Howard Allen Chinn was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

broadcasting engineer who pioneered techniques of analog audio recording as well as radio and television broadcasting practices. Chinn served as chief

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

Columbia Broadcasting System CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

(CBS) beginning in the 1940s, and authored many magazine articles and books on the technical aspects of audio engineering and broadcasting.

Early life

Chinn was born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

January 5, 1906, to David L. Chinn from China and Ethel Whinton of New York.

Education

Chinn attended

Polytechnic Institute of New York University The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...

, later moving to

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1927, and a master's degree in 1929. From 1927 to 1932 he served as a research associate at MIT.

CBS

In 1932, Chinn returned to New York to join

(CBS) as assistant to the director of engineering. From 1936 forward he was the chief audio engineer.IEEE Explore
''Contributors''
Retrieved on April 13, 2009. From 1939 to 1941, Chinn appeared as a special lecturer at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

for graduate studies in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Chinn devoted his energies primarily to war research. For nearly all of 1942 and 1943, he was technical coordinator for the

Radio Research Laboratory The Radio Research Laboratory (RRL), located on the campus of Harvard University, was an 800-person secret research laboratory during World War II. Under the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), it was a spinoff of the Radiat ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, funded by the

Office of Scientific Research and Development The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May ...

(OSRD). Chinn published a classified report called ''Enemy Radar Characteristics''. From 1944, Chinn served as technical aide then consultant to OSRD.

Memberships

Chinn joined the

Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...

(IRE) in the 1930s and wrote technical papers for publication in the organization's journal. Chinn often wrote for ''

Audio Engineering Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound * Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of soun ...

'', a magazine that published technical reports on audio subjects. Chinn was originally against the founding of the

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or product ...

(AES) in 1948. He wrote a letter to the editor of ''Audio Engineering'' to say that the proposed formation of AES was unnecessary, as IRE had already formed an Audio and Video Technical Committee. Others did not agree, and when AES ''did'' form, Chinn immediately joined. Chinn served on the AES board of governors in 1951. The office was to be held for two years, but Chinn resigned after one "because of the press of work."

Published works

* (1935) Howard Allen Chinn and Charles W. Horn
''Broadcast Transmission Developments and Progress During 1934''

Proceedings of the IRE The ''Proceedings of the IEEE'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The journal focuses on electrical engineering and computer science. According to the ''Journa ...

, Volume 23, Number 5. * (1940) H.A. Chinn, D.K. Gannett, R.M. Morris
''A New Standard Volume Indicator and Reference Level''
Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 28. * (1943
''Enemy Radar Characteristics''
Harvard University. * (1945) H.A. Chinn, P. Eisenberg
''Tonal-Range and Sound-Intensity Preferences of Broadcast Listeners''
Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 33, Issue 9. * (1946
''Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms''
Hastings House, New York. Copyright CBS. Editors: Paul Kesten, Paul Hollister, Robert Strunsky, Douglas Coulter, William Lodge, William Gittinger, William Ackerman, John Churchill, Elmo Wilson, Gilbert Seldes, Howard Chinn, Earle McGill, Davidson Taylor, Lyman Bryson * (1947) H.A. Chinn, Philip Eisenberg, ''New CBS Program Transmission Standards'', Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 35. * (1948) ''Audio System Design Fundamentals'', ''

'', Volume 32, Number 11, pp. 11–12. * (1948) AES E-Library
''How It All Began''
Reprinted from ''

Audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

'', 1948 by Sherry, Jr., Frank E.; LeBel, C. J.; Pickering, Norman C.; Salmon, Vincent; Hartley, Jack; Chinn, Howard A.; West, William P. * (1951
''Measurement of Audio Volume''
''

'', Two-part series, September and October, 1951. * (1952) ''The measurement of audio volume.'' AES paper. * (1953
''Television broadcasting''
McGraw-Hill. * (1953) Rudy Bretz and Howard A. Chinn
''Techniques of Television Production''
McGraw-Hill. * (1954) Chinn, H.A., O'Brien, R.S., Monroe, R.B., Fish, P.E
''CBS Television City Technical Facilities''
Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 42, Issue 7.

Awards

* (1950) John H. Potts Award (now the Gold Medal), the highest accolade from the AES, "for outstanding achievement in the field of audio engineering". * (1968) NAB Engineering Achievement Award, awarded by the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...

(NAB) to Howard A. Chinn, director, general engineering; CBS Television Network; New York, New York.NAB
''NAB Engineering Achievement Award Winners.''
Retrieved on April 13, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinn, Howard A. 1906 births Year of death missing American people of Chinese descent American acoustical engineers American audio engineers People associated with radar Writers from New York City MIT School of Engineering alumni Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Harvard University staff