Audio Designs & Manufacturing

Audio Designs & Manufacturing (ADM) was a Los Angeles–based console and systems manufacturer active through the late 1960s and 1970s. Where most console companies focused on the analogue signal path, ADM distinguished themselves by building scanning and voltage-sensing systems into the desk itself — the Vue-Scan and NRC (No-Repeat Console) systems allowed fader positions to be logged and reproduced in an era when mix recall was a manual, labour-intensive process.

The 1973–74 ADM advertising campaign in Recording magazine ran to four full pages and introduced the NRC and Vue-Scan technology with the headline "hemidemisemiquaver" — a 64th note, a nod to the smallest unit of musical time and a wink at the system's ability to capture the detail in a mix pass. The ads were ambitious, the technology was real, and ADM was a genuine early participant in the automated mixing arms race alongside Allison Research, Quad Eight, and Neve's NECAM — a race that would be settled by SSL a decade later.