The Steven Lee Group has a
pack of fans that fill its lounge shows at the Bellagio. What most of
those fans don't know is that the musicians are fans, too - fans of
local software developer Bob Lentini.
Lentini is the creative mind
behind SAWStudio, a computer software system that reproduces an upscale
recording studio inside a standard personal computer. While fewer than
1,000 music professionals use the current system, Lentini dreams of
redefining the recording industry. But the one-man code machine won't hold
his breath until Bill Gates jumps on board.
Instead, Lentini and his local
musician following are supporting the software through grassroots efforts.
Their campaign began last month with a live jazz concert and SAWStudio
demonstration at the Mars Music store on Maryland Parkway. The Steven Lee
Group jammed on stage while Lentini used the software to mix their
performance.
"It was really our first attempt to do something like that," Lentini said.
"It was fairly risky to put on a live concert and recording. We were
grateful it worked out since it was such a wild idea," Lentini said.
Lentini cares more about his
product dreams than he does dollars and cents. He's already had success.
The developer used to own a company producing early versions of the
program. He was a millionaire on paper with thousands of customers and 14
employees. But when his client base didn't make the jump to the current
version, Lentini let the company go and concentrated on programming the
best product he could.
"The advanced technology
behind SAWStudio is useful. Without a doubt it will be the method of the
future," the developer said. "Whether I do it or not, this type of
technology will be the way films, videos and records are made in the
future. But humanity always resists change."
Lentini has been at the
forefront of change all his life. The Philadelphia native majored in
engineering at Drexel University, but music was his first love. In grade
school he taught himself percussion and guitar. In high school he moved
backstage to operate audio equipment.
In 1971, Lentini moved to Las
Vegas to reconnect with his older brother, dancer Michael Darrin. Once
here, the 21-year-old wandered into Lafayette Electronics to purchase a
part for an amplifier circuit he was building. He noticed a heap of
electronic repair jobs. The repair technician had quit, so Lentini asked
for the job even though he only understood about five percent of the
equipment stacked on the shop table. Over the next few weeks, the youth
poured through user manuals learning the ins and outs of every piece of
gear on the table. He was soon hired full-time.
After Lafayette, Lentini
helped head up a new repair division for Southern Nevada Music. On call
around the clock, he regularly maintained the showroom equipment for many
of the major acts that performed in town.
In 1974, with help from his
friend Angel Lopez, Lentini constructed his first recording studio. The
duo didn't have the cash to purchase all the gear necessary for the
studio, so Lentini hand-built much of his equipment from soundboards to a
makeshift 8-track player.
"I'm a guy who loves
solutions. But I'm always needing to get the job done without the proper
tools," he said. "I love creating tools. I then find I'm capable of
creating tools to do the job better than any tools you can buy."
Lentini then went on the road
as a live sound engineer with tenor, Sergio Franchi.
In 1979, Lentini and his
friends Dan Henderson and Jim McMurray found an investor and opened a
second studio. Starting work on Christmas Eve, the three friends had the
building cleared out and ready to go by New Years.
McMurray lived in the building
during the construction, but many nights all three found themselves
camping out on the bare floor in sleeping bags, bouncing ideas off each
other. Once the place was completed, the studio became a hangout for
players and hosted many nightly jam sessions and late night barbecues.
In 1981 the studio closed and
Lentini went on the road with Paul Anka. In England the recording engineer
picked up his first computer, a Sinclair ZX81. He quickly moved to the
Commodore 64. His first commercial program, telecommunications application
BobsTerm Pro, was written for the Commodore 64.
Just about the time the
program hit the market, Lentini was asked to engineer a session for Tom
Worrell. Worrell liked Lentini's work enough to make him his personal
audio consultant. Soon Lentini was designing high-end audio systems for
yachts and sailboats, as well as consulting on the audio installation at
Worrell's television production studios in the Virgin Islands.
Lentini
upgraded to IBM and designed an early word processing program called
WordSense for Worrell's corporate use. In 1990, Lentini began intensive
work on his earliest music system, the Software Audio Console program. He
used the system to compose and record music for his brother, who was then
an Emmy award-winning choreographer and costume designer.
In 1992, Lentini and a friend
launched a company to sell his program. Soon he built the program into the
Software Audio Workshop (SAW). SAW was the program that took off.
The software evolved into
advanced versions from SAWPlus to SAWPro. SAWPro was used for applications
as diverse as recording sonar traces of submarine surveillance, to running
timed fireworks displays, to Abbey Road studios.
To create SAWStudio, Lentini
went beyond an update and started over, writing a completely new program
he insists will change the world.
"I've designed it to look and
act just like real physical gear. It's no hype or inflation of
possibilities," he said. "It truly replaces setups that cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars. This program can emulate a console that would cost
$700,000 to reproduce. Someday consoles like that will be considered toys.
And really this is better because you can't take that slab of metal that
weighs 2,000 pounds up into your hotel room to edit, but you can take a
computer."
Lentini reasons that SAWStudio
isn't a toy, it's a tool for professionals. He said the program won't
suddenly turn kids in garages into recording gurus. Knowledge and skill
are necessary too.
"Recording is still an art
form. If I sit you behind an expensive grand piano and you play
chopsticks, you're still not Beethoven even though you're sitting behind a
powerful tool," Lentini said. "But for professionals, this will totally
revolutionize movie and television shoots. Anything that utilizes audio."
For more information on SAWStudio
visit www.sawstudio.com.
