Universal Audio

Bill Putnam had already engineered records for Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bing Crosby, and Nat King Cole by the time he founded Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago in the late 1940s, then relocated to Los Angeles and opened United Recording Studios in 1957 — later known as United Western Recorders. He was one of the most technically innovative recording engineers of his era — a man who invented the use of artificial reverb in popular music, pioneering the echo chamber techniques that shaped American pop and R&B in the 1950s.

His console, the UA 610, introduced what is now considered an obvious but then entirely novel concept: the modular channel strip. Each channel could be physically removed from the frame for maintenance or replacement without taking down the entire desk. The 610's switchable mic/line inputs, integrated echo return system, and unusual doorknob-style rotary faders made it the most flexible console of its era. API would later credit Bill Putnam's modularity concept as a direct influence on the 500 Series.

Universal Audio went largely dormant after Putnam's death in 1989. In 1999, his sons James and Bill Jr. revived the company with a dual mission: faithfully reproduce Bill's original analog hardware designs, and develop digital tools with "the sound and spirit of vintage technology." The Apollo audio interfaces, introduced in 2012, became one of the most successful products in recording history — bringing real-time hardware emulation to home and professional studios simultaneously.