Medal of Honor from Verband Deutscher Tonmeister e.V. for Brandenburg Labs CEO and Ilmenau Professor Karlheinz Brandenburg

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg played a decisive role in shaping the audio industry as we know it today. Based on the research results of his dissertation at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität in Erlangen, Germany, the foundations for MPEG-1 Layer 3 (mp3), MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) and many of the modern audio compression standards were laid in the 1990s. Together with his colleagues at Fraunhofer IIS and the MPEG Audio Standardization Group, he revolutionized the media industry with this technology. Today, Brandenburg and his team are dedicated to making lifelike 3D sound via headphones possible for everyone.

The Tonmeistertagung is the VDT’s largest event and the leading pro audio congress in Europe, with around 100 exhibitors, numerous specialist presentations, and workshops. This year’s event opened with the presentation of awards to Karlheinz Brandenburg and Günther Theile. In a keynote, Brandenburg also gave an overview of 40 years of audio research, from the beginnings to the latest results.

The VDT has been awarding its Medal of Honor to outstanding personalities from the profession of sound engineers and the audio industry since 2002. The award winners include Fritz Sennheiser, Jens Blauert, Wolfgang Hirschmann, and now Karlheinz Brandenburg: "The award is a great recognition not only of my work but also for the teams I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. I’m delighted to be back at the Tonmeistertagung and to meet up with many friends."

The conference is also known as a platform for the presentation of technical innovations. Brandenburg Labs GmbH also presented the latest version of its immersive audio solution for headphones. The technology makes it possible to recreate real acoustic environments via headphones or to create new realistic listening environments. In this way, virtual sounds fit seamlessly into the user’s life and bridge the real and digital worlds. Listeners can explore complex soundscapes and interact with them.

With currently 2,000 members, the VDT is one of the oldest and largest professional associations in the sound industry and connects various specialist areas such as radio, film, stage, sound carrier production, research, development, and teaching. The association’s work focuses on interdisciplinary exchange as well as further education and training.