DE’s Innovations
Make Media History
Digital Excellence, Inc. has long been a pioneer in new media, first in recording and then in duplication. DE was one of the first companies to develop language teaching tapes and other media materials for major book publishers, and we were also among the first duplicators of open-reel tapes, cassettes, computer diskettes and videotapes. We now offer CD/CD-ROM/DVD manufacture—as well as DVD authoring, mastering, replication and packaging.
Besides excellence in duplication and packaging, we’re known for producing award-winning animated and live-action films, slide shows and filmstrips, multilingual videos, recorded books, CD-ROM soundtracks, and thousands of tape programs designed to motivate, educate, and entertain.
The Early Days
Founded in 1954 as the Educational, Musical, and Cultural Recordings Corporation (before long shortened to EMC), our corporate charter proclaimed the affordable new medium of prerecorded tapes and envisioned the creation and marketing of a catalog of programs. Among EMC’s first releases was The Living Heritage Library (dramatizations and readings from the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, England, and the U.S.), a series of language teaching tapes, a Music Education Library and other offerings. EMC’s early years proved difficult, however. A Custom Recordings Division was formed in November of 1955, but few clients had budgets big enough to develop EMC’s ideas about the potential of tape recording into published programs.
An Improvement In Fortunes
The future got brighter in 1959 when Houghton Mifflin, a major textbook publisher, commissioned EMC to produce their first foreign language tape program. Soon other publishers became EMC clients, too—along with a growing number of sales and training firms, music companies, religious and governmental organizations who grasped the potential of sound recordings.
Expansion of Facilities
In 1961 EMC built new offices and studios in downtown St. Paul, expanding its duplicating and packaging operations. In 1963 EMC acquired the historic Universal and Radio Recorders complex in Hollywood, consolidating its seven separate locations into a single facility at 7000 Santa Monica Boulevard which continued operations until the end of 1977. Elvis Presley, Nelson Riddle, Andre Previn, Spike Jones and the City Slickers, Jack Benny, Connie Francis and Stan Freberg were among the top entertainers booked in our California studios. Numerous episodes of The CBS Mystery Theater were recorded there. Many film, television and radio producers still sing the praises of the vast music and sound effects libraries created in these studios during their heyday, as well as the two live echo chambers housed in a separate building which were connected to the studio patchbay via lines running under the street. EMC also established another Hollywood unit, The Film Designers Division, to create animated and live-action motion pictures, filmstrips and slide shows for a broader group of clients including the U.S. Navy, the Southern Baptist Convention, and Subaru of America, plus many ad agencies, television production companies and educational publishers.
Enhanced Custom Services
Besides pioneering in reel-to-reel duplication, EMC was among the first U.S. high-speed duplicators of custom loaded audio cassettes. Continued improvements in tape formulations and recording and duplication equipment were augmented by such EMC innovations as direct label imprinting on plastic using offset metal plates, a range of 17 stock cassette colors, imprinted location diagrams, imaginative new forms of tape packaging and the introduction of new services including creating music soundtracks, books, manuals and the like.
New Building, New Technologies
In 1982 EMC constructed new studios and manufacturing facilities in St. Paul, later expanded to 68,000 square feet, to include cleanroom duplication of 5.25" and 3.5" computer diskettes and NTSC, PAL and SECAM videocassettes. Direct label imprinting was introduced for disks and video. Video editing, audio for video services and product distribution, as well as ongoing improvements in studio and duplication technology, support our ongoing customer service commitment.
New Identity, Same Commitment to Customers
In 1996 EMC adopted a new name—Digital Excellence, Inc.—for its custom division. In 1997, this division became a separate operating entity. Today DE’s soundtracks are produced using our Pro Tools 24 and Sonic Solutions digital audio workstations. The same high standards of customer satisfaciton, creativity and state-of-the-art media reproduction distinguish DE’s work for customers from coast to coast. We offer you the same creativity, innovation, and reliable manufacturing quality that’s helped us make media history.
Copyright © 2004 Digital Excellence LLC.
