

Voltage controlled amplifier[]

The most important inventions of David Blackmer and dbx are the Blackmer gain cell (a voltage controlled amplifier for professional audio) and the dbx RMS detector. The original dbx 202 VCA was based on the Blackmer gain cell and was referred to as the dbx 202 "Black Can" VCA. They were built using discrete transistors that were hand matched while running at an elevated temperature in an oven. While noisy and having significant distortion, they exceeded by far the performance of other VCAs of the time.^[4] These VCAs were used in most early automated mixing boards.^[5]

dbx compressors[]

In 1976 dbx introduced the dbx 160 compressor. Using dbx's decilinear VCA and RMS level-detection circuits and feed forward gain reduction this compressor allowed much smoother gain reduction. The feed forward gain reduction allowed infinite compression without excessive distortion or oscillation. It also allow the compressor to track the attack and release times of compression based on the signal's envelope. ^[6] The dbx compressor also introduced overeasy compression which introduced a soft-knee when compression first starts.^[7][8]

A pro noise reduction card was the dbx k9, designed to fit into the pro dolby-A A361 frames, which were already in wide use in pro studios of the time, to reduce noise in reel-to-reel tape recordings. One feature of the dbx system was an inbuilt noise-gate, to just shut off anything below a certain decibel level.

Acquisition history of dbx[]

dbx manufactured only signal processing equipment until bought by BSR in 1979. From 1979 until 1989, the brand name was also used for consumer audio equipment such as speakers, CD players and amplifiers. In 1989, the short-lived Carillon Corporation bought dbx. of ELPJ acquired the dbx division of BSR and after virtually shutting down, the professional products division of dbx was sold off as a separate business to Orban AKG which in turn was bought by Harman International. The OEM business was sold to founded by members of dbx's engineering group.^[4]dbx once held key patents for MTS, the U.S. standard for stereo analog television transmission, but in 1994 it sold those patents to THAT Corporation.

In the present, they sell professional digital signal processors, equalizers, compressors, crossovers, subharmonic synthesizers, and many similar products.

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Dbx, Inc. at Wikimedia Commons
• dbx, Inc. home page