established the company in 1979 in Fort Wayne, Indiana so that he could stop being a touring musician. The company originally offered recording services via a remote recording studio in Surack's Volkswagen microbus and a recording studio based out of his home. When the Kurzweil K250 programmable keyboard and sampler was introduced in 1984, Surack became known for his custom K250 sound library and programming skills as well as his upgrade kits. Surack became a Kurzweil dealer, but his clients were asking for advice regarding other products as well. Surack expanded Sweetwater to become a music retailer whose emphasis was pre- and post-sale customer service. By 1990, with 6 employees and annual sales of $6 million, Sweetwater had outgrown Surack's home and moved into its own commercial building, and Sweetwater's growth over the next several years earned it a place on Inc.'s ranking of America's fastest growing companies in 1993, 1994, and 1995.
Sweetwater.com
Initially launched in 1995 as an informational website, by 1999 sweetwater.com offered most of Sweetwater's inventory for purchase online. Electronic Musician included sweetwater.com as one of nine essential online information resources for a musician,.
Publications
Sweetwater has several publications, including the ProGear Directory, Worship Sound Pro, and Music Educators Technology Resource., and a blog, inSync.
Campus
Sweetwater's campus includes its corporate offices and distribution center, along with recording studios, two performance venues, a music academy, a retail store, and numerous customer and employee amenities. In 2006, with 220 employees and continued business growth, Sweetwater commissioned MSKTD & Associates, Inc. to design and master plan a new 44-acre corporate campus. The new headquarters, consisting of corporate offices, a distribution center with warehouse, and a retail store, also included the Sweetwater Studios recording studio complex and 250-seat LARES-equipped performance theater, both designed by Russ Berger Design Group. Sweetwater's new facility was certified LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council in April, 2009. In October of 2018, Sweetwater announced another expansion to construct a new warehousing facility. Completed in early 2020, the 480,000-square foot distribution center facilitates product storage and customer order fulfillment, as well as product testing, product photography, offices, staff amenities, and more, while more than doubling the shipping capacity of the Sweetwater's previous warehouse. An additional structure, planned to begin construction in 2020 will house a new 35,000-square-foot conference center with room for up to 1,000 people that will accommodate continuing education sessions for employees. The facility will also be available for members of the community to use for other events.
