Behind the sound: Meet Audyssey engineer Nathan Dahlin
Ever wondered who makes Audyssey technologies sound so amazing? It’s our engineers! So we’ve decided to invite you behind the scenes and meet the folks who put their brains to work creating the best sound technologies in the world. This month we sit down with research engineer Nathan Dahlin and learn what makes him tick.
What do you do at Audyssey? I research and develop the algorithms and methods underlying many of our technologies. As a member of the research team, I take ideas from long-standing audio theory, more recent academic and professional publications and examine how they can be applied to projects at Audyssey. Some days are more scientific than others.
Where did you study? What did you study? I studied Electrical Engineering and Music Recording at the University of Southern California.
What kind of engineer are you? I’m a Research & Development Engineer.
When did you know you wanted to become an engineer? Probably around the time I got my electric guitar and realized somebody had to wire the thing before anybody could play it.
What’s the best thing about being an engineer? If it works, it’s correct.
What’s the greatest audio invention of all time? Has to be a tie between D/A and A/D converters.
Pick the five albums and five movies you’d bring to a desert island. Yikes. Let’s see, it depends on the sound system, but for the beach…
Albums
- Black Uhuru – “The Dub Factor”
- King Tubby – “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown”
- Big Youth – “Screaming Target”
- Excepter – “KA”
- Blues Control – “Puff”
Movies
- Fargo
- The Shining
- The Holy Mountain
- Groundhog Day
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
What is the last great live show you saw? Arthur Verocai at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex.
What is the best snack food for the lab? Habanero peppers.
What is the most surprising thing you learned at Audyssey? In foosball, spinning the handles is against the rules.