Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
UA Media Relations
Harris Barnard
+1.831.440.1176
press@uaudio.com
Dear UA Friends and Family,
Greetings from Universal Audio, and welcome to our challenging and unsteady new world.
As some of you know, UA is headquartered near Santa Cruz, California, about an hour‑and‑a‑half south of San Francisco and just a short drive over the hill from the Silicon Valley in San Jose. Our local employees have been under statewide shelter‑in‑place orders due to COVID-19 for several weeks, and most of us are working from home as possible.
Like many of you, our 200‑plus UA employees worldwide are trying to figure out how to operate, striking a balance between keeping our families safe at home, and continuing to do the work we love. This is new territory, and many things that seemed important several weeks ago now seem trivial.
As CEO of Universal Audio, I'm personally wrestling with my obligations as a father, as a citizen, and as leader of our UA family. Many of you know that we've been developing a recording application called LUNA for several years, which we previewed at the January NAMM show. I'm happy to say that we plan to release LUNA early, and for free, within the next two weeks.
LUNA won't come with the big launch fanfare we were originally planning. But we do hope that it gives those of you lucky enough to be able to record music the inspiration to create something great — or at least a welcome escape from the outside world.
At a time like this, it feels naive to say that we just need more music. Because what we actually need are masks and supplies to keep healthcare workers safe, test kits for the public, and ventilators for the sick. But I do hope that UA can play a small part in the greater good that comes on the other side of this crisis.
Because there will be another side.
As for today, I pledge to do everything I can to keep our UA family and our larger communities safe. I pledge to continue open and direct communication with you, our all‑important users. And we pledge to support music and musicians, through charities like MusiCares Relief Fund, Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, and Direct Relief.
We are all in this together, and together we can do what we never could do alone.
Peace and Sincerely,
Bill Putnam Jr.
CEO Universal Audio
About Universal Audio Inc.
Founded in 1958 by recording pioneer Bill Putnam Sr., and refounded in 1999 by Bill Putnam Jr., Universal Audio is best known for its classic, hand-built analog hardware, award-winning line of Apollo audio interfaces, and advanced UAD Digital Signal Processing technology for recording, mixing, and mastering audio. Headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, with offices in Los Angeles, Colorado, and Amsterdam, UA is focused on merging the best of vintage analog and modern digital technology. With its rich recording heritage, UA has been “Setting the tone since 1958."