Harry F. Olson Explained

Dr Harry Ferdinand Olson, E.E., Ph.D. (December 28, 1901 – April 1, 1982) was a prominent engineer and inventor with RCA Victor, the Acoustic Research Director of RCA Laboratories, Princeton, and a pioneer in the field of 20th century acoustical engineering[1] notably in the fields of high-fidelity, digital music synthesis, microphones, loudspeakers, acoustics, radar, submarine communication, magnetic tape and noise reduction.

Olson wrote ten books including Dynamical Analogies,[2] on electrical-mechanical-acoustical analogies, and had over one hundred patents.

Biography

Harry F. Olson was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to Swedish immigrant parents. Technically inclined from an early age, he built and flew model airplanes, constructed a steam engine and invented a wood-fired boiler that drove a 100-volt DC generator. Olson designed and built an amateur radio transmitter, gaining enough proficiency to be granted an operator's license. Olson went on to earn a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Iowa then continued to earn a master's degree with a thesis on acoustic wave filters in solids and a doctorate in physics, working with polarization of resonance radiation in mercury.

Immediately after completing his course of study in 1928, Olson moved to New Jersey to work for RCA Laboratories. Olson would remain at RCA for almost four decades.

Olson had a continuing interest in music, acoustics, and sound reproduction, and, by 1934, he was placed in charge of acoustical research at RCA. At RCA, Olson worked on a wide range of projects, which included developing microphones for the broadcasting and motion picture industries, improving loudspeakers, and making significant contributions to magnetic tape recording.

Like many engineers of the World War II generation, Olson also made significant contributions to military technology as well, particularly to the fields of underwater sound and anti-submarine warfare.

After the war Olson, along with Herbert Belar, developed the first modern electronic synthesizer. Equipped with electron tubes, the Mark II Sound Synthesizer was used to compose music, which was recorded and sold to the public.

A prolific inventor and engineer, Olson was awarded more than 100 patents for the various types of microphones (including the widely used 44- and 77-series), cardioid (directional) microphones, loudspeaker baffles, air-suspension loudspeakers, isobaric loudspeakers, early video recording equipment, audio recording equipment, phonograph pickups, underwater sound equipment, noise reduction, sound technology in motion-pictures, and public-address systems he developed. He also authored 135 articles and ten books including an interdisciplinary text charting the dynamical analogies between electrical, acoustical and mechanical systems.

In 1949, Olson was honored by being the first recipient of the Audio Engineering Society's John H. Potts Memorial Award, an award program which was later renamed the gold medal. In 1953-4 Olson served as president of the Acoustical Society of America, which awarded him the very first Silver Medal in Engineering Acoustics in 1974 and the Gold Medal in 1981.[3] He won the IEEE Lamme Medal in 1970,[4] was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1959, and was the recipient of many honorary degrees during his lifetime.

Olson retired from RCA in 1967, continuing as a consultant for RCA Laboratories.

High Fidelity Demonstration

Shortly after World War II, Dr. Olson conducted an experiment, now considered a classic, to determine the preferred bandwidth for the reproduction of music. Previous experimenters had found that listeners seemed to prefer a high-frequency cutoff of 5000 Hz for reproduced music. Dr. Olson suspected that this was likely due to imperfections in the sound, especially in the higher frequencies, as reproduced by equipment in common use at the time. These imperfections included clicks and pops (from 78 rpm recordings), added noise (from AM radio broadcast static), hiss and harmonic distortion (from amplifier circuits), and non linear frequency response from primitive loudspeaker designs. If the sound was free of these problems, he reasoned, listeners would prefer full frequency reproduction.

In his experiment, he set up a room which was divided diagonally by a visually opaque but acoustically transparent screen. The screen incorporated a concealed low-pass acoustical filter having an upper frequency cutoff of 5000 Hz. This filter could be opened or closed, allowing either the full range of frequencies to pass or the range only below 5000 Hz. At first, a small orchestra sat and performed on one side of the screen, while a group of test subjects sat on the other and listened. The listeners were asked to select their preference between two conditions: full bandwidth or restricted bandwidth. There was overwhelming preference in favor of the full bandwidth. Next, the orchestra was replaced with a sound-reproduction system with loudspeakers positioned behind the screen instead. When the sound system was free of distortion, the listeners preferred the full bandwidth. But when he introduced small amounts of nonlinear distortion, the subjects preferred a restricted bandwidth, thus demonstrating clearly the importance of high quality in audio systems.[1]

As a result of this experiment and the work of others, such as Avery Fisher and later Edgar Villchur, high fidelity sound recording, transmission, and reproduction equipment saw increased investment, development, and public acceptance in the following decades. The design and manufacture of everything from microphones, to tape recorders, vinyl records, amplifiers, and loudspeakers were impacted.

