Universal Studios is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios in continuous production. Over 8,000 films and countless television shows have been shot on the Universal lot. Founded by Carl Laemmle in New York City in 1912, Universal followed the westward trend of the industry and moved its studios to a large rural property in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley. Located on a 230 acre former working farm adjacent to Hollywood, Universal City Studios became the world's largest motion picture production facility.

In 1915, in order to generate publicity, a grand opening ceremony was planned and the public was invited. Thousands of people attended and Laemmle realized the income potential of allowing the public to tour the soundstages and sets on a daily basis. The tours continued until the early 1930s when the advent of talkies made filming impossible with the noise caused by visitors on the sets. Subsequently discontinued for almost three decades, the tours were brought back in the early 60s. They grew over the years into the first of many Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world.

With the success of Walt Disney World and growing interest in the California Studio Tour, Universal decided to build a theme park in Orlando, Florida based on its numerous successful films such as Jaws and Battlestar Gallactica. MLA participated in the design of these venues, furnishing acoustical and audio engineering as well as audio processing equipment.

We had total responsibility for audio and acoustical engineering design for most of the major attractions.