Working at a Growing Audio Startup w/ Bruce Dawson (Output) | Ep 02

Bruce Dawson, software engineer at Output, discusses his remarkable journey into audio programming on The Audio Programmer podcast. After earning his master's in music technology from CalArts in 2015, Bruce was hired as Output's first C++ developer just one week after graduation. He immediately dove into building Movement, a rhythm-based effects plugin, working solo for six months around the clock. This baptism by fire taught him the vast difference between academic plugin development and professional production software, which involves complex signal chains, sophisticated UIs, preset management, authorization systems, and features far beyond typical university coursework.

Bruce emphasizes the importance of thorough planning before coding and designing systems with separation of concerns, where each component handles one specific responsibility. At Output, he helped develop their in-house framework Atlas built on top of JUCE and contributed to Arcade, their innovative subscription-based instrument with constantly released content created entirely in-house. The company prioritizes attention to detail across all aspects, from sound design to UI aesthetics, creating a culture where developers, sound designers, and marketers all push creative boundaries together.

Beyond his work at Output, Bruce co-created a comprehensive Cadenza course with Jake on JUCE plugin development, offering both free foundational content and advanced paid instruction. He advises aspiring audio programmers to focus on being teachable rather than trying to know everything, emphasizes the value of clean, readable code over trendy language features, and encourages developers to leverage online resources like music-dsp.org and open-source GitHub repositories. His story demonstrates that with determination, mentorship, and community support, breaking into professional audio programming is achievable even straight out of school.

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