Ocean Way Recording began in 1988, when 5-time Grammy-winning recording engineer/producer Allen Sides purchased United Western Studios in Hollywood, where he'd started leasing back in 1976. The studio thrived and Ocean Way grew as a company. By the time Allen Sides brought the studio monitors he personally designed for his studios onto the market, he'd already worked on over 1,000 records (over one billion sold) by hit artists including Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Eric Clapton, and many others.
Imagine the countless hours that have gone directly into developing Ocean Way Audio's studio monitors, as ears among the best in the industry regularly assessed and addressed any imperfections in the designs. That's nearly several decades of development time, and the results speak for themselves. Ask around, and you'll find that top-level engineers everywhere swear by these reference speakers.
Studio monitors like these demand superior components to produce superior results, and you have to appreciate the hardware Ocean Way Audio uses to make theirs. One outstanding feature of an Ocean Way monitor is its low-frequency driver. The drivers are based on a geometrically reinforced aluminum cone and a vented cast aluminum chassis. Together, these provide excellent structure and low compression. There's no way to miss the kind of low-end clarity these speakers provide.
On the high-frequency side, things are equally as good. At the center is a tried-and-true driver configuration with a silk-fabric dome speaker for lucid highs and critical yet smooth midrange. Equally important is the waveguide technology Ocean Way Audio has developed. Designs include time-aligned construction that reduces baffle-reflection noise. The waveguides also deliver special dispersion patterns that maximize the sweet spot, without sacrificing stereo imaging.
Ocean Way Audio's influence reaches beyond the realm of studio monitors. For instance, their RM1 is considered one of the finest ribbon microphones on the market. You'll find it in some of the most prestigious symphonic recording facilities in the world. Its successor, the RM1-B, is a reimagined version of the RM1, which is more than a match for the original. Featuring a number of sophisticated tweaks to add complexity to the upper octaves (a difficult thing to achieve in a ribbon mic), the RM1-B clearly reflects the way Ocean Way keeps its finger on the pulse of today's recording industry.
