Israeli sound company wins a Grammy

It may not be best song of the year or best new artist, but Israel is taking home a Grammy Award at the music industry’s annual extravaganza in LA.

By DAVID BRINN
Tel Aviv hi-tech firm Waves Audio has won a Technical Grammy for its technological achievements and contribution to the field of music via its audio signal processing technologies and audio effects, used in recording, mixing, mastering, post production, surround, live, and broadcast sound.
Previous winners include such notable companies as Apple, Sony and Yamaha. Waves Audio’s technology has been used to enhance the recorded sound of everyone from Lady Gaga and Beyonce to U2 and Bruce Springsteen. In addition, Waves Audio technologies have been used in movies such as Shrek, American Beauty and Star Wars.
“You can always trust Waves to create well-engineered, good sounding products,” said Bob Ludwig, one of the most respected mastering engineers in recording history, who has mastered records for everyone from Neil Diamond and The Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney, and Mariah Carey.
Waves Audio was established in 1992 by Gilad Keren and Meir Sha'ashua,  and the company has since sold its various technologies to Sony, JVC, Toshiba and computer manufacturer Dell. The company’s headquarters are in Tel Aviv, but its global operations spread to offices in Knoxville, Tennessee and Shenzen, China as well.
TV viewers will undoubtedly thank the company for one its more recent latest development  -  reducing the noise of vuvuzelas  on TV during this year’s World Cup broadcasts from South Africa.
Keren was delighted to learn his company had won a Grammy, saying "It is a great honor to know that we had a part in the creation of so much wonderful music, and this pushes us to keep developing new tools for musicians. It is our small contribution."