Things to do prior to making a Technical GRAMMY submission:

For an Individual:

1. Read the Technical GRAMMY Description at the bottom of this document.

2. Review the list of past winners at the bottom of this document. Does this individual’s contribution to the recording industry rise to the level of previous Technical GRAMMY Award recipients?

Contributions to the recording industry include, of course, actual recording technology such as ’s invention of multitrack recording and George Massenburg’s work with EQ and other recording systems. However, it also includes musical technologists David M. Smith, Leo Fender, Robert Moog, and Roger Linn whose innovative legacies had a major effect on recording.

3. Is this individual’s contribution technical in nature and NOT his or her musical “body of work" as a producer or engineer? This Award requires a significant technical contribution to the industry beyond being a great producer or engineer

For example, received his Technical GRAMMY for technical innovations such as the first surround sound optical track in a movie, the first satellite link between a movie sound stage and a studio, his work with Dolby and the innovative production techniques on the Frank Sinatra Duets project etc., not for his incredible body of engineering and production work.

Mastering engineer Doug Sax did not win for his body of work but for pioneering modern day direct-to-disk recording and the establishment of a true audiophile signal path in a mastering studio.

4. Has this individual made valuable contributions specific to the music recording industry?

5. Are the individual’s technical contributions to the recording industry truly innovative? In other words, is the person’s work original, or based in large part on the work of others in the past? If the work is based on past technology, does this person’s new work advance the original technology to a degree that it is truly innovative?

For a Company:

1. Read the Technical GRAMMY Description at the bottom of this document.

2. Review the list of past winners at the bottom of this document. Does this company’s contribution to the recording industry rise to the level of previous Technical GRAMMY Award recipients? Are the company’s technical contributions to the music recording industry truly innovative? In other words, is the company’s work original, or based largely on the work of other companies or technologies from the past? If the work is based on past technology, does the company's new work advance the original technology to a degree where you could call it innovative?

3. Is this company’s contribution of significant and lasting technical importance?

4. Has this company made a valued contribution specifically to the music recording industry?

5. Are the people who actually “did the math” for this company’s technical contributions still part of the company? For example, was the company purchased at a later date and are the current products based on original technology from the work of founders who are no longer with the company?

6. Are this company’s technical contributions to the recording industry sufficiently innovative to rise to the level of a Technical GRAMMY Award?

2016 Technical GRAMMY Descriptions:

Company Technical GRAMMY: This Special Merit GRAMMY is awarded by vote of the Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees and ratification by ’s National Trustees to companies that have made outstanding contributions of technical excellence and innovation to the recording field.

Individual Technical GRAMMY: This Special Merit GRAMMY is awarded by vote of the Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees and ratification by The Recording Academy’s National Trustees to individuals who have made outstanding contributions of technical excellence and innovation to the recording field.

Previous Technical GRAMMY Winners:

COMPANY INDIVIDUAL Sony/Philips (1998) Dr. Thomas G. Stockham, Jr. (1994) Georg Neumann GmbH (1999) Ray Dolby (1995) AMS Neve plc (2000) Rupert Neve (1997) Digidesign (2001) George Massenburg (1998) Apple Computer, Inc. (2002) Bill Putnam (2000) Shure Incorporated (2003) Les Paul (2001) Solid State Logic (2004) Dr. Robert Moog (2002) JBL Professional (2005) Geoff Emerick (2003) Western Electric/Bell Labs (2006) Douglas Sax (2004) Yamaha Corporation (2007) Phil Ramone (2005) Ampex Corporation (2008) Tom Dowd (2006) Universal Audio (2009) David M. Smith (2007) AKG Acoustics GmbH (2010) John Eargle (2008) WAVES Audio Ltd. (2011) Leo Fender (2009) Celemony Software GmbH (2012) Thomas Alva Edison (2010) Royer Labs (2013) Roger Linn (2011) Lexicon (2014) Roger Nichols (2012) Ikutaro Kakehashi & Dave Smith (2013) Emile Berliner (2014) Dr. Raymond Kurzweil (2015)