audio engineer born march american audio engineer inventor nature sounds person regional theatre called sound designer developed effective automatic microphone sound design work acknowledged distinguished career award youth fascinated technical aspects theatre worked lighting designer transitioned sound design interested achieving automatic adjustment sound controls frustrating experience staging musical hair design fully practical second design successful reference derived total microphone signals devised improvement helped prevent audio feedback presence sound reinforcement produced design inserted existing mixing console proved popular broadcast live sound applications subsequent models type recorded sounds late 1960s augment sound designs continued making recordings concentrating capturing sounds nature records outdoors variety locations including national parks nature preserves assisted research related harmful effects human generated sound nature founder current secretary plans california non profit organization incorporated early career born los_angeles california march father commander activated service pacific war dan raised san_diego parents took summer musicals ford bowl wanted backstage lighting control equipment young man sang bass church choir san diego bach chorus choral workshops groups dancing green era folk dancing event held obtained year scholarship physics math dropped pursue specifically lighting design early lighting designs include ones shakespeare festival actor workshop san_francisco sound design changed lighting design sound design state sound design time occasional sound effects performed live played record players tape machines efforts sound involved designing sound solutions shakespeare festival san_diego act san_francisco complex atmospheric theatrical led new title act season regional theatre person called sound designer presented paper sound design 37th convention paper published december described system signals stereo tape players routed zones theater designed sound regional productions hair musical ones chicago las_vegas toronto chicago production ran operated time able design sound allowed operate mixing console union founded robert primarily featuring jazz artists supplied sound services outdoor venue california recorded independent record albums including roads lines paper designed sound occasionally delivered speeches conferences 1980s 1990s honored distinguished career given lifetime spent establishing field sound design performing arts artist audio engineering technology previous winners award designing sound musical hair began appreciate human operator inability act quickly control multiple saw audio mixing person working area hand band thought microphone turned getting worthwhile signal room frustration microphone mixing led experiment years microphone signals controlled automatically voltage controlled finally developing music system shown 49th convention held new_york system novel proportional gain total gain divided active continuously automatically adjusted set bring microphone mix based signal sending relative signal received reference microphone placed somewhat distant patent application control apparatus sound reinforcement systems accepted published june useful automatic microphone mixing basis later systems good reference microphone unpredictable variable practical placement problems near audience audience noise placed backstage crew equipment noises factor immediately developed product studied problem researching alternative solutions filed patent produced copies named model serial number unit fabricated hand installed conference room significantly external microphone reference replaced reference composed total signal received active described process decades later level detection seeing happen sum reference accidentally came system discovered invented didn know worked like licensed practical system produced channel commercial installations hotels conference rooms city council chambers commercially successful years manufacturers designed competing market segment born late 1980s developed gain limiting improvement patented september presented convention october described prototype inserted selected microphone channels mixing console operated person help mixing multiple live noise focus desired sound eliminating mixing engineer problem slow human reaction time gain limiting system provided smooth continuous control equivalent number open send set higher settings sounding natural recording studio lower settings offering greater control acoustic feedback presence sound reinforcement embodiment patents produced rack unit handling channels linked model automatically mix channels simultaneously original patent expired patent manufacturers began sell incorporating produced model speech applications model returned having speech music model licensed system indian lake new_york yielding model series september produced model standing economy half rack sized smaller expensive previous ones linked model control channels units mounted rack space model popularity came critical requests features introduced improvement replace model allowed linked units digital mixing console helpful digital audio gear containing user interface simple web page accessible computer connected category cable february demonstrated card marketed plug slot digital card mix channels microphone assigned selected graphic user interface like adjusted web interface allowing remote control computer wireless network nature sounds sound effects recordings augment theatrical sound designs grew interested field recording attracted sounds found natural settings environments human noise board member conducted equipment training sessions given talks experiences nature recording traveled new_zealand pursuit recordings mainly national parks monuments woods national parks monuments recorded sound include olympic lava beds wife nature sounds society chair recorded dawn chorus month year partnered national_park_service document sounds heard parks reasons wrote potential values recording national park scientific document place time political document collecting evidence useful policy making aircraft visitor traffic artistic use natural sound compositions assisted group researchers studying human use woods researchers presented findings produced work titled landscapes understanding managing natural quiet national parks concluded human generated noise potentially important indicator quality parks plans inc organization founded people legal plans inc filed federal lawsuit california arguing methods inspired schools violated fourteenth amendments united_states_constitution article california constitution participated court proceedings years litigation 9th circuit court dismissed case merits founder secretary plans given media interviews quoted book mind false promise technology said schools faith based draw educational theory frozen
Dan Dugan (audio engineer)