Calgary company's audio tech is travelling the globe with some of the world's biggest DJs

A small, family-ownedCalgary audio manufactureris seeing one of its specialist products used at electronic music festivals and clubs all over the world.

And for one of its employees, getting to showcase hiscompany's technology whilemeetingsome of hisheroes is a dream come true.

Amadeus Meitner has worked at the family business for the past 15 years. His father,Ed Meitner, founded the company.

EMMLabs specializes in high-end audiophile equipment, used by everyone from recording studios and engineers to recordcollectorsand music lovers.

The company's Meitner Audio converter, whichhas becomea big hit with DJs and event promoters internationally,enhancesthe quality of big sound systems used at raves and clubs.

Meitner, a DJ and electronic music fan himself, says the interest in the Calgarycompany's product has snowballed since it started being used by bigname DJs like Carl Cox andSasha.

"It's surreal, it definitely is," said Meitner. "I don't really comprehend how exciting it is in the moment, but then when you're standing back and you see our product on a big stage with thousands of dance music fans enjoying what we're doing,it's a really cool feeling."

"It's allowed me to meet some of my musical idols and work with them directly," he said. "Teaching people about what we're doing here in Calgary and why it's special."

Meitner says that while thecrowd might not notice the subtledifference a specialist audioconverter can make,DJs and sound techshave becomebig fans.

"They're pretty blown away, especially the sound engineers that use it. You go to a show and get a text from the engineer later saying 'this is incredible'that's the best feeling in the world."

"It's been to quite a few countries.We did the big Ultra Music festival in Miami, and another big event we do every year is the Amsterdam Dance Event, which is a full activation of the city over more than 200 venues," said Meitner.

"This year, we're doing 27 installs over four days in Amsterdam, which is big for us," he said.

It's allowed me to meet some of my musical idols and work with them directly.- Amadeus Meitner

Meitnersays they now havecompanies and clubs around the worldusing theirconverterson a regular basis, including venues inCalgaryand Montreal.

"I'm lucky ourwhole team here supports this venture because although it's not our main business model,it's creating awareness for our products," he said.

"Digital music is all around us, on Spotify, on CDs, through Bluetooth, and in order to hear that music, itneeds to go through a converter. We make thiscustom converter that doesn't rely on off-the-shelf parts like chips that are used in cars and phones and laptops," said Meitner.

The company's MeitnerAudio sound converters are designed and partly manufactured in Calgary. Themetalexteriors are manufactured in Ontario.

The company has had to navigate chip shortages during the pandemic, as have other businesses and sectors, including the automobile industry.

The ongoingsupply chain disruption hascaused shortages and delayed production on everything from gaming consoles to iPhonesover the past two years, including converter chips.

Meitner says thecompany manufacturesits own chips for its audiophileproducts and hasbeen able to make changes to keep the business going through the pandemic.

"We've managed to stay on top of it by pre-emptively redesigning boards to accommodate the chips we can get. Really policing it all is the way we've managed," said Deven Schiffo, purchasing and product developer at EMM Labs.

"One of the things we do to avoid the chip shortage is we try and select chips that are readily available, but we also don't rely on specific chips and other companies," said Schiffo.

Meitner says that despite a few delays on production and parts, they've fared well over the past two years.

Meitner says he'll be back on the road soontaking more of his audioconverters to the 2022Amsterdam Dance Event festival,which takesplacelater this month.