Named in honour of the late Tony Gottelier, PLASA08’s Gottelier Award was presented to digital mixing console manufacturer DiGiCo’s Technical Director, John Stadius.
Stadius’s association with the company spans three decades. In 1978 he joined Soundtracs plc, the company which DiGiCo purchased in 2002, initially designing disco consoles, mixers, power amplifiers and loudspeaker. In more recently years, he has taken digital mixing consoles to a new level by developing the first, and only, consoles based around a single FPGA engine – the SD7 launched at PLASA07 and the SD8, launched at this year’s show.
PLASA states that award recognises innovative developers who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of the equipment and tools that enable entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation. Both Stadius and DiGiCo are proud that the industry has recognised his efforts and achievements.
“I’m very pleased to have won the award,� says Stadius. “It isn’t just recognition of what I’ve achieved personally, it’s recognition of what we have achieved as a team in the R&D department.�
“John has driven this technology way beyond what anyone else has achieved so far,� adds DiGiCo’s Managing Director, James Gordon. “John and his team built their first DSP engine in 1993, other companies are still using the same technology today, but he has gone not just one, but several steps further with our new products.
“John is not just a DiGiCo designer, he’s a member of the audio community and the fact that the audio community has looked back at him and recognised what he has done is significant.
“It’s a great achievement for both John and the company and we are immensely proud of him.�
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About John Stadius
1978 joined Soundtracs PLC (previously called Soundout Laboratories) designing disco consoles, mixers, power amplifiers and speakers
• 1979 – Progressed to designing a range of band amplification equipment under the Frunt brand name, including guitar amps, speakers and small mixing consoles
• 1980 – Became Technical Director
• 1980-1994 – Continued to design a wide range of analogue mixing consoles for various applications including: live, broadcast and recording
• 1982 – Designed the company’s first digitally controlled analogue mixing console. From hereon in digital control played a large part in Soundtracs product range
• 1996 the first fully digital console was released – The Virtua
Following the success of Virtua, Stadius was instrumental in designing the company’s first large format digital console, the DPC-II. This product became the basis of all digital products launched to date.
In 2002, the company was bought by DiGiCo UK Ltd. Stadius used his experience in digital consoles to create the first truly live digital console, the D5. Continuing with the Sharc processor technology, he expanded DiGiCo’s digital portfolio to include the DS00 for post and broadcast, the D5T for theatres and the D1 for the live arena.
Alongside these designs, Stadius and his great R&D team continued looking at new solutions in digital audio processing. This culminated in the creation of ‘Stealth Digital Processing’. In a radical move, Stadius departed from the conventional DSP approach and developed a digital system based on one single large scale FPGA. The first product to use this technology was the SD7.
