Design concept for Little Labs, prepared by The Recording Club. Not affiliated with Little Labs.
Little Labs
hollywood, since 1988

Little Labs was founded in 1988 by me, Jonathan Little

That is the first line on the history page of littlelabs.com, and it is still true. One person, one bench, a house in the Hollywood Hills.

Below: Glamour Photo (2021), Little Labs World Headquarters, Little Labs Staff (1995).

In my teenage years in the ‘70s, I learned basic electronics in my Father’s lab at Stanford University and became passionate about rock n roll.

I became further involved in the Palo Alto music scene in high school and then took a course in music, recording, & electronics at College for Recording Arts in San Francisco. Then I headed south to Los Angeles, looking for a recording studio.

For a reasonably comprehensive background article on myself which is suitable for a laugh, here is a link to a ‘Behind the Gear’ column on Little Labs from Tape Op #74 .

What the name means

His father ran a lab at Stanford. The graduate students called the kid who was always underfoot Little Labs. He learned basic electronics there in the 1970s, got into rock and roll in the Palo Alto scene, took a course in music, recording and electronics at the College for Recording Arts in San Francisco, then went south to Los Angeles looking for a studio.

The press

Tape Op ran a Behind the Gear column on Little Labs in issue 74. Little describes it as suitable for a laugh.

Jonathan Little, photographed in 2021
Jonathan Little, 2021
The house that Little Labs works out of
Little Labs world headquarters
Jonathan Little with a group of people, photographed in 1995
Little Labs staff, 1995
the working chronology

Nine rooms, then a catalogue

Recording and mastering facilities, in Little's own order. The products came out of these buildings, one problem at a time.

  • Salty Dog Studios

    Tech & custom design

  • Devonshire Studios

    Tech & custom design

  • Cherokee Studios

    Tech & custom design

  • Toto the band

    Tech designed VCA grouping system for World tour 1984

  • Village Studios

    Tech & custom design

  • A&M Studios & Mastering

    Tech & custom design

  • Conway Studios

    Chief Tech & custom design

  • Marcussen Mastering

    Custom console design

  • Chalice Studios

    Manager and new facility oversight

the mission, as written

Since 1988 Little Labs has created audio tools for use in the pro audio industry, to aid the audio engineer in their quest for sonic pleasure for themself and their clients. Little Labs products specialize in addressing previously un-addressed audio applications, empowering the audio engineer with new tools, allowing new techniques to explore deeper into the control of sound.

littlelabs.com, verbatim