Apple Reportedly Hires Audio Pioneer Tomlinson Holman

124830 tomlinson holman mac
Tomlinson Holman working at a Mac in 2007 (Source: Flickr)

As noted by GigaOM, tech pundit Leo Laporte today tweeted that he has heard "on good authority" that Apple has hired audio pioneer Tomlinson Holman to head up the company's audio projects.

Apple has reportedly hired Tomlinson Holman as its new audio chief, according to a tweet by Leo Laporte Wednesday morning. Laporte said he had it "on good authority" that Holman "is joining Apple to run audio." Holman is the brain behind Lucasfilm's THX sound, and the world's first 10.2 surround sound system. Apple had yet to respond to a request for confirmation as of this writing.

Holman spent fifteen years at Lucasfilm, working to develop the THX sound system and related technologies. He has been serving as professor in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California while also pursuing development of advanced surround-sound technologies such as "10.2" for increased spatial sound perception through his own company. The technology focuses on creating a heightened level of immersion by utilizing an array of seven front speaker channels, including a pair of "height" channels installed at a 45-degree angle above the listening area.

Holman received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 2001 for his contributions to the development of cinema sound systems.

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
iPhone 12 Made in India

Trump Tells Tim Cook to Stop Building iPhones in India

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:21 am PDT by
President Donald Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India, in a potential disruption of Apple's plan to shift iPhone production away from China. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, according to Bloomberg. "He is building all over India." "They [India] have offered us a deal where...
apple music

Apple Music Gets New Transfer Tool to Make Switching From Spotify Easier

Wednesday May 14, 2025 5:17 pm PDT by
Apple this week introduced a new feature designed to allow prospective Apple Music users to import their saved music and playlists from third-party music services to Apple Music. The feature is either in an expanded testing phase or it has started rolling out, and it is available in Australia and New Zealand according to an Apple Support document. Signs of the transfer option first surfaced...
maxresdefault

Here's the First Real-World Look at Apple's CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:52 am PDT by
The first videos of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience are now available, providing a never-before-seen look at the long-anticipated iPhone-linked infotainment software. British automaker Aston Martin today shared the first video of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience in-action, followed by a detailed walk-through of the CarPlay Ultra system on Top Gear's YouTube channel, which provides the...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.5 With New Wallpaper, Screen Time Changes, Carrier Satellite Support for iPhone 13 and More

Monday May 12, 2025 10:06 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5, the fifth updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 come a little over a month after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. The iOS 18.5 update has a...
fortnite apple logo 2

Epic Resubmits Fortnite to U.S. App Store After Not Hearing From Apple for 120+ Hours

Wednesday May 14, 2025 1:01 pm PDT by
On Friday, Epic Games submitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store, and since then, we've been waiting to see if Apple would approve the game and allow it back on the iPhone and the iPad. There's been no word from Apple so far, but Epic Games opted to pull its first App Store review request, and has now resubmitted Fortnite. Fortnite leaker Shiina shared the news, with the information reposted by...

Top Rated Comments

Elijahg Avatar
183 months ago
please bring lossless audio support to Mac OS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lossless

Doesn't support more than two channels though.

It'd be great if Apple finally added some kind of proper support into the Mac OS/Quicktime for 5.1 audio over the optical audio port. Perian is a bit of a kludge, half the time I just get static through my Logitech z5500, or the sound channels get all mixed up. They'd need to licence either a Dolby Digital or DTS encoder to send discreet multi-channel audio (such as from games or some movies with an audio track for each channel) over the S/PDIF port. Some Blu-Ray movies include a pre-encoded DTS or Dolby Digital track, which can be sent over S/PDIF as raw digital data. As I said, it often won't work though.

It'd also be pretty cool if Apple did have some sort of quasi-surround sound built into their Macs, as they used to have SRS back in OS 9. Sometimes it can work quite well, especially if the algorithm is fed 6 separate channels. Generally Apple seems to use pretty decent quality speakers, the ones in my 27" Apple display are pretty impressive, as are the ones in my 15" MPB. They're loud, and for built-in speakers, pretty basey. Though they do have a tendency to make things sound like you're listening through a drain pipe.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimmy James Avatar
183 months ago
Most people are not audiophiles. Yes, they listen to things, but they are not finely attuned to the quality of sound. Many audiophiles don't even realize they aren't really. However, being so progressive and perfectionist with sound shows how brilliant Apple is as a company. Does Dell, MS, or other computer companies give a ****? No. They crank out rubbish more often than not.

Are you really stating that Apple is brilliant for working on audiophile sound quality while simultaneously saying that no one cares?

Apple has long been behind the curve on SQ. It's funny you should mention MS. The Zune is felt to have much better SQ than the iPod.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NY Guitarist Avatar
183 months ago
Are you sure about that? Just tested on my 2009 Mac Pro and it didn't work.

Doesn't work on my 2008 Mac Pro either.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EGOvoruhk Avatar
183 months ago
5.1 in my car sounds amazing as it is
I hope you're joking, or you only watch movies in your car. Because 5.1 music is few and far between, and 2.0 sounds terrible coming out of 5.1
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sir Cecil Avatar
183 months ago
It'd be nice to give their macbook/pros and iMacs higher quality speakers.


Yes, I hear they have hired this world-renowned expert with the prime objective of using his immense skills to get improved quality from the one-dollar built-in speakers in our MacBook Pros.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tdmac Avatar
183 months ago
I am thinking this has nothing to do with Surround Sound etc. My guess is that he will be working on ways to get better audio quality out of Apple's compressed format both audio and video.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)