Justin Timberlake wants to make sure you have a 20/ 20
sound experience when you listen to music: He's now a co-
owner of the audio technology company AfterMaster Audio
Labs, Inc.
AfterMaster, a subsidiary of Studio One Media Inc.,
announced Wednesday that the Grammy-winning pop star
will join the company, which focuses on enhancing and re-
mastering audio quality. Its website showcases examples of
songs pre- and post-AfterMaster enhancement, including
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It
Off."
"I'm thrilled to be a part of this groundbreaking company,"
Timberlake said in a statement. "The first time I heard
audio, post AfterMaster, I knew that I had to be a part of
this company and that we had something revolutionary on
our hands."
The 33-year-old Timberlake joins the company's founders,
CEO Larry Ryckman and chief engineer Shelly Yakus.
Ryckman and Yakus launched the audio technology
company QSound along with Jimmy Iovine in 1986.
"Justin is an audiophile. He really understands quality
audio," Ryckman said in an interview. "We've worked with
the world's biggest artists, and not all of them have a focus
on audio quality on their own; they look to their producers
and their engineers. Justin loves technology, completely
understands audio and he's very powerful and respected in
the entertainment community."
Timberlake had last year's top-selling album with his
comeback effort, "The 20/20 Experience." The singer, with a
group of other investors, bought MySpace in 2011.
AfterMaster's technology will be offered in a chip that would
be embedded in products such as mobile devices,
headphones and televisions. It will also be available in
software form for computers and streaming services.
"We think this is probably the biggest breakthrough in
audio," Ryckman said. "We can take any audio and make it
substantially louder, clearer and fuller."
AfterMaster software will be available for licensing on Dec.
1. Products with chips will launch early next year.
"AfterMaster takes the audio and keeps it musical and clean
sounding, and takes it further than anyone's taken it before
in terms of quality, volume, size (and) depth. Everything
about it enhances the audio without changing the intent of
the creator," Yakus said in an interview.
The company will announce its "first partnerships in the near
future," Ryckman said.
AfterMaster is also launching an online music mastering
service next month, where musicians can upload songs,
receive a re-mastered version and decide to purchase it.