Sean Lamb: UA Materials Manager

Sean Lamb with a whole bunch of LA-2As. He knows each one personally.

As Bill Putnam Jr. was hard at work on the re-issue of the venerable LA-2A, he was in need for a specific vacuum tube, so he called a supplier for vintage gear in North Carolina. He got the tubes he was looking for--as well as a great new contact- Sean Lamb. Sean was working on re-issues of Classic 50’s and 60’s Marantz Hi-fi Stereo components. After their meeting, Sean was hired as a consultant for the LA-2A re-issue. Sean’s expertise in the process of manufacturing “retro” pieces and his familiarity with the fabrication of out-of-production parts was a lucky break for UA. Sean helped get the first LA-2A together in time for its debut at AES 1999. After the AES show Sean was invited to join the UA team permanently, so in May of 2000 he packed his bags and moved to California.

“Everybody cares what the company’s about, and is proud to be a part of it. It’s also great to know the people around you care about you as an individual, as much as the company itself.”

Like so many at UA, Sean tends to wear many hats. His official title is Materials Manager, but he can also be found sticking his nose in everything from marketing to production. “My unofficial title is VP in charge of Ass Whoopin’s” Sean says with a laugh, “I just love the jokes that fly around the office”. Sean says his most satisfying duty at UA is Mechanical Designer. Sean helped put into place the look and feel of the 2-610, M610, 2108, 6176 and the upcoming 2192 Master Audio Interface.

“Every time we finish a new product it feels like the momentum keeps building and building”, says Sean when speaking of the recently completed project.

Before coming to UA, Sean had worked with hi-end audio equipment for 10 years, but has been interested in electronics since childhood. “I’ve tinkered with electronics since I was eight years old. I even had one of those “101 Electronic Projects” from Radio Shack.”

In High School Sean was given a great opportunity to improve his tinkering techniques even further. Sean used to help take care of the school’s audio equipment and PA. “The school gave about five of us guys this old band room! They said, ‘if you clean up this room and create yourself a workspace, you can use it as your workshop’, so that’s what we did.”

I asked Sean what he liked most about working at UA. “Everybody cares what the company’s about, and is proud to be a part of it. It’s also great to know the people around you care about you as an individual, as much as the company itself. It is important to have that family spirit within a company. A lot of people here get that.”

When Sean is not working on materials or new designs, he can be found playing golf or boogie boarding along the coast.

--Interview by Will Shanks

<top>

---

UA on the Move:

UA's new home, 330 Encinal, Santa Cruz

The big news for September, is that after almost 4 years, UA is moving from its current location 1 block from the ocean to a larger, plusher home in leafy Harvey West Park, Santa Cruz, CA. Although this means our engineers will have to travel further to surf, the new premises offer almost 10000sq feet with room to grow and will allow UA to streamline its manufacturing and offer better facilities for UA staff to experiment and dream up new audio innovations! Since the move is only a few miles from our current location, our phone numbers & PO Box address will all remain the same.

Like all of us at UA, our President, Matt Ward is enthused about the move. "It's very gratifying that despite the current US economic climate Universal Audio continues to grow. This move is actually only a part of a host of additions and improvements we're making to our infrastructure to better support the level of business we're now doing. Thanks to all our customers and dealers for supporting us from our humble beginnings as a garage start-up to the fast-growing pro audio company we are today."
<top>

---

Mike Barnes (UA Director Of Marketing), Joe Satriani & John Cuniberti in session at the Plant Studios, Studio A.

DVDs & Joe Satriani
Currently UA is shooting video interviews with a number of top producers and artists across a broad range of genres. These interviews complete with a full interactive UA product guide & history will appear on a UA DVD in the near future and offer a real insight into how industry professionals approach recording projects and actually use the tools of the trade.

We recently interviewed San Francisco resident and world-renowned guitarist, Joe Satriani & his long-time producer/engineer collaborator John Cuniberti (inventor of the Reamp) at the Plant Studios. Both have LA2A’s & 1176’s in both hard and soft flavors and we added a 6176 to John’s arsenal of mic-pres for the new album sessions.
<top>

---

UAD-1 News
On the development front, UAD-1 v3.2 including the new UA professional reverb Dreamverb will launch this month. Dreamverb is included as a fully-functional 14-day demo but can be authorized for permanent use FREE for 30-days after launch to all registered users and new users who purchase a card and register within the offer period. Registered users will receive an electronic coupon via email to obtain their unique authorization code. After the offer period, Dreamverb like the Cambridge EQ will retail for $149 and will be available for purchase online.

We have had many inquiries regarding OSX and AU support. Once again, we can reassure our users that we are working feverishly on this and the good news is that we are already passing audio with alpha drivers thru the card and have functional OS X VST plugs and basic AU support working. Preliminary tests with Apple G5 PCI-X are positive, but we will be releasing a full statement on G5 compatibility and OSX/AU availability in the very near future.

<top>

---

AES is Coming!
Also with the New York AES show around the corner expect to see some further announcements about more new plugs for UAD-1. Watch this space and please visit us at AES!

Questions or comments on this article?