Stefan Kudelski inventor of the Nagra dies at 84

[Chris Woodcock]

Again no doubt some of you may of met the man

The inventor of the revolutionary Nagra has passed away

http://www.nagra.com/cms/Death-of-Mr-Stefan-Kudelski.html

[Eric Toline]

The man who created a legend and a standard. How sad. RIP Mr. Kudelski.

 

Eric

[Jeff Wexler]

This is horrible news. Stefan was quite reclusive so we have never really been able to keep up with what's going on in his life...  and now he is gone. Very sad.

[Tom Visser]

Truly a loss for the sound (and audio) communities.

[Chris Woodcock]

This is horrible news. Stefan was quite reclusive so we have never really been able to keep up with what's going on in his life... and now he is gone. Very sad.

I take it you have met him Jeff

[Philip Perkins]

A moment of silence, please.  

 

He was, in great part, the enabler of all of our work today, and his recorders are still the standard against which all portable recorders are measured.   

 

philp

[Rob Stalder]

Thank you Mr Kudelski for many wