PROFILE
Julian Traverse
“I was the kid that took everything apart in the house to see how it
worked, along with subsequently ‘fixing’ it,” says Julian Traverse with
a good chuckle. In the last few years, the Newfoundland native has
turned his penchant for tinkering with electronics into a thriving
company that’s been earning accolades from some high-profile
recording pros.
Traverse Analogue is a limited-run manufacturer of high-end,
hand-built professional audio equipment for recording, mixing, and
mastering engineers. Although it was just founded in 2018, over 10
years of R&D preceded its formal launch, and its founder’s journey to
that point goes back even further.
“Working with mechanical and electrical equipment was my
dream and nothing around me was safe from getting torn to bits,”
Traverse shares. “I had to know everything I could possibly absorb, so
I taught myself electronics, math, and physics using college textbooks
and the Internet in my teenage years.”
As ambitious and impressive as it is, the self-learning was neces-
sitated by some early struggles with anxiety and depression. Growing
up in a small community on the northern coast of Newfoundland
with a very supportive family, Traverse was nonetheless plagued
by sometimes-crippling mental health issues even before his 10 th
birthday. He ended up having to drop out of high-school just to cope
and, suffice it to say, faced more than his share of struggles with over-
exertion, self-medication, and addiction over the years.
In his early 20s, though, Traverse managed to earn his high-school
diploma and completed some post-secondary training to land a job
as an industrial mechanic; however, he sometimes found it difficult to
work a standard job – particularly during times of stress. That’s where,
thanks to some productive introspection and an optimistic outlook,
the Traverse Analogue journey formally began.
“With my obsession for electronics, I figured it was best to work
for myself,” he says, “combining my interests into manufacturing
equipment for use in another very important aspect of my life: music.”
Traverse has been a multi-instrumentalist since childhood and
had a prized Universal Audio 2-610 tube preamp in his small home
studio. “I knew I could build something like that, but I initially thought
I could use some cool outboard gear like an EQ to go along with it –
specifically a Pultec EQP-1A clone,” he reveals. “I’ve always been a fan
of vacuum tube topologies.”
In 2015, he moved to Mississauga, ON, with one of his Pultec clones
to explore business opportunities. One of his encounters was with
Dave Dysart and the team at HHB Canada, who were big fans of his
work but advised him on the limited demand for high-end outboard
EQ gear and encouraged him to explore new ideas – like a dual tube
preamp and solid-state DI box.
Traverse returned to his home province and sought help to start his
manufacturing business from the local Community Business Develop-
ment Corporation (CBDC) – a not-for-profit organization dedicated to
helping Atlantic Canadian business owners succeed.
By 2018, he had a dedicated manufacturing lab on the lower level
of his home in Conception Bay South with a small recording studio,
office area, plenty of workspace, test equipment, and all the necessary
tools and components to build.
Traverse Analogue’s first two products are the 652 vacuum tube
preamp and Mass-DI box, both of which have been turning heads in
By Andrew King
recent months. What’s more, he’s landed a Canadian distribution deal
with HHB Canada, which has wasted little time getting the products
into some influential hands.
Right now, though, Traverse says his soldering irons have been
cold save for the odd repair and maintenance work that gets sent his
way. “I’m back to the drawing board and re-engineering the products
to include some new features,” he reveals. He’s also revising his busi-
ness plan to adopt things he’s learned in and about the industry and
developing a strategy with a marketing firm to build the Traverse
Analogue brand on a global scale.
Looking back on his relatively short but eventful time in pro audio,
Traverse points to a few personal interactions as being particularly
special. “When I was first working on the preamp, I got in contact with
a circuit designer from Australia who worked for many years as a senior
design engineer for a popular microphone company,” he shares. “We
exchanged ideas over a couple of years and I learned a ton from him
and his experience with low-noise tube design and manufacturing.”
He’s also had the chance to meet and geek out with some world-
class engineers like Rich Chycki, David Bottrill, Brian Moncarz, and
Ryan McCambridge, to name a handful. “To chat about gear and get
top-shelf feedback to improve my work is very important to me,” he
says, “and ultimately results in a better product.”
As mentioned, re-engineering is his current focus, and being
able to do it from his home-based lab not only helps with managing
stress, but also lets him maximize his time with his three kids and
shop dog, Odie. A lover of the “simple things in life,” Traverse can often
be found with his hands in the dirt or sitting on the deck with a cold
beer and hot BBQ.
To close out 2019, he’ll be taking part in an eight-week, intensive
workshop for technology entrepreneurs as part of his efforts to scale
the company upward. He’s excited to restart production with some
new products, new features for existing products, and more attrac-
tive street pricing. Then, he’ll be working to make them available all
around the globe.
“I’ve found that the pro audio industry is filled with amazing
people,” he says, fondly recalling his adventures thus far, and even
though the humble Newfoundlander might not realize it, he’s one of
them – and one worth watching.
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 19