Emory Cook

Emory Cook (27 January 1913, Albany, NY — 19 February 2002, Stamford, CT) was an American audio engineer, field recordist, high-fidelity pioneer and prolific inventor, primarily in early stereo/binaural recording and vinyl manufacturing. Cook established the first "specialist" Hi-Fi label, Sounds Of Our Times, and was one of the Audio Engineering Society's founding members, receiving the AES Silver Medal in 1985 for his "four decades of achievement in the recording field." In late 1945, Emory Cook, who had Cornell University's electrical engineering degree, established Cook Laboratories, Inc. to build professional audio equipment. He soon began marketing its first product, a feedback disk-cutting head with an extended frequency range. In October 1949, when Cook showcased his company at the inaugural New York Audio Fair at The Hotel New Yorker in Manhattan, a '20,000 Hz' sampler LP made solely to demonstrate his cutters surprisingly drew all the crowd's attention. Encouraged by new prospects, Emory began to release high-fidelity music in 1950 under the Cook label. For the next 15 years, he actively utilized Cook Records, alongside Sounds of Our Times (1950–57) and Road Recordings ('53–56) imprints, to promote Cook Labs technology and disseminate his philosophy on acoustics and sound. Emory Cook's hyper-realistic field recording LPs with sounds of thunderstorms, railroads and wildlife predated such renowned phonographists as MFSL's founder Brad Miller and Irv Teibel with Environments series. Around 1952, Emory Cook introduced "binaural" records — the earliest consumer-grade stereo implementation. They required a custom turntable setup with two parallel-mounted monophonic cartridges tracking separate lateral grooves: one running from the outer edge and the second starting halfway and leading to the center label. Cook Laboratories sold an affordable adapter for regular players, while Livingston Audio Products Corp. made a specialized U-shaped tonearm. Besides 50+ titles from Cook Records, binaural albums came out on Atlantic, Livingston, Audiosphere, and other labels. After 1957, a more convenient Westrex V-groove stereo drew two-track binaural discs obsolete. However, fundamental concepts, primarily placing two microphones 6" apart (an average distance between human ears), are still actively applied today; conventional stereo headphones are the most common way to experience modern binaural recordings. In 1955, Emory Cook began manufacturing microfusion records, pressed with PVC powder sprayed inside portable hinged molds — akin to "waffle-makers." Cook envisioned a new, "on-demand" industry where record stores and independent publishers could afford to release even the most obscure or niché repertoire in small runs. Subsequently, he implemented this ahead-of-time concept in the Caribbean; as an enthusiastic Calypso fan, Emory Cook opened a pressing plant in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. By 1958, numerous record shops from Puerto Rico to Trinidad had Cook's presses and ample stock of "microfusion" particles, sending him master tapes of local artists to order metal molds. Cook Labs proliferated in the region for many years, and Emory sold the business to local entrepreneurs in the '80s when he retired. In 1990, Cook donated his archives to Smithsonian's Center For Folklife And Cultural Heritage. He died after a lengthy hospitalization, aged 89, and is buried in Pawling Cemetery, Pawling, New York.