LOS ANGELES — Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi and Dave Smith, president of Sequential Circuits, are among the recipients of the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Technical Grammy Award this year for their contributions to the development of MIDI technology.
Next year marks the 30th anniversary of Kakehashi and Smith’s launch of MIDI, a standard that motivated the cooperation of an entire industry and helped move music technology into a new era. Today, MIDI is ubiquitous in the musical equipment industry, and it is the defacto standard feature on virtually every electronic music product made by every manufacturer.
Recipients of the Technical Grammy Award are determined by vote through the Academy’s Producers and Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees, as well as the Academy’s Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. A special invitation-only ceremony will be held during Grammy Week on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, and a formal acknowledgment will be made during the 55th Annual Grammy Awards telecast, which will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network. ~ from Pro Sound News
