Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546135
C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 23 for their development and manufacturing of the Deva—the first portable hard disk, file-based recorder. "Howard and I developed the original Deva in about a year," said Sanders. "It was the first mixer/ recorder Zaxcom ever built, and there really wasn't a direct predecessor. Because of our background in digital mixing consoles, we approached the problem differently than traditional recorder manufacturers." Some of the most notable innovations introduced with the Deva are basic features every mixer now uses today. "Being digital and nonlinear gave us opportunities that simply didn't exist with tape," explained Sanders. "We introduced features like pre-record, which allowed audio to be captured before the record button was pressed, and we were the first to embed metadata directly into production sound files. Those innovations became fundamental parts of modern production recording." The Deva went on to push fundamental boundaries of sound mixing. Instead of being a recording device, it became a storage information system with sophisticated mixing capabilities, wireless integration, and high track counts. It pushed the boundaries of production mixing for television and features and found its way on notable movies like Fight Club (1999) and The Last Samurai (2004), and TV series, including Sex and the City among many more. The Deva continues to be used today on sets across the world with its latest model, the Deva 24.