{{Short description|Recording industry professional}} {{Multiple issues| {{advert|date=October 2018}} {{more citations needed|date=October 2018}} }} '''''Tonmeister''''' is a job description in the music and recording industries that describes a so-called "sound master" (a literal translation of the German ''Tonmeister''): a [[Record producer|person who creates recordings or broadcasts of music]] who is also both musically trained (in [[Classical music|classical]] and non-classical genres) and has theoretical and practical knowledge.
The word ''tonmeister'' was infamously trademarked in 1996 by the [[University of Surrey]], United Kingdom. Also within the UK, the [[SAE Institute]] registered the term ''SAE Tonmeister''. The title has been abbreviated to ''tonmeister'' in their registrations in several other countries, not including Germany, Switzerland or Austria. Members of the [[Verband Deutscher Tonmeister|VDT]] may call themselves ''Tonmeister VDT''.
== Origins ==
The concept of a tonmeister dates back to 1946,<ref name="Borwick">{{citation |first=John |last=Borwick |title=The Tonmeister Concept |year=1973 |location=Proceedings of the 46th Audio Engineering Society Convention (paper 938).}}</ref> when [[Arnold Schoenberg]] wrote a letter to the Chancellor of the [[University of Chicago]] suggesting a course to train "soundmen". Schoenberg wrote, "soundmen will be trained in music, acoustics, physics, mechanics and related fields to a degree enabling them to control and improve the sonority of recordings, radio broadcasts and sound films".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bLf0u5GXo84C&dq=soundmen%20will%20be%20trained%20in%20music%2C%20acoustics%2C%20physics%2C%20mechanics%20and%20related%20fields%20to%20a%20degree%20enabling%20them%20to%20control%20and%20improve%20the%20sonority%20of%20recordings%2C%20radio%20broadcasts%20and%20sound%20films&pg=PA241 Arnold Schoenberg letters, p. 241]</ref> It was also in this year that the University of Music Detmold in Germany started the first Tonmeister course.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tonmeister Studies |url=https://www.eti.hfm-detmold.de/en/institute/history/tonmeister-studies/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=www.eti.hfm-detmold.de}}</ref>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Music production]] [[Category:Audio engineering]]