Larry Ryckman

Early life and education

Ryckman was born in Toronto, Canada, on August 28, 1959, to Claude and Magdeline (Gallo) Ryckman and is a relative of William Lawrence Ryckman, one of the original founding pioneers of the State of California.

American Artists

in 1982, Ryckman served as Vice President, Development, of the film and TV production company American Artists, Inc. He became President and CEO in 1984 and produced several feature films including The Virgin Queen of St. Francis High, Snowballs, and Crime of the Century.

Music

In 1986, Ryckman co-founded Archer Communications, Inc./QSound, Ltd., an audio technology company which developed proprietary audio technologies for the music, film, TV, computer and video game industries. At the time, he was the youngest CEO of a publicly traded company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. QSound developed the first patented three-dimensional audio process for playback through traditional stereo. Ryckman assembled a high profile and highly publicized team of entertainment industry professionals to assist in building the company, including CAA and its co-founder and super agent Michael Ovitz, music industry veterans Jimmy Iovine (QSound VP of Music), Shelly Yakus (QSound VP of Audio Engineering), music producer Bob Ezrin, film producer, George J. Folsey (QSound Chairman) and Warner Bros. director Salah Hassanein. Todd-Ao/Glen Glenn Studios then the world's largest motion picture and television sound studios became a large stakeholder which led QSound to be utilized in numerous feature film productions including, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

In 1990, Ryckman and music attorney Allen Grubman negotiated a first of its kind deal in the music industry with Polygram NV, then the world's largest record company, for the payment of a mechanical royalty on all albums sold that were mixed with QSound. Ryckman oversaw the engineering of several albums using QSound including Madonna's "The Immaculate Collection", Michael Jackson's "Dangerous', Paula Abdul's "Spellbound", Sting's "The Soul Cages" and Julian Lennon's "Help Yourself". In addition, three music recordings engineered with QSound during Ryckman's tenure won GRAMMY awards including the motion picture soundtrack, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. The Company achieved a market capitalization approaching $500 million and was broadly covered in major publications including Barron's, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter.

After the Company's first profitable quarter, Ryckman moved from CEO to Co-Chairman of QSound and teamed up with QSound VP of Music, Jimmy Iovine, to start a music label which was the impetus for Interscope Records. Shortly thereafter Ryckman was approached to purchase the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL and left the music industry to pursue the ownership of the team. Iovine then partnered with Ted Field and built Interscope Records into one of the most successful record labels of the last 20 years.

Sports

In 1991, Ryckman purchased and privatized the Calgary Stampeders Football Club of the Canadian Football League (CFL). At the time the team was struggling financially and Ryckman was widely credited for saving the team. Many changes took place under his ownership, including the signing of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Doug Flutie, quarterback Jeff Garcia from San Jose State and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and in team management and player personnel. Offices and locker rooms were renovated, new stadium signage was created and a new marketing campaign was built around "The New Calgary Stampeders". During his tenure the Stampeders broke dozens of league and team records, participated in five Grey Cup Championship games, and won the Grey Cup in Toronto in 1992, for the first time in 21 years.

During his five years in the CFL, Ryckman co-chaired the CFL expansion committee with late actor John Candy and served on the Executive Committee of the CFL Board of Governors. In 1993, he purchased the rights to host the 1993 Grey Cup game for the City of Calgary from Toronto Argonauts owners Bruce McNall, John Candy and Wayne Gretzky. The 1993 Grey Cup festival drew a capacity crowd of over 50,000 spectators. Ryckman constructed and donated new private luxury boxes at the Stampeders home field, McMahon Stadium in Calgary. Ryckman was subsequently awarded the CFL's Outstanding Contribution Award for his contributions to both the league and as a Governor.

Stock controversy

In 1996, the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) alleged that Ryckman had conducted 88 illegal wash trades over a six-month period in the stock of Westgroup Corporations in 1994. The ASC held a quasi-judicial hearing at their offices and banned Ryckman from trading in Alberta for 18 years and assessed costs of approximately $375,000. The trading ban was adopted through reciprocity by Ontario and British Columbia. Ryckman denied the allegations and at the hearing asked to call evidence in his defense and that the matter be heard in a civil court, both of which were denied.

MyStudio

In 2004, Ryckman returned to the entertainment industry and founded MyStudio, Inc., a private company established to develop MyStudio interactive recording studios, Mystudio.net and related technologies. MyStudio was the world's first self-contained, interactive audio and video recording studio available for consumer use. In 2007, Ryckman sold his interest in MyStudio to public company, Studio One Media, Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $30 million and became the largest shareholder of Studio One. As CEO of MyStudio, Ryckman negotiated multi-year deals with Simon Cowell's "The X Factor," Mark Burnett Productions, The GRAMMY Foundation, EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music, Sony/ATV, Hard Rock International, Warner Music Nashville and the Queen Latifah Show.Multiple patents have been issued and filed relating to MyStudio and its underlying processes and technologies.

In 2008, Ryckman negotiated a groundbreaking music license with publishing giant EMI which allowed consumers for the first time to legally create music videos in a publicly accessible venue using popular music for unlimited online posting. The EMI license was followed up with multi-year licenses with Universal Music, Sony ATV and BMG.

In April, 2011, Ryckman finalized a multi-year agreement involving stakeholders Fox, Freemantle, Sony and Simco for the use of MyStudio's for Simon Cowell's "The X Factor." The 2012 MyStudio auditions resulted in the discovery of top four X Factor finalists "Emblem3" and "Carly Rose Sonenclar". In September, 2013 a MyStudio was installed at SONY Pictures Studios for use on The Queen Latifah show. In September 2014, MyStudio merged with bBooth, Inc.

AfterMaster Audio

In 2006, Ryckman and audio engineer Shelly Yakus embarked on a multimillion-dollar, multi-year development effort to create AfterMaster HD Audio through AfterMaster Audio Labs. Inc. The award-winning and proprietary (patents pending) AfterMaster hardware and software process creates an audio process and master recording with a loudness, fullness and clarity which AfterMaster claims is unachievable through traditional mastering techniques. The first major music releases using MyStudio AfterMaster HD Audio process were Janet Jackson's "Make Me" produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, and Lady Gaga's multi-platinum "Telephone."

AfterMaster's music mastering process for independent artists, "ProMaster", became the first online independent music mastering service ever offered for sale by Guitar Center. AfterMaster entered into a first of its kind agreement wherein its ProMaster division remastered an unprecedented 6,000,000 songs for independent artists for the online independent music website, ReverbNation. AfterMaster also gained notoriety for transforming the former production offices of Alfred Hitchcock at the legendary Crossroads of the World complex into one of Hollywood's top recording and mastering studios.

Ryckman serves as Chairman of the AfterMaster Advisory Board which includes music producer, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, songwriter, Diane Warren, music producer, Richard Perry, media investor, Ted Field, former Atlantic, Capitol and Virgin music CEO, Jason Flom, casting director, Sheila Jaffe, former Lucasfilm CEO, Charles Weber, music producer, Jack Douglas, former Interscope CEO of Urban Music, Ron Gillyard and former Virgin and Warner music CEO, Phil Quartararo.

On April 1, 2014, ON Semiconductor, a multibillion-dollar, multinational developer and manufacturer of semiconductors partnered with AfterMaster Audio Labs to incorporate AfterMaster Audio in semiconductor chips for use in consumer electronic products. In November 2014, singer Justin Timberlake joined AfterMaster Audio Labs as a co-owner.

Honors and awards

Discography

Mastering (partial list):

QSound mixing credits:

Patents

Patents issued: Audio Process, Live Broadcast Interview, Low/High Resolution, Studio Booth - United States Patents: 8,508,572, 8,169,548, 8,144,257, 8,089,564

Personal life

He married Elaine (Howes) Ryckman and together they have three children, Lauren, Aaron and Kiera.

Charity

Ryckman has been active with several charitable organizations including the Easter Seals, Uncles at Large, Cystic Fibrosis and Cancer Society. Ryckman currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Felix Organization whose principals include Sheila Jaffe, Darryl McDaniels and Mark Wahlberg. Ryckman was the Executive Producer of the Felix PSA video "Walk This Way" which was directed by Penny Marshall and featured Aerosmith and 25 celebrities. The Felix Organization sends hundreds of underprivileged inner-city foster kids to summer camp every year.