The late John Eargle was awarded a 2008 Technical Grammy at the Special Merit Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, on the evening prior to the 50th Grammy Awards telecast.
The engineer, musician and longtime JBL Professional consultant passed away in May of 2007.
The Technical Grammy Award is presented by vote of The Recording Academy’s National Trustees to individuals who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.
Eargle was a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; he engineered and/or produced more than 275 albums, including Grammy-winning releases from Joe Williams and Ruth Brown. In 2001, John earned a Grammy for Best Engineered Classical Album for “Dvorák: Requiem, Op. 89; Sym. No. 9, Op. 95 ‘From the New World.’”
During 30-plus years with JBL, the company said, he also championed the concept of flat power response in sound reinforcement applications, conceiving the application of bi-radial constant-coverage horns to both studio monitors and cinema systems. He authored several books, including “The Handbook of Recording Engineering,” “The Microphone Handbook,” “The Handbook of Sound System Design” and “The Loudspeaker Handbook.” In 2007, he completed “The JBL Story: 60 Years of Innovation.”
