FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Keith O. Johnson Wins the 2010 Founder's Award from the Nation's Largest Audio Society

Date: January 4, 2010

It is with great pleasure and admiration that the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society, America's largest audio society with over 600 members, announces the winner of the Founder's Award for 2010, the Society's highest honor, to Keith O. Johnson. As the leading recording engineer in the world for truly fine music and the torch bearer for audiophile recordings at renowned Reference Recordings, we recognize his continuing passion for the high-end. As technical director for Spectral Audio, he continues to design and develop ever more important resources for our enjoyment of great music. Therefore, we declare "Professor" Keith O. Johnson the winner of the Society's Founder's Award and 2010 the Year of Reference Recordings.

In the history of the award, this is the first year where the winner is directly involved in the production of recorded music.

The Founder's Award will be presented at the Society's Seventeenth Annual Gala Celebration on December 18th, 2010, in Los Angeles.

From Reference Recordings:

We at RR believe that how a recording sounds is as important as the music itself. "Prof." Keith O. Johnson, our chief engineer and Technical Director, is a true audio legend, having designed and patented many innovative products in the professional and consumer fields. The RR Sound comes from his singular methods and equipment, hand-built or extensively modified by him. Microphone techniques range from single-point Blumlein to spaced omnis to complex studio mixes, depending on the musical forces and the performing space involved. Our goal is to recreate the sound of real musicians making music in real space.

"Prof." Keith Johnson has spent over 30 years developing a reputation for innovative thinking, technical achievement and musicianship which has elevated him to a position in the audio industry occupied by only a handful of visionaries. His intensive investigation of electronic behavior and acoustic perception have led most recently to his development (with digital engineer Michael Pflaumer) of the revolutionary High Definition Compatible Digital encoding process, produced and marketed by Pacific Microsonics (recently acquired by Microsoft). HDCD is widely considered to be the most accurate recording process ever invented.

For more than 20 years, Keith O. Johnson has served as Technical Director, Recording Engineer and partner in Reference Recordings. His 100-plus recordings for the label have long been considered the standard for high fidelity, and include three GRAMMY award-winners and eight additional GRAMMY nominations.

The Founder's Award is awarded annually by the Society's Board of Directors to those professionals in the high-end who continue to advance fine musical reproduction in the home and distinguish themselves as the best in their profession. The 2009 Founder's Award went to EveAnna Manley, President of Manley Labs. Previous winners include Harry Pearson, Founder Absolute Sound, Dave Clark, Editor Positive Feedback Online, Dennis Had, Founder Cary Audio, David Robinson, Editor in Chief Positive Feedback Online, and Ray Kimber, President Kimber Kable.

The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society now celebrates its Seventeenth year serving top audiophiles in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The largest audio society in North America with over 600 members, the non-profit organization provides up to 14 major events per year in Greater Los Angeles and showcases and promotes the very best in great gear and recordings worldwide. Though the majority of members hail from Southern California, the Society boasts members from twelve states and nine countries.

Please click HERE to view the past recipients of this prestigious award!