John M. Eargle


John Morgan Eargle was an Oscar and Grammy-winning audio engineer and a musician. He was the Chief Engineer for Delos International, author of seminal textbooks on audio, a consultant for 31 years at JBL, and past president and fellow of the Audio Engineering Society.
Eargle and his colleague, Mark E. Engebretsen, can be directly credited for the revolution in cinema sound reproduction after 1980. They presented a paper to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers demonstrating new concepts in cinema loudspeaker design. This led directly to developments culminating in the THX sound system developed by Tomlinson Holman. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded the two, and a third colleague, D. B. Keele, Jr., a Scientific and Technical Award in 2001:

Career timeline

Growing up

During his teenage years while at Texarkana High School in Arkansas, Eargle worked part-time for Paul Klipsch in Hope, Arkansas, which was about 30 miles from his home. Eargle graduated with honors from Texarkana Arkansas High School in 1948.

Recordings

Eargle engineered more than 250 CD releases, many for Delos International, including the Seattle Symphony, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Westminster Choir, the chamber orchestras of Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.
Eargle recorded soloists that include John Browning, Arleen Auger, Janos Starker, Garrick Ohlsson, Carol Rosenberger, and Bella Davidovich.
During the 43rd Grammy Awards, Eargle won a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Classical his Delos recording of Dvořák's Requiem and Symphony No. 9 performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra - Zdenek Macal, conductor.
John Eargle was posthumously awarded a Technical GRAMMY Award in 2008 at the Special Merit Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on the evening prior to the 50th GRAMMY Awards Telecast. 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.
"John Eargle left an everlasting and profound impression on the audio industry," said Mark Gander, Vice President of Marketing, JBL Professional, who accepted the GRAMMY Award on behalf of John Eargle, along with John's niece, Cyndi Bird, and nephew and namesake, John Paul Eargle. "He was a brilliant engineer, musician, author and teacher. His 2008 Technical GRAMMY Award commemorates the industry-wide recognition of John's accomplishments, as well as the considerable time he devoted to sharing his expertise, experience and wisdom.
A jazz aficionado, Eargle engineered recordings by Joe Williams, Red Holloway, Ruth Brown, Clark Terry, Tommy Newsom, and Etta James. His recording of Joe Williams for Delos, titled Nothin' but the Blues won a Grammy in 1984 for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male, and his recording of Ruth Brown for Fantasy Records, Blues on Broadway, won a 1989 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female.

Education

Music
Scientific & engineering

Selected publications

Academic textbooks
Other publications
Academic papers
Other scientific publications