WELCOME TO EMPIRICAL LABS

Empirical Labs Inc. (ELI), designs and produces professional audio equipment and software. This includes equipment used in recording studios, live sound, broadcast studios and other audio production facilities etc. We also make software for digital signal processors. Most of you are here because you have heard about or used our Distressor. This product, which is our first hardware product, was designed in 1994, tested and revised for several years, and released in early 1996. The Distressor is the first in a series of audio products from ELI that will offer original features, ease of use, long product life, and a very musical audio path.


Empirical Labs was started in 1988 and functioned mainly as a recording studio and electronics consulting firm. The founder, Dave Derr, was also employed at the time by Eventide as an audio engineer. Dave was part of the core design team for the H3000, H3500, and DSP4000. His experience at Eventide proved valuable for his later work. While working alongside Ken Bogdanowicz and Bob Belcher (both now at Wave Mechanics), Dave was exposed to great engineering and the modern world of digital signal processing (DSP).

In 1998, Empirical Labs closed the doors of the recording studio. The sales of the Distressor had flourished after a shining review appeared in the December 1996 issue of Mix magazine. Other audio trade magazines followed with glowing reviews & articles. Later that year, the company picked up and moved to a larger facility to meet their increased production requirements.

See Dave Derr, along with Rupert Neve and George Massenburg at the AES Panel Discussion - Compressors - A Dynamic Perspective, sponsored by our friends at Cutting Edge Audio in San Francisco:


 

 

Our Philosophy is very simple --- but very hard to live up to:

"We want to make products that work a little easier, a little better, and a lot longer - and make sure they are fun to use."

Another goal of Empirical Labs is to make our products less prone to obsolescence and be easier to update, modify or repair. Instead of entire new products that may be outdated in 2 years, our thinking is to make a few great products that can be supported and upgraded for decades.

Our engineers & technicians are encouraged to play with and use their designs along with other expert beta-testers. Design by textbook will usually get you generic designs - and these are rarely as exciting as the products done with a lot of thinking, tinkering and field use. The word "Empirical" in its most positive interpretation means, "fashioned from experience". We consider real world use to be one of the best resources in developing innovative, user-friendly and robust designs. Before final release, all our products will be extensively tested in the environments for which they are designed. We will not throw products out there and see what "sticks".

As sales of our first product climb into the tens of thousands, Empirical Labs wants to thank our enthusiastic customers for their part in our success. Because of their involvement through word of mouth, magazine reviews, Internet groups, and album credits - almost two thousand units were sold before we ever placed our first ad. Here on the net, we would especially like to say hi and thanks to our friends on gearslutz.com and rec.audio.pro. These community newsgroups have had a huge influence on our sales, and at the same time, allowed user feedback to reach us in a very efficient and exciting way. We don't take our customer support nor our luck for granted - but we also would like to think we offer a superior product and superior service.

As one customer kindly complimented, "You built a better mousetrap, and the world has beaten a path to your door".

Again, thanks to all our customers!

FOR SALES INFO, PLEASE CONTACT WAVE DISTRIBUTION:
P.O. Box 949 | West Milford, NJ 07480
Phone: (973) 728-2425 | Fax: (973) 728-2931
eli@wavedistribution.com or visit www.wavedistribution.com