Michael Gerzon

Michael Gerzon
Born	(1945-12-04)4 December 1945 Birmingham,England
Died	6 May 1996(1996-05-06)(aged 50) Oxford,England
Citizenship	British
Alma mater	University of Oxford
Known for	Ambisonics Soundfield microphone Noise-shaped dither Trifield Meridian Lossless Packing
Awards	AESFellowship (1978) AESGold Medal (1991) AESPublications Award (1999)
Scientific career
Fields	Sound recording and reproduction
Institutions	University of Oxford Independent consultant

Michael Anthony Gerzon(4 December 1945 – 6 May 1996) is probably best known for his work onAmbisonicsand for his work on digital audio. He also made a large number of recordings, many in the field offree improvisationin which he had a particular interest.

Life

After studying mathematics at theUniversity of Oxford,Gerzon joinedOxford's Mathematical Instituteworking on axiomatic quantum theory, until his work in audio took him into working as a consultant. At university he already had a keen interest in both the theory and practice of recording, which he shared with a few fellow students including Peter Craven (the two were later the co-inventors of thesoundfield microphone,and collaborated on many other projects).

Over the next few years, this interest led to the invention ofAmbisonics,which can be seen as a theoretical and practical completion of the work done byAlan Blumleinin the field ofstereophonic sound.Although Ambisonics was not a commercial success, its theory underpinned much of his later work in audio such as his work withWaves AudioandTrifield.He was also active in the development of digital sound techniques, such asnoise-shapedditherandMeridian Lossless Packing(MLP, the lossless compression used inDVD-Audiodisks).

TheAudio Engineering Societyrecognised Gerzon's work in audio by awarding him a fellowship in 1978 and the AES Gold Medal in 1991. He was also awarded the AES Publications Award posthumously in 1999.

Death

Gerzon died in 1996 from complications resulting from a severe asthma attack.

Tape archive

TheBritish Library Sound Archivecontains Gerzon's collection of tapes, which he kept from his student days. The collection consists of 400 hours of recordings. A direct link to the collection is not possible; a search for the Collection title "Michael Gerzon tapes" will find them all by track. (An advanced search for Call Number "C236" with varying suffix numbers is a useful alternative that finds by tape.) Readers with a British Library card can book to hear tapes by appointment.

See also

• The Snake Decides(1988), which he engineered
• Live Improvisations(1992), which he recorded
• On a Friday,whom he recorded
• The Jennifers,whom he recorded
• Ambisonics
• Oxford University Tape Recording Society,of which he was a member
• Soundfield microphone
• Noise-shaped dither
• Trifield
• Meridian Lossless Packing

Further reading

• Alexander, Robert Charles (2008).Michael Gerzon: Beyond Psychoacoustics.Dora Media Productions.ISBN978-0-9560160-0-3.OCLC663423066.Archivedfrom the original on 18 March 2009.Retrieved4 November2018.
• Thornton, Stephen (14 May 2010).Michael Gerzon: Audio Pioneer 1945 – 1996(Pictorial biography).Blurb.

External links

Documentary

• A short documentary focusing on Michael Gerzon, and the work of the OUTRS; including interviews with Peter Craven and Paul Hodges can be seen here:https:// youtube /watch?v=X23hZNoSkUs

Obituaries

• Richard ElenofMeridian Audio Ltd.
• Waves Audio Ltd,a company for whom he consulted.
• John Borwickin Gramophone.
• Barry Foxin The Guardian.

Recorded tributes

• Lines Burnt in LightbyEvan Parker
• Sequoiaby The Aquabats

Tape archive

• The Michael Gerzon Archive,an article describing its preservation

Early work

• Gerzon's Early Work,a website by Stephen Thornton.

Papers

• The Gerzon Archivehas a number of Gerzon's less mathematical papers in downloadable form.
• Stephen Thornton's websiteincludes a list of publications and unpublished reports.