Universal Audio

Universal Audio was a designer and manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields. Universal Audio was responsible for many innovations in the recording and sound reinforcement industry including the modern mixing console layout, per channel equalization (or EQ) and effects connectors (or send buses). The firm began in Chicago, founded by Bill Putnam Sr. in the 1950s, as a design and manufacturing addition to 'Universal Recording', his recording studio business. When Putnam moved to Hollywood in 1957, the manufacturing company was renamed UREI, and included a division called Teletronix.

Bill Putnam, Sr. founded Universal Recording Corporation in 1946 in Evanston, Illinois for the purpose of investigating new recording techniques and the development of specialized recording equipment. The design and manufacturing side was accomplished by Putnam's parallel business, Universal Audio. In 1947, Putnam and company relocated to Chicago where they recorded the first popular song with artificial reverberation: Peg o' My Heart by The Harmonicats. The song sold 1.4M copies and gave Universal Recording Corp. a big boost in income and new business.

Universal Recording soon became the hotspot for the Chicago music business. Such artists as Patti Page, Vic Damone and Dinah Washington came through the doors; Al Morgan's Jealous Heart sold a million copies on the in-house Universal Records label.

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