John Kenneth Hilliard
Encyclopedia
John Kenneth Hilliard was an American acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs. He helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film, and won an Academy Award in 1935. He designed movie theater sound systems, and he worked on radar as well as submarine detection equipment during World War II
. Hilliard collaborated with James B. "Jim" Lansing in creating the long-lived Altec
Voice of the Theatre speaker system. Hilliard researched high-intensity acoustics, vibration, miniaturization and long-line communications for NASA
and the Air Force
. Near the end of his career, he standardized noise-control criteria for home construction in California, a pattern since applied to new homes throughout the U.S.
, Hilliard received his B.S. degree
from Hamline University
in St. Paul, Minnesota at 24 years of age. He then obtained a B.S.E.E. at the University of Minnesota
. He married a laboratory biologist and began working toward a Masters degree.
, all the major film companies were racing to hire audio engineers so they could record and reproduce sound for film. Through common acquaintances at Electrical Research Products, Inc. (ERPI) within Western Electric
, Hilliard was contacted and hired by United Artists Studios
(UA) in Hollywood, California in 1928 because of his studies in physics, engineering and acoustics. Having left his Masters studies behind in Minnesota, Hilliard, not yet 28 years old, supervised all sound recording for Coquette
, UA's first talking motion picture
. Western Electric provided recording equipment, but the specific techniques for achieving best sound on film had to be developed by hard work and imagination. Hilliard's ground-breaking methods later became industry standards.
hired Hilliard away from UA. His first assignment was to fix their problematic recording amplifiers whose overall phase shift measured out to a voice-distorting 1500 degrees. Hilliard's solution was to use higher linearity transformers obtained from Lansing Manufacturing Company
, in consultation with founder Jim Lansing. Earlier, Hilliard had befriended a laboratory associate of his wife's, Dr. John Blackburn, and in 1934 he helped Blackburn get a position as design engineer at Lansing Manufacturing. The following year, Hilliard and his team at MGM solved the problem of recording Nelson Eddy
's strong operatic tenor alongside Jeanette MacDonald
's flat and weak soprano voice, picking up an Academy Award for Sound Recording on the duo's first film together: Naughty Marietta.
As part of his work to reduce the weight of sound equipment at MGM, Hilliard approached James "Jim" Cannon of Cannon Electric
in Los Angeles regarding the machining of a smaller, lighter version of Cannon's heavy-duty electrical connectors that Western Electric had been using for motors and microphones. The resulting lightweight six-pin Cannon connector eventually evolved to become the industry standard three-pin connector for microphones; the XLR connector
. Though the Great Depression
was underway, Cannon Electric was kept very busy producing the popular connectors for film studios.
While at MGM, Hilliard was asked by Gordon Mitchell to chair the Motion Picture Research Council's sound committee. Hilliard's first task was standardizing a uniform method of reproducing film sound in the theater. He began by standardizing recording techniques among eight major film studios. Later, with Harry Kimball, he helped develop the 1938 "Academy Curve", a standard filter that attenuated recorded noise above 8,000 Hz while retaining prominent voice reproduction characteristics.
(brother of Norma Shearer
), who decided to fund the effort. Hilliard was made responsible for the concept and design of the project. Lansing Manufacturing was tapped to develop the drive units while Hilliard worked to improve the electronic components. What came out of this collaboration was a well-received industry standard loudspeaker system, "The Shearer Horn System for Theatres" (1937), that garnered a technical award "Oscar" for sound from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
.
In May 1941, Lansing Manufacturing was bought by All Technical Services Company, an outgrowth of Western Electric's ERPI division which had become independent. The resulting company, with the established film industry contacts of ERPI combined with the extended manufacturing capability of Lansing, reformed as Altec Lansing
. Hilliard had contacts in both parent firms.
(MIT) to work on radar development for U.S. military applications. His work at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts
led in 1943 to an employment opportunity back in Los Angeles at Altec Lansing where he improved their Magnetic Anomaly Detector
(MAD, also known as "Magnetic Airborne Detection") system for Anti-submarine warfare
(ASW).
. Hilliard remained VP Engineering at Altec until 1960 during which time he supervised the development of sectoral horns, significant reductions in the size of the condenser microphone, many amplifier and crossover designs, and a major reworking and improvement of the Altec 604, the well-known high-fidelity coaxial loudspeaker driver originally designed by George Carrington, Sr., who was then president of Altec Lansing.
As chief engineer at Altec, Hilliard joined the Hollywood section of the Sapphire Group, a regular social gathering of sound recordists and a precursor to the Audio Engineering Society
. In 1948, Hilliard was elected to chair the Sapphire Group Recording Standards Committee. He made certain, along with the Motion Picture Research Council, that proposed industry standards were forwarded to members of National Association of Broadcasters
(NAB), Institute of Radio Engineers
(IRE), Acoustical Society of America
(ASA) and Royal Musical Association
(RMA). Hilliard helped form the Los Angeles section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in 1951. At the beginning of 1963, IRE merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)—Hilliard retained his Fellowship.
(LTV) Western Research Center where he widened his scope of research to include the study of sonic booms, missile launch noise, atmospheric noise refraction, highway noise mitigation, hearing conservation and gun silencing. He helped develop an air-driven noise generator that produced 10,000 acoustic watts and was driven by a 300 hp diesel engine. He helped NASA with voice communication equipment including long lines between Cape Canaveral and Houston as well as assisting the Air Force with their worldwide telephone system. He worked on military listening systems. In 1968, Hilliard retired from regular employment at LTV, continuing to work with LTV as a consultant but in the same manner as if he hadn't retired. In the early '70s, Hilliard directed the hearing conservation program
at Bio-Medical Engineering Corporation. He founded J.K.Hilliard and Associates in the mid-1970s, performing architectural acoustic analysis and creating the standards for California
's multi-family housing construction acoustic design policies, significantly influencing interior and exterior noise-control standards for homeowners across the U.S.
Hilliard ceased consulting in 1985 and died on March 21, 1989. Friends said he helped lay out a loudspeaker sales demonstration booth just months before he died.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Hilliard collaborated with James B. "Jim" Lansing in creating the long-lived Altec
Altec Lansing
Altec Lansing is a line of professional, home, automotive, computer, and multimedia audio products first developed in 1936. They were used in many studios as monitor speakers...
Voice of the Theatre speaker system. Hilliard researched high-intensity acoustics, vibration, miniaturization and long-line communications for NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. Near the end of his career, he standardized noise-control criteria for home construction in California, a pattern since applied to new homes throughout the U.S.
Education
Born in October 1901 in Wyndmere, North DakotaWyndmere, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 533 people, 214 households, and 144 families residing in the city. The population density was 608.7 people per square mile . There were 247 housing units at an average density of 282.1 per square mile...
, Hilliard received his B.S. degree
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
from Hamline University
Hamline University
-Red Wing location :Hamline was named in honor of Leonidas Lent Hamline, a bishop of the Methodist Church whose interest in the frontier led him to donate $25,000 toward the building of an institution of higher learning in what was then the territory of Minnesota. Today, a statue of Bishop Hamline...
in St. Paul, Minnesota at 24 years of age. He then obtained a B.S.E.E. at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. He married a laboratory biologist and began working toward a Masters degree.
United Artists
After the release of The Jazz SingerThe Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system,...
, all the major film companies were racing to hire audio engineers so they could record and reproduce sound for film. Through common acquaintances at Electrical Research Products, Inc. (ERPI) within Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
, Hilliard was contacted and hired by United Artists Studios
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
(UA) in Hollywood, California in 1928 because of his studies in physics, engineering and acoustics. Having left his Masters studies behind in Minnesota, Hilliard, not yet 28 years old, supervised all sound recording for Coquette
Coquette (film)
-Plot:Norma Besant, daughter of a Southern doctor, is an incorrigible flirt and has many suitors. Her father Dr. Besant favors Stanley , who is taken with Norma. However Norma has met a simple man named Michael Jeffrey who she has fallen madly in love with. Dr. Besant disapproves of Michael...
, UA's first talking motion picture
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
. Western Electric provided recording equipment, but the specific techniques for achieving best sound on film had to be developed by hard work and imagination. Hilliard's ground-breaking methods later became industry standards.
MGM
In 1933, MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
hired Hilliard away from UA. His first assignment was to fix their problematic recording amplifiers whose overall phase shift measured out to a voice-distorting 1500 degrees. Hilliard's solution was to use higher linearity transformers obtained from Lansing Manufacturing Company
Altec Lansing
Altec Lansing is a line of professional, home, automotive, computer, and multimedia audio products first developed in 1936. They were used in many studios as monitor speakers...
, in consultation with founder Jim Lansing. Earlier, Hilliard had befriended a laboratory associate of his wife's, Dr. John Blackburn, and in 1934 he helped Blackburn get a position as design engineer at Lansing Manufacturing. The following year, Hilliard and his team at MGM solved the problem of recording Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
's strong operatic tenor alongside Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
's flat and weak soprano voice, picking up an Academy Award for Sound Recording on the duo's first film together: Naughty Marietta.
As part of his work to reduce the weight of sound equipment at MGM, Hilliard approached James "Jim" Cannon of Cannon Electric
Cannon (ITT Corporation)
Cannon is a division of ITT Corporation that specialises in the manufacture of connectors, cable assemblies, keypads and LAN components. In 1952 it invented the industry-standard D-sub connector....
in Los Angeles regarding the machining of a smaller, lighter version of Cannon's heavy-duty electrical connectors that Western Electric had been using for motors and microphones. The resulting lightweight six-pin Cannon connector eventually evolved to become the industry standard three-pin connector for microphones; the XLR connector
XLR connector
The XLR connector is a style of electrical connector, primarily found on professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment. The connectors are circular in design and have between 3 and 7 pins...
. Though the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
was underway, Cannon Electric was kept very busy producing the popular connectors for film studios.
While at MGM, Hilliard was asked by Gordon Mitchell to chair the Motion Picture Research Council's sound committee. Hilliard's first task was standardizing a uniform method of reproducing film sound in the theater. He began by standardizing recording techniques among eight major film studios. Later, with Harry Kimball, he helped develop the 1938 "Academy Curve", a standard filter that attenuated recorded noise above 8,000 Hz while retaining prominent voice reproduction characteristics.
Shearer Horn System
Hilliard's continued contact with Lansing and Blackburn led to a conversation about the poor state of loudspeakers in movie theaters. The three men shared ideas about how best to improve existing designs. Hilliard took his plans to MGM's head of sound, Douglas ShearerDouglas Shearer
Douglas G. Shearer was a Canadian-born pioneer sound designer and recording director who played a key role in the advancement of sound technology for motion pictures.-Early life and career:...
(brother of Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
), who decided to fund the effort. Hilliard was made responsible for the concept and design of the project. Lansing Manufacturing was tapped to develop the drive units while Hilliard worked to improve the electronic components. What came out of this collaboration was a well-received industry standard loudspeaker system, "The Shearer Horn System for Theatres" (1937), that garnered a technical award "Oscar" for sound from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
.
In May 1941, Lansing Manufacturing was bought by All Technical Services Company, an outgrowth of Western Electric's ERPI division which had become independent. The resulting company, with the established film industry contacts of ERPI combined with the extended manufacturing capability of Lansing, reformed as Altec Lansing
Altec Lansing
Altec Lansing is a line of professional, home, automotive, computer, and multimedia audio products first developed in 1936. They were used in many studios as monitor speakers...
. Hilliard had contacts in both parent firms.
World War II intervenes
In 1942 when the U.S. was preparing to fight a long, technically challenging war, Hilliard left MGM to join his friend Blackburn who had begun research for Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) to work on radar development for U.S. military applications. His work at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
led in 1943 to an employment opportunity back in Los Angeles at Altec Lansing where he improved their Magnetic Anomaly Detector
Magnetic anomaly detector
A magnetic anomaly detector is an instrument used to detect minute variations in the Earth's magnetic field. The term refers specifically to magnetometers used by military forces to detect submarines ; the military MAD gear is a descendent of geomagnetic survey instruments used to search for...
(MAD, also known as "Magnetic Airborne Detection") system for Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
(ASW).
Voice of the Theatre
In 1944, Hilliard returned to entertainment acoustics with Altec Lansing. Improving on the Shearer Horn System, Hilliard worked with Jim Lansing and Blackie Blackburn to develop the loudspeaker system of the 20th century: the Voice of the Theatre (VOTT). Arriving in the marketplace in 1945, it offered better coherence and clarity at high power levels. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences immediately began testing its sonic characteristics; they made it the movie theater industry standard in 1955. Production of the long-lived VOTT continued into the 1990s.Altec
In 1946, Hilliard took over as Vice President of Engineering due to Jim Lansing's leaving Altec to start a new enterprise which would become JBLJBL
JBL is an American audio electronics company currently owned by Harman International. It was founded in 1946 by James Bullough Lansing. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated electronics. There are two independent divisions within the company — JBL Consumer and JBL Professional...
. Hilliard remained VP Engineering at Altec until 1960 during which time he supervised the development of sectoral horns, significant reductions in the size of the condenser microphone, many amplifier and crossover designs, and a major reworking and improvement of the Altec 604, the well-known high-fidelity coaxial loudspeaker driver originally designed by George Carrington, Sr., who was then president of Altec Lansing.
As chief engineer at Altec, Hilliard joined the Hollywood section of the Sapphire Group, a regular social gathering of sound recordists and a precursor to the Audio Engineering Society
Audio Engineering Society
Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working...
. In 1948, Hilliard was elected to chair the Sapphire Group Recording Standards Committee. He made certain, along with the Motion Picture Research Council, that proposed industry standards were forwarded to members of National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
(NAB), Institute of Radio Engineers
Institute of Radio Engineers
The Institute of Radio Engineers was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until January 1, 1963, when it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .-Founding:Following several attempts to form a...
(IRE), Acoustical Society of America
Acoustical Society of America
The Acoustical Society of America is an international scientific society dedicated to increasing and diffusing the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications.-History:...
(ASA) and Royal Musical Association
Royal Musical Association
The Royal Musical Association is a British scholarly society and charity. Founded in 1874, the Association claims to be the second oldest musicological society in the world, after that of the Netherlands...
(RMA). Hilliard helped form the Los Angeles section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in 1951. At the beginning of 1963, IRE merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)—Hilliard retained his Fellowship.
Noise studies
In 1960, Hilliard became director of the Ling-Temco-VoughtLing-Temco-Vought
Ling-Temco-Vought was a large U.S. conglomerate which existed from 1969 to 2000. At its peak, its component parts were involved in the aerospace industry, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, the airline industry, meat packing, car rentals and pharmaceuticals, among other...
(LTV) Western Research Center where he widened his scope of research to include the study of sonic booms, missile launch noise, atmospheric noise refraction, highway noise mitigation, hearing conservation and gun silencing. He helped develop an air-driven noise generator that produced 10,000 acoustic watts and was driven by a 300 hp diesel engine. He helped NASA with voice communication equipment including long lines between Cape Canaveral and Houston as well as assisting the Air Force with their worldwide telephone system. He worked on military listening systems. In 1968, Hilliard retired from regular employment at LTV, continuing to work with LTV as a consultant but in the same manner as if he hadn't retired. In the early '70s, Hilliard directed the hearing conservation program
Hearing conservation program
Hearing conservation programs are designed to prevent noise induced hearing loss. A written hearing conservation program is required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration “whenever employee noise exposures equal or exceed an 8-hour time-weighted average sound level of 85 decibels...
at Bio-Medical Engineering Corporation. He founded J.K.Hilliard and Associates in the mid-1970s, performing architectural acoustic analysis and creating the standards for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's multi-family housing construction acoustic design policies, significantly influencing interior and exterior noise-control standards for homeowners across the U.S.
Personal life
While he was undertaking his post-graduate studies in Minnesota, Hilliard married Jessamine Hilliard, a published researcher in the fields of allergies, enzymes, hormones and radiology. She accompanied him to California when UA offered him a job. In 1932, she introduced Hilliard to a young electrical engineer working at her Los Angeles laboratory, a doctoral graduate fresh out of Caltech: Dr. John "Blackie" Blackburn, a man Hilliard would continue to associate and collaborate with in many technical endeavors.Hilliard ceased consulting in 1985 and died on March 21, 1989. Friends said he helped lay out a loudspeaker sales demonstration booth just months before he died.
Published works
- (1936) "A Study of Theater Loud Speakers and the Resultant Development of the Shearer Two-Way Horn System". Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Volume 27, p. 45
- (1938) "Motion Picture Sound Engineering". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles.
- (1940) "Use of Fine Grain Positive Emulsions for Variable Density Film Recording". Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, pp. 535–537, 564
- (1957) Acoustic Society of America: "Generation of High-Intensity Sound Using Loudspeakers for Environmental Testing of Electronic Components"
- (1957) "Instrumentation for the Measurement and Generation of High Intensity Sound", with Leo Beranek. Defense Technical Information Center
- (1962) "Electro-Pneumatic Air Modulator for Fog Signals", IRE Trans. Audio
- (1965) AES Journal Article Database: "High-Power, Low-Frequency Loudspeakers"
- (1966) AES Journal Article Database: "Development of Horn-Type Moving Coil Driver Unit"
- (1969) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "An Improved Theatre Type Loudspeaker System"
- (1970) AES Journal Article Database: "Unbaffled Loudspeaker Column Arrays"
- (1971) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "Microphone Windscreens"
- (1971) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "Airport Noise Management"
- (1976) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "Historical review of horns used for audience-type sound reproduction"
- (1977) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "A Review of Early Developments in Electroacoustics in the U.S.A."
- (1978) AES Journal Article Database: "Dividing Networks for Loud Speaker Systems"
- (1978) AES Journal Article Database: "The Function and Design of Horns for Loudspeakers"
- (1978) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "A Study of Theatre Loud Speakers and the Resultant Development of the Shearer Two-Way Horn System"
- (1980) AES Journal Article Database: "The Practical Application of Time-Delay Spectrometry in the Field"
- (1984) Audio Engineering Society Electronic Library: "A Brief History of Early Motion Picture Sound Recording and Reproducing Practices"
Awards
- (1935) Academy AwardAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
for best Sound Recording on the film Naughty Marietta - (1937) Technical award from the Academy for the Shearer Horn
- (1951) Honorary Doctorate from the University of Hollywood
- (1961) John H. Potts Award (now the Gold Medal), the highest accolade from the Audio Engineering Society
- (1962) Technical Achievement Award, IRE Signal Processing Society