Archives:Halcyon Days for Audio Engineering: The 1950s
Abstract
Popular enthusiasm for higher quality sound made the 1950s an exciting time to be an audio engineer. Those concerned with disk recording made improvements associated with the new LPs and 45s, such as better recording, mastering, and processing techniques and a new lower-force pickup. Though accurate measurement of the features and performance of phonograph systems began in the 1920s, it was not until the mid 1950s that the industry adopted standardized tests of recording characteristics, making it easier for engineers to communicate and for listeners to judge the relative merits of different phonograph sets or components. This article describes the decade's developments.
Citation and Link to Full Article
Frederik Nebeker, "Halcyon Days for Audio Engineering: The 1950s," in Signal Processing: The Emergence of a Discipline, 1948-1998 (Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1998), 29-53.
