Peter Scheiber is considered to be the originator of the matrix format, a basic mathematical formula used to convert four channels into two which is what most matrix four channel systems are based on. He is also a musician and audio engineer. In matrix quadraphonic systems four channels are converted down to two channels. These two matrixed channels are recorded onto tape or vinyl record. Reproduction occurs via a two-channel stereotransmission medium - in most cases a vinyl record - these are decoded back to four channels and reproduced via four loudspeakers. Scheiber is also the inventor of the 360-degree spatial decoder. Like Lou Dorren, Scheiber was an early pioneer of multi-channel sound.
Musician
Scheiber an Oberlin College music graduate obtained a full scholarship to study with the first-chair players of the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. He was 22 years of age when he got to study with Chicago Symphony's first bassoonist. He also played first-chair in the ChicagoChamber Orchestra. During his professional career, he played with the Ottawa Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony orchestras. Around 1977 his bassoon was stolen from the trunk of his car and according to the May 2007article in Indianapolis Monthly and he never replaced it. Also later, being called on to play there would be reasons not to play such as a missing reed or music.
Audio career
Peter Scheiber was born in Croton-on-Hudson in New York in 1935. He grew up in Peekskill. From an early age, passionate about music and technology, he had a workbench in his bedroom for experimenting with his gadgets. He later earned a scholarship at Tanglewood Music Center and played with the Chicago Symphony. Later, as a professional, he was a member of orchestras in Ottawa and Texas. In 1967 Scheiber, then a 32-year-old bassoonist, came up with the idea of encoding four channels of sound in two channels and decoding them back to four. He sold a patent license to CBS. Peter Scheiber would eventually take legal action against Dolby Laboratories and Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp for infringement of his patents. During his career he has worked with Jim Fosgate of Fosgate Electronics and Tate surround technology.
