 Carl
Malone, is the "CM" of CM Labs and is the founder and
Chief Product Designer. Carl’s childhood was spent growing
up in Pasadena, CA. A father who scratch-built models, the
scientific intellectual drive of the Cold War 50’s and an
innocent curiosity about how things worked started Carl on
his life’s path.
When it came time to go to college, Carl’s practical streak
came out. Not optimistic about the economic prospects of a
career as a performing musician, Carl instead directed his
music/scientific interest into the study of Physics. The intent
was to add fundamental science and disciplined research to
his skill set.
From
1980 to 1990 Carl was a Physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL). He worked on radiation testing the
microprocessor systems for the Galileo spacecraft.
While at JPL, Carl obtained 2 patents on novel particle
detectors.
By this time, Carl was an accomplished musician on vocals, guitar and flute. In addition to producing many of his own
recordings, he has also performed and re-corded with Ravi
Shankar. He continued his association with Shankar, functioning
as the chief sound engineer with Ravi Shankar’s Music Circle
in Los Angeles for 12 years.
Carl
was the inventor of the HUI product which is widely
considered to be the first product of its type. He was also
instrumental in the design of the Pro Control and has made
many presentations about modern console design.
A few
words from our founder:
When I
design consoles, there are five important factors that I
consider to create the best designs I can. Consoles
that operate mixing and editing functions must be successful
for both. A successful console design, regardless of
price or size, has to satisfy these factors.
LEARNABILITY:
The console should be easy to learn, so the engineer can
rapidly learn, operate it and feel comfortable using
it. A successful design must accommodate the learning
needs of new users, but not impede the speed and depth
requirements of expert users.
EFFICIENCY:
The console should be efficient to use, so that once the
engineer has learned to operate it, a high level of
productivity is achieved.
MEMORABILITY:
The console should be easy to remember, so the engineer can
return to the console after some period of not using it and
immediately be comfortable and productive without
retraining.
LOW
ERROR RATE: The console should have a low error rate so
engineers make few errors during console use and, if errors
are made, they can easily recover, and catastrophic errors
must not occur.
SATISFACTION:
The console should be pleasant to us, so engineers are
satisfied when they use it and enjoy using it day in and day
out.
I am
gratified by the many awards and very positive responses we
get from our many customers.
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