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The global standard
for digital processing in live sound
In the history of live sound reinforcement, few products stirred as much industry excitement as did the original Lake
Processors when they were first introduced more than a decade ago. Simply put, both the core digital processing
technology and the graphical user interface represented a quantum leap beyond other systems available at the time.
Today, the legacy continues, with Lake Processing incorporated into Lab.gruppen PLM Series Powered Loudspeaker
Management Systems as well as two LM Series stand-alone Lake processors.
Two decades, three continents , one goal
In the early 1990's, three Australian engineers – David
McGrath, Brian Connolly and Marcus Altman – formed
a new enterprise to develop advanced digital signal
processing applications. The Lake name was inspired
by a modest pond near their offices in Adelaide. Lake
quickly expanded, and following relocation to Sydney,
soon developed the Huron Digital Audio Workstation. The
DSP architecture of Huron contains advanced proprietary
algorithms that were adapted for sound reinforcement
applications in future generations of products.
In the mid-1990s, the late, great Bruce Jackson –
renowned technical innovator and tour sound engineer
Sydney
Adelaide
2
2
Clair iO team (L to R): Bruce
Jackson, David McGrath, Marcus
Altman, Stewart Bartlett
(Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand)
– joined with Lake's David McGrath to develop a new
digital processor for sound reinforcement applications.
They set up shop in Santa Monica, California. Renowned
tour sound company Clair Brothers, headquartered in
Lititz, Pennsylvania decided to back development of the
promising new technologies. Clair Technologies LLC
was formed in 1997 by Clair, Jackson, McGrath and
Ed Meitner to produce the new live sound processors,
initially built exclusively for Clair.
In 2001, Lake re-acquired the technologies, made further
refinements, and introduced them to the wider industry
as Lake Contour Pro 26™.
San Francisco
Santa Monica
The distinctive front panel of the
Dolby Lake Processor
Dolby Laboratories (San Francisco, CA) acquired
Lake Technologies in 2004. Backed by the company's
worldwide resources, the Dolby Lake Processor was
soon established as the premier DSP platform across the
full range of live sound applications.
In 2006, Dolby and Lab.gruppen announced an
agreement to incorporate Lake processing into the
forthcoming PLM Series of Powered Loudspeaker
Management systems. The first Lab.gruppen product
to incorporate Lake processing, the PLM 10000Q, was
introduced in 2007.
Early in 2009, Dolby decided to exit the commercial live
sound market. Lab.gruppen of Sweden acquired both
the Lake trademarks and exclusive rights for use of Dolby
Lititz, PA
Lake Processor technology for the touring and permanent
sound reinforcement markets. Both divisions are now
headquartered in Kungsbacka, where intensive research
and development efforts have produced refinements
to Lake Processing as implemented in the PLM Series
as well as two new products, the LM 26 Digital Audio
Loudspeaker Processor and more recently the LM 44
Digital Audio System Processor.
Today, the pairing of Lab.gruppen amplifier platforms
with Lake Processing opens new pathways for the
development of completely integrated systems for
powering loudspeakers. At the same time, Lake is
committed to continued development of stand-alone
products that can be seamlessly integrated into any
sound reinforcement system.
Kungsbacka
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