Bring On The Surround Sound: New Surround Category At Next Yearís Grammies

1-Jul-04

At the Recording Academy Board of Trustees meeting in June it was announced that a new field will be added to the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2005óthe field of Production, Surround Sound; as well as its first category, Best Surround Sound Album. ""I put together a committee out of the Producers & Engineers Wing that has been working on proposals for upward of two years. We're very, very happy that the Trustees have passed this finally,"" said P&E Wing director Leslie Lewis. ìThe new award,î continued Lewis, ""would go to the surround engineer, if something is created in surround in its initial form, and/or the surround mixing engineer, and the surround mastering engineer."" Should a re-mastered project win, the surround remix engineer would be honored.The category is open to all surround formatsóDVD-Video, DVD-Audio, and SA-CD; there are no restrictions on the types of music. ""Sometimes, in our production categories, they separate classical from non-classical music,"" explained Lewis. ""This is for all genres.""Grammy Surround Music Alliance TourIn May of this year, The Grammy Surround Music Alliance tour was held in Nashville, Tennessee. Host of the event Producer Phil Ramone stated, ìMusic in surround sound has begun to appear all around us. From movies to DVDs, SA-CDs, television, on our computers, and now even in the car, itís possible to duplicate and even improve upon that experience that I had in that movie theater many years ago.î A large group of noteworthy industry gurus were in attendance, many of who shared their positive thoughts and feelings on the surround sound format. Demos were given of SA-CD, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video and Windows Media 9. Even a couple of Acura TLs were there showing off the Panasonic/Scheiner ELS DVD-Audio system. Reaching OutIn 2003, surround audio systems sales increased by 44 percent according to The Consumer Electronics Association (EIA). By the end of the year, more than 31 million surround music titles were available, and with DVD players now in 48 million households, these surround sound discs are finally reaching out to a much larger audience than ever before. While movies are still the number one choice for consumers, music is certainly on the rise. As Frank Wells of Pro Sound News reports, ìDVD-Video as a music format is the hottest growing category of music sales, with a 64 percent increase in units shipped in 2003 compared to 2002îWith the majority of consumers still unaware of high-resolution, multichannel audio, perhaps these recent change of events will finally affect the way people want to listen to their music.