# Source: Soundstream Digital Recording Sources

**Type:** source
**Status:** Draft
**Confidence:** Medium
**Source Type:** Specialist History and Secondary Sources
**URL:** https://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/soundstream-the-introduction-of-commercial-digital-recording-in-the-united-states
**Publisher:** Journal on the Art of Record Production and related public reference sources
**Accessed:** 2026-06-18
**Updated:** 2026-06-18

## Summary

This source note covers the first-pass evidence for Soundstream, Thomas Stockham, and early commercial digital recording. The main source is a specialist history of Soundstream's role in introducing commercial digital recording in the United States, supplemented by public reference pages on Soundstream, Thomas Stockham, and digital recording.

## Useful Claims

- Thomas G. Stockham Jr. moved to the University of Utah and founded Soundstream in Salt Lake City.
- Soundstream developed practical professional digital-recording systems in the 1970s.
- The company recorded and edited commercial audio before consumer compact discs made digital audio familiar.
- Soundstream's digital editing work anticipated later computer-based audio production.
- Soundstream's historical role must be placed beside parallel systems from Denon, Sony, 3M, and others.

## Reliability Notes

Specialist recording-history sources are stronger than general encyclopedic summaries for technical and session chronology, but the page still needs primary Audio Engineering Society papers, technical manuals, and session documentation. "First" claims should remain caveated until triangulated.

## Related Pages

- [Soundstream and Commercial Digital Audio Recording](soundstream-digital-audio-recording.md)