Editorial: I Want To Work With Goober Fish!
Frankly, if you do not like Star Wars then we can’t really be friends. That said, the computer generated floppy-eared buffoon of a character, named Jar Jar Binks is best forgotten. The milieu does tend to divide fans, though. Some do not even approve of the latter day digital enhancements of the original three movies. Even though the man that made them said it was a joy to be able to finally do that, when the technology finally caught up with his vision.
Do you recall the Phantom Menace? Well, although the predatory reference is not really what I mean, the sheer scale of stuff in the Goober fish scene, is an hilarious parallel to the world of electronics. It has always been the case that cunning artificers, software Jedis and new product fettlers have been the subject for big business buyouts. A company called Brightside were the very first to put backlights behind LED pixels in a television. It was a while ago and when they demonstrated it at the hi-fi show, they needed a large cooling system to run the prototype screen. Dolby bought them out and today backlit screens mean that comparing contrast ratios is a thing of the past because utter black pixels next to fully lit white ones has been a thing for so long, that we are now entering the next generation of ultrahigh definition and high contrast created broadcast material. TV stations can barely keep up with the new display technology these days.
So why all this Star Wars staff and what about the Goober fish? Well, we are the space ship zooming underwater and the mighty Harman Corporation are the Goober fish. Except that in my case, I wish to turn every lamp in the spaceship on, so as to act as a better lure to catch a Goober fish! For the sheer scale of Harman is astonishing. And despite being tremendously compartmentalised for my entire career, it is now time to sew all of my interests together right here!
I love gadgets. I love hi-fi. I love Home audio. I love toys. And oh boy do Harman’s brands make some of that stuff! From Mark Levinson audio products so posh it hurts, to tabletop loudspeaker assistants and all sorts in between. The consumer brands include, JBL, AKG, Infinity, Lexicon and Revel. That means speakers, REALLY POSH speakers, sexy home sound stuff, headphones and all sorts. But then there is a new super duper experience centre in St. Albans, for the PROFESSIONAL Harman brands as well as the consumer ones. And that means JBL getting all mad end and Disneyland! The rest of the professional brand stable includes AKG, AMX, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, IDX, JBL Professional, Lexicon, Martin, Soundcraft and Studer. That means some of the finest studio and touring equipment known to mankind, from mic, to desk, to processor, to amp, to speaker. I have worked with nine of those brands. My utter fave unit was the dbx 120X-DS! (I recall the bloody part number!) This was an analogue multi-band low frequency synthesiser, a lot like a professional version of the Audio Control Epicenter! The professionals simply called it the ‘Boom Box’ but ermahgerd was it a potent toy! SO much better than an EQ to make bass heaven! Just checked.. $175 on Ebay!
And then, there is the mighty Harman automotive presence. Audio brand heritage includes Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen, JBL and more. For marques as diverse as Ford, Mercedes, Audi, KIA, Maserati, Ferrari, Volvo, Jaguar and Range Rover. The list goes on. I have a solid body of work dealing with the fabulous new developments in OEM car infotainment and connectedness and view that kind of work and the seriously hench Harman folks as my future focus. It certainly won’t be limiting the kind of cars I can look at, from Ferrari Lussos to Kia Sportages. Plus, I have made chums in some good places in automotive-land down the years.
Oh and that line about, “There’s always a bigger fish” as the Goober fish gets eaten in turn by a ten times bigger-then-that thing?
Yep, that’d be Samsung, who bought Harman! The whole LOT and whose technological goody bag is now available to all those different stables of carefully-uniquely-bred engineers and designers for so many brands at each centre of excellence. Samsung have an awesome record of letting the companies they acquire, carry on doing what it was that made them desirable. They just give ‘em a bigger playpen! I can’t wait to see what kind of android world domination they will serve up to apple as a result.
I love it!
Adam Rayner On Line Editor, Talk Audio – Talk Stuff. 2008 – 2018