A pioneer in audio technology, Emile Berliner is best known as the inventor of the gramophone. The German-born inventor came to the United States in 1870 and eventually found a passion for sound and electricity. His first major contribution came with the invention of an improved telephone transmitter that later became the basis of the first-ever microphone. Although a method for recording music on a disc had already been invented, he focused his efforts on reinventing the way music was played and recorded. In 1887 Berliner introduced the gramophone to the world and marketed his invention himself. Some of the first gramophone discs ever recorded featured artists such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Cal Stewart and Len Spencer. Berliner’s gramophone — later renamed the phonograph — set the course for shellac and vinyl records that followed.
Technical Grammy Award recipients are determined by vote of The Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees, as well as The Academy’s Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.
