What was Ray Dolby's primary initial focus leading to his success?
Answer
Solving the noise problem inherent in recording and playback.
Ray Dolby's initial breakthrough and subsequent commercial success were fundamentally linked to addressing signal degradation, specifically hiss and rumble, present in recording and playback formats. This led directly to the development of Dolby Noise Reduction systems. While this expertise in signal processing was later essential for complex multi-channel audio in motion pictures, the primary focus that established his technological foundation was noise mitigation, making immersive experiences viable by cleaning up the underlying audio signal before complex spatial encoding could be effectively applied.

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