He started in audio at Lafayette Radio in Boston in the 1940s and studied electronics in the U.S. Navy and at Harvard University and MIT.
He later worked at Trans-Radio Recording Studio, Epsco, Hi-Con Eastern and Raytheon, where he designed telemetry systems for the Mercury space program.
He founded dbx in 1971, selling it to BSR in 1979 and staying on with the company for several years.
He also founded Kintek (now Colortek) and Instrumentation Laboratory[citation needed], as well as running the Cafe Pierrot restaurant in Wilton for a time.
Blackmer was a life member of the IEEE and a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society from 1976.