TECnology Hall of Fame
TECnology Hall of Fame
Compared to medicine or agriculture, the history of professional audio has been a comparatively short 125 years or so—barely a ripple in geologic time. But a whole lot has happened in that century and a quarter. True, other innovations also emerged in that era—from automobiles to aviation, telephones to television, exploring outer space to cyberspace—but for we true devotees, audio is what counts.
To expand the scope of the 20th annual TEC Awards, the Mix Foundation created a TECnology Hall of Fame to spotlight the long and rich history of the pro audio industry. Selecting just 25 inductees from a 125-year heritage turned out to be a difficult task, indeed. An elite committee of more than 50 industry leaders, engineers, producers, designers, educators, journalists and historians volunteered to help, with the only “rule” being that any selections must be at least 10 years old.
So set your time machine (analog, of course) waaaay back and enjoy this magic carpet ride through the annals of audio.
- 1877, Thomas Edison Cylinder Recorder
- 1887, Emile Berliner Gramophone Disc Recorder/Player
- 1906, Lee De Forest Triode Vacuum Tube
- Edwin Armstrong Regenerative Feedback (1913), Superheterodyning (1918), FM (1933)
- 1916, The Condenser Microphone
- 1919, Leon Theremin Theremin
- 1925, Chester Rice & Edward Kellogg, General Electric Co. Modern Dynamic Loudspeaker
- 1925, Western Electric/Bell Labs Electrical Recording
- 1926, Western Electric/Bell Labs Vitaphone Film Sound
- 1928, Harry Nyquist Nyquist Theorem
- 1931, Alan Dower Blumlein Stereo Patent
- 1931, Harry F. Olson and Les Anderson, RCA Model 44 Ribbon Microphone
- 1933, Fletcher-Munson Loudness Curves
- 1935, AEG Magnetophon Tape Recorder
- 1935, Shearer Horn
- 1940, Walter Weber AC Tape Bias
- 1944, Altec Lansing 604 Duplex Speaker
- 1947, Altec Lansing Voice of the Theatre Speakers
- 1948, Ampex Model 200A Tape Recorder
- 1949, Neumann U47 Microphone
- 1951, Pulse Techniques Pultec EQP-1 Program Equalizer
- 1953, AKG C12 Multipattern Tube Microphone
- 1954, Hammond B-3
- 1955, Ampex Sel-Sync
- 1956, Neumann Stereo Disk Lathe
- 1957, Stefan Kudelski Nagra III Tape Recorder
- 1957, EMT Model 140 Plate Reverb
- 1958, Cannon XLR Connector
- 1959, Rein Narma Fairchild 670 Compressor Limiter
- 1959, Telefunken (AKG) ELA M 251
- 1965, Shure SM57 Dynamic Microphone
- 1965, Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier
- 1966, Georg Neumann Company 48-Volt Phantom Power
- 1966, Ray Dolby Dolby A-Type Noise Reduction
- 1967, Crown International DC 300 Power Amplifier
- 1967, Neumann U87
- 1967, Time Delay Spectrometry
- 1969, George Massenburg ITI ME-230 Parametric Equalizer
- 1969, TEAC 1/4-Inch Simul-Sync 4-Tracks
- 1970, Rupert Neve Neve 1073 Console Module
- 1970, Robert Moog Moog Music Minimoog Synthesizer
- 1971, AKG C-414 Condenser Microphone
- 1971, Lexicon/Gotham Delta T-101 Digital Delay
- 1971, Thiele-Small Vented Enclosure Parameters
- 1972, MCI JH-400 Series Inline Console
- 1974, JBL 4311 Studio Monitors
- 1975, Eventide H910 Harmonizer
- 1976, EMT Model 250 Digital Reverb
- 1976, Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Recorder
- 1976, Dolby Laboratories Dolby Stereo Theater Sound
- 1977, Solid State Logic SL 4000 Series Studio Console
- 1977, Thomas Stockham Soundstream Digital Recording System
- 1977, UREI 813 Studio Monitors
- 1978, 3M Digital Audio Mastering System
- 1978, Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb
- 1978, New England Digital Synclavier
- 1979, Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument)
- 1979 Roger Linn, Linn Electronics LM-1 Drum Computer
- 1979, TEAC Portastudio
- 1980, Meyer Sound Labs UPA-1 Arrayable Trapezoidal Speaker
- 1981, Sony PCM-F1 Digital Recording Processor
- 1981, Sony PCM-3324
- 1983, Dave Smith, Sequential Circuits MIDI Specification
- 1983, Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer
- 1985, Audio Precision System One
- 1987, Sonic Solutions NoNoise
- 1990, Mackie CR-1604 Mixer
- 1991, Alesis ADAT Modular Digltal Multitrack
- 1991, Digidesign Pro Tools
- 1995, Yamaha 02R Digital Console