Influence on High-Quality Modern PA Systems

The Grateful Dead's early sound engineering team, led by Owsley Stanley and Dan Healy, considered Harry Olson's 1957 book "Acoustical Engineering" the Dead's "bible" on building the Wall of Sound (Grateful Dead), the first touring sound system that allowed a band to actually hear themselves and have the audience hear what the band was hearing on stage.[5] The band made copies of the book for all of the Dead's sound crew.

The Wall of Sound influenced all modern high-quality PA systems for live music.

Personal life

Harry F. Olson was born in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, on December 18, 1901. He was the first of two children. His parents were Swedish immigrants.[1]

Olson married Lorene Johnson of Morris, Illinois in 1935. Both his mother and his wife were talented amateur artists — Lorene's paintings were displayed in Olson's RCA office for many years. Olson died at Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, New Jersey on April 1, 1982, at the age of 80.

Awards and honors

YearHonor or Award
1940The Modern Pioneer Award of the National Association of Manufacturers
1952The John H. Potts Medal of the Audio Engineering Society
1955The Samuel L. Warner Medal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
1956The John Scott Medal of the City of Philadelphia
1956The Achievement Award of the IRE Professional Group on Audio
1963The John Ericsson Medal of the American Society of Swedish Engineers
1965The Emile Berliner Award of the Audio Engineering Society
1967The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Mervin J. Kelly Medal
1969The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Consumer Electronics Award
1970The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Lamme Medal
1974The Acoustical Society of America's first silver medal in engineering acoustics
1981The Acoustical Society of America's Gold Medal

Patents

YearPatent DescriptionPatent
Number
1931Acoustic Device For Sound Pick-up
(Ellipsoid Microphone)
1,814,357 [6]
1932Apparatus for Converting Sound Vibrations Into Electrical Variations
(First Practical Ribbon Microphone)
1,885,001 [7]
1932System Responsive to The Energy Flow of Sound Waves
(Pressure and Velocity Sound Level Meter)
1,892,644 [8]
1932Sound Pick-Up Device
(Unidirectional Cardioid Microphone)
1,892,645 [9]
1933System For the Conversion and Transfer Of Energy
(Condenser Microphone Step-Up Transformer With A Remote Preamplifier.)
1,897,732 [10]
1934Acoustic Device
(Loudspeaker Horn)
1,984,542 [11]
1935Loud Speaker and Method of Propagating Sound
(Passive Radiator Loud Speaker)
1,988,250 [12]
1935Acoustic Device
(Double Voice Coil Loudspeaker)
2,007,748 [13]
1936Electroacoustical Device
(Ribbon Telephone Microphone/Speaker)
2,064,316 [14]
1937Sound Reproducing Apparatus
(Multi-Cellular Horn)
2,102,212 [15]
1937Acoustical Device
(Small Portable Closed Back Ribbon Microphone)
2,102,736 [16]
1938Microphone2,113,219 [17]
1938Microphone And Circuit
(Microphone Mixer By Verifying Field Coil Strength)
2,119,345 [18]
1940Loud-Speaker
(Multiple Flare Horn)
2,203,875 [19]
1940Loud-Speaker
(Hybrid Bass-Horn/Bass-Reflex Design)
2,224,919 [20]
1941Electroacoustical Apparatus
(Line Microphone "Shotgun Microphone")
2,228,886 [21]
1941Acoustical Apparatus
(Woofer Surround)
2,234,007 [22]
1942Signal Translating Apparatus
(Multiple Co-Axial Loudspeaker Designs)
2,269,284 [23]
1942Electroacoustical Apparatus
(Design of the RCA 77 Ribbon Microphone)
2,271,988 [24]
1942Radio Remote Control System
(Using Different Frequencies of Sound)
2,293,166 [25]
1942Electroacoustical Apparatus
(Line Array Microphone)
2,299,342 [26]
1945Signal Translating Apparatus
(Sub-Aqueous Submarine Microphone)
2,390,847 [27]
1947Magnetostrictive Signal Translating Apparatus
(Rugged Sub-Aqueous Submarine Microphone)
2,414,699 [28]
1947Signal Translating Apparatus
(Sub-Aqueous Submarine Pressure Compensated Speaker)
2,429,104 [29]
1949Signal Transmission and Receiving Apparatus
(Ultrasonically Power Wireless Earphone)
2,461,344 [30]
1949Air Suspension Loudspeaker2,490,466 [31]
1950Synthetic Reverberation System2,493,638 [32]
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber
(Suspended)
2,502,016 [33]
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber Covered By A Membrane2,502,018 [34]
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber With Complementary Fitting Portions2,502,019 [35]
1950Diffraction Type Sound Absorber With Fiberglass Walls
(Cylinder)
2,502,019
1950Single Element, Unidirectional, Dynamic Microphone
(With Pattern Control)
2,512,467 [36]
1950Feedback Controller System For Recording Cutters And the Like
(Phonograph Recording Lathe)
2,516,338 [37]
1951Directional Microphone
(Coincident Pair Of Ribbon Microphones With Horizontal Pattern Control)
2,539,671 [38]
1951Coaxial Dual-Unit Electrodynamic Loud-Speaker
(Improved Version)
2,539,672 [39]
1951Transformerless Audio Output System
(Tube Amplifier)
2,548,235 [40]
1951Means For Improving The Sensitivity And The Response Characteristics
Of Velocity Microphones
2.566,039[41]
1951Line Type Pressure Responsive Microphone2566,094[42]
1951Velocity Type Microphone
(Acoustic High Frequency Equalizer
2,572,376 [43]
1953Suspension System For Dynamic Microphones2,628,289 [44]
1953Distortion Analyzing Apparatus
(Improvement)
2,629,000 [45]
1953Second Order Gradient Directional Microphone2,640,110 [46]
1953Portable Radio With A Bass-Reflex Cabinet2,642,948 [47]
1953Noise Discrimination System2,645,648 [48]
1953Cabinet For Sound Translating Apparatus2,649,164 [49]
1953Multisection Acoustic Filter
(Filtering Out Frequencies above 5,000 Hz)
2,656,004 [50]
1954Uniaxial Microphone2,680,787 [51]
1954Noise Reduction System2,686,296 [52]
1954Sound Translating Apparatus
(Second Speaker Inside The Cabinet)
2,688,373 [53]
1954Coaxial, Dual Unit, Electrodynamic Loud-Speaker
(Improved Magnetic Structure)
2,699,472 [54]
1955Velocity Microphone
(Improved Magnetic Structure)
2,699,474 [55]
1955Dynamic Microphone
(Compact Design)
2,718,272 [56]
1956Unidirectional Microphone
(Low Cost Ribbon Design)
2,751,441 [57]
1956Acoustical Resistance For Pressure Type Microphones2,773,130 [58]
1957Methods Of Restoring Phonograph Records
(Re-synthesizing The Recording)
2,808,466 [59]
1957Transducer With Fluid Filled Diaphragm Suspension2,814,353 [60]
1957Loudspeaker Structure
(Sculpted Cone For High Frequency Pattern Control)
2,825,823 [61]
1958Combination Chassis And Loudspeaker2,838,607 [62]
1958Directional Microphone
(Using Two Microphones To Increase Directivity)
2,854,511 [63]
1958Noise Discriminator, Threshold Type2,645,684 [64]
1958Music Synthesizer
(Electronic)
2,855,816 [65]
1958Wide Range Dynamic Phonograph Pickup2,858,375 [66]
1959Acoustic Apparatus
(Improved Acoustic Labyrinth)
2,870,856 [67]
1959Signal Frequency Change Detector2,918,667 [68]
1960Vibration Control Apparatus2,964,272 [69]
1961Apparatus For Speech Analysis and Printer Control Mechanisms2,971,057 [70]
1961Electronic Sound Absorber2,983,790 [71]
1961Directional Electrostatic Microphone3,007,012 [72]
1961Music Composing Machine3,007,362 [73]
1963Stereophonic Loudspeaker3,104,729 [74]
1968Voiced Sound Fundamental Frequency Detector3,400,215 [75]

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/olson-harry.pdf Harry F. Olson A Biographical Memoir by Cyril M. Harris
  2. Book: Olson . Harry F. . Dynamical Analogies . 1943 . D. Van Nostrand Company, Ltd. . New York . 18 June 2023.
  3. Lindsay. R. Bruce. 1982-08-01. Olson, Harry F. ⋅ 1901–1982. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 72. 2. 645. 10.1121/1.388152. 1982ASAJ...72..645L . 0001-4966.
  4. Web site: IEEE Lamme Medal Recipients . IEEE . December 12, 2010 .
  5. Web site: Anderson. Brian. The Wall of Sound: The untold story of the Grateful Dead's short-lived mega PA, arguably the largest, most technologically innovative sound system ever built. vice.com. Vice Media Group. 5 July 205. 21 January 2022.
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