Need Some New Staff in Washington Area? (Rane RIP)

[thermionic]

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/1101028-rane-sold-inmusic.html

Grim reading. I find it hard to believe that a buyer with greater integrity couldn't be found. Maybe they needed a quick sale? I hope the founders are in good health and didn't need someone quick. I hope the staff get decent redundancy packages.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I think RANE is located in the other Washington.

Interesting tail eating the dog story... RANE sold some well respected DJ products but I don't think it was their primary business.  Rane did not sell amplifiers or speakers (where the real money is) so may have been vulnerable.

Well respected with lots of good engineering over the years from Dennis Bohn and his compatriots. I do hope they are well compensated and happy.

JR

PS: As far as finding a buyer with good integrity, good luck with that.  The short list of big fish buying up small fish is shorter every year.

 

[thermionic]

Although you're totally right about their technical stature, I've always suspected that Rane's money makers were in utility items. From what I can make out here, this would prove me wrong, and they were bought for the DJ range. Knowing the market for DJ items well, it surprises me (DJ audio is akin to hi-fi - looks great from the outside, but in reality 99% of the market uses an app on their phone to mix music...) . I guess Inmusic was on the hunt for technology that could be merged with their own. It seems a shame that the manufacturing side will go to Asia. Like here in the UK, people with those skills will become scarcer and scarcer. 

oops - edited title. I've had Rane products since '93 - you'd think I'd know where they were based...

 

[john12ax7]

I always liked Rane gear. The telephone type plug on the power supply is super annoying and tends to often break. But other than that everything has always been well built, and did what it needed to do at a good price

 

[PRR]

Dennis has led RANE for 34 years. Before that, worked at Phase Linear 76-82 and National Semi 74-76. 10 years education before that.

He's obviously at an age when many men would rather go fishing.

Not to mention that after dragging the small-audio technology from junk to good-stuff, the industry can eat his lunch through cheap production and well-funded promotion.

And 34 years is a looooong time for any audio company. Many never break-even.

Good luck, Dennis. Loved your products and essays.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Dennis has led RANE for 34 years. Before that, worked at Phase Linear 76-82 and National Semi 74-76. 10 years education before that.

yup we remember his work in the old nat semi design ap notes.

He's obviously at an age when many men would rather go fishing.

who isn't ?

Not to mention that after dragging the small-audio technology from junk to good-stuff, the industry can eat his lunch through cheap production and well-funded promotion.

And 34 years is a looooong time for any audio company. Many never break-even.

Good luck, Dennis. Loved your products and essays.

My favorite DB story is from back in the '80s... After I started working full time at Peavey I didn't have time to keep writing my "Audio Mythology" column not to mention obvious conflicts (dispensing opinion while employed by a major), so I let it go.  A few years later Dennis stole my column title ("Audio Mythology") for an article he wrote for publication in a sound contractor magazine. He apparently thought I was some old fart who had probably died , and said something like I had "moved on" in his article. 

The next trade show  after that was an NSCA (national sound contractors association show down in new Orleans IIRC), so even before the show started I chased him down in the Rane booth and  I introduced myself.  It was like he just met a ghost.  ;D From my  writing he thought I was some old grey hair dispensing wisdom from on high (I wasn't). We had a good laugh and got back to the trade show.

Decades later I approached him about my personal campaign to get the AES standards committee to define boost/cut EQ Q  . He was helpful and put me in touch with his DSP guru (in OZ) , but I ran out of energy before the AES ever delivered a definition for Q. I gave up yanking that chain years ago (life is short).

Dennis is one of the true good guys in the business, and a solid citizen. I hope he got a good payday out of this. He deserves it. . 

JR   

 

[Speedskater]

I'm going to download all the Rane Notes before they disappear from the internet.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I'm going to download all the Rane Notes before they disappear from the internet.

The rane notes are copyrighted but it would be a shame to lose them.  maybe some fair use for education could be argued.

Here is except of my premature obituary written by Dennis Bohn 30 years ago. 

Introduction
John Roberts is one of my heroes. John wrote a regular column for the now defunct magazine Recording Engineer/Producer entitled "Exposing Audio Mythology". "Laying to Rest...or at least exposing the false premises upon which they are based...some of the Pro-Audio Industry's more obvious 'Old Wives Tales' "-- such was the opening for John's first column. Great stuff, you could almost hear the theme music and see the masked rider off in the distance.

He originally intended to do a few columns on the most flagrant abuses, that was in early 1983. He continued until mid-1986. Every issue, without fail, he waged war on the myth-sayers. John is resting now. Myth exposing is too much for one person. I'm arrogant enough, and angry enough, to help out. So I thought I would expose some of the most popular myths regarding equalizers.

http://www.rane.com/note115.html

Praise from someone of Dennis' stature doesn't suck, even if he thought it was post mortem.

JR

PS: some of those old myths are alive and well....

 

[Andy Peters]

The telephone type plug on the power supply is super annoying and tends to often break.

They stopped using that, and even selling replacements, which I discovered a couple of years ago after I lost the power supply for my Rane line mixer. Some kinda weird regulatory thing they ran into. At some point I'll just make one.

All of their gear that I've used has always worked well. Their digital quad gate the G4 and quad compessor C4 were both very good units (you couldn't make the gate click!) but once digital consoles became inexpensive the whole notion of a standalone insertable went away.

 

[benb]

I'm going to download all the Rane Notes before they disappear from the internet.

I'm not much familiar with Rane gear, but when I or someone needs info on connecting audio stuff together, I know I can go to google, type note110 and click "I feel lucky" and I'm there.

 

[walter]

I just saw this, sad. I had applied there a few years ago, but they didn't seem to like that I lived too far away. Audio Control is still alive and kicking, not too far from Rane. I did work at AC last fall as an engineering tech, but they were high pressure to get new product to market and I may have been thrown under the bus. I see InMusic has openings for QA test Engineer and Technical services supervisor, but where? Headquarters in RI.

 

[kambo]

I just saw this, sad.

if they made a nice deal,  i am happy for them. we all need to retire at some point....
retirement bonus is always good