Studer is a designer and manufacturer of professional audio equipment for recording studios and broadcasters. The company was founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1948 by Willi Studer. It initially became known in the 1950s for its professional tape recorders. In the 1990s, the company moved into the manufacture of mixing consoles.
Management, sales, engineering, R&D and customer service were based in Regensdorf, Switzerland, until owners Harman International Industries closed down the Swiss entity in March 2018, transferring the now decentralized operation to China, Hungary, and the US. Manufacturing, marketing, and customer support were part of the Soundcraft facility in Potters Bar, England until Harman closed the Potters Bar facility in June 2016 and moved manufacturing and customer support to Hungary. Studer was a subsidiary of Harman International Industries. On February 9, 2021, Evertz Microsystems acquired the Studer audio brand from Harman.
History
Willi Studer began to make high-voltage oscilloscopes in 1948. These products were produced until 1968. In March 1951, Studer introduced the Revox brand for its consumer products.
In 1990, Studer sold the Studer-Revox group to Motor-Columbus AG, including all subsidiary companies. In 1991, Motor-Columbus split the Studer-Revox Group into separate Studer, Revox and manufacturing divisions. Motor-Columbus sold several subsidiaries and plants.
The extensive reorganization culminated in the sale of the Studer group to Harman International Industries in March 1994. The Revox group was excluded and sold to private investors. On March 17, 1994, Harman completed its acquisition and acquired from Motor-Columbus AG 100% of Studer-Revox AG.
Harman paid 100 Swiss Francs (approximately US$70.00) for all of the issued and outstanding stock in Studer-Revox. Harman assumed approximately 23 million Swiss Francs (US$16 million) of Studer-Revox post-acquisition debt. Harman later moved some of its Studer business operations to England and merged them with operations of its Soundcraft subsidiary.
Willi Studer died on March 1, 1996.
In 2006, Harman closed all of the original headquarters of the brands in its professional division portfolio and moved Studer support and manufacturing to Pécs, Hungary to cut costs.
Harman sold the Studer brand and intellectual property in February 2021. The Studer brand was purchased by Canadian broadcast equipment manufacturer Evertz Microsystems. Evertz continues to manufacture the Studer Vista 1, V and X from their manufacturing plants in Burlington, Ontario and are actively developing Studer products.
Tape recorders
In 1949, Studer branched out into the audio business by modifying imported tape recorders from Ampex in the United States. By 1950, they had developed their own line of tape recorders, named the Dynavox series. Over the years, the company built a variety of 2-track recorder models for stereo recording and stereo mixdown.
Some Studer model variants were sold under the Revox name, with slight modifications, at a lower price. The Revox variants were designed for consumer use, with features such as IR remote control and the omission of balanced input and output sockets. The core circuitry of the two was otherwise substantially identical. One of the company's models was the Revox A77 recorder, which was introduced in 1967.
Studer also designed and produced multitrack recorders. Studer's first multi-track machine, the model J37, was released in 1964. It recorded 4 tracks on one-inch tape. At EMI Studios London (later renamed Abbey Road Studios), The Beatles used a pair of J37s to record Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. Later analog Studer models - the A80, A800, A827 - were built in 8-, 16-, and 24-track configurations using tape widths of up to two inches. Studer recorders quickly became standard equipment at many top studios worldwide, often paired with Neve consoles. Some studios have continued to use Studer recorders to the present day.