for Excellence in Audio, presenter of the Technical Excellence and Creativity (TEC) Awards, has announced the creation of the TECnology Hall of Fame, honoring products and innovations that have had a lasting impact on the development of audio technology. The first 25 inductees will be chosen by a blue ribbon panel of more than 40 respected audio veterans and scholars, and announced prior to the 20th Annual TEC Awards, to be held October 30 in San Francisco.
"The TECnology Hall of Fame is something that we have contemplated for a long time," says Hillel Resner, president of the Mix Foundation. "Since 1988, through the TEC Awards Hall of Fame, we have honored important individuals in the history of audio—pioneers ranging from Les Paul and George Martin to Tom Dowd and Sam Phillips. We think that a hall of fame for significant advances in technology is long overdue, and who better to establish this than the TEC Awards?"
Members of the panel will be asked to select 10 innovations or products introduced prior to 1950, and 10 that were introduced between 1950 and 1995. To be eligible, a product must be at least 10 years old. In October, the inductees will be featured in a special 20th-anniversary TEC Awards edition of Mix, the pro audio industry's international publication that sponsors the awards. They will also be included in a DVD celebrating the first 20 years of the TEC Awards.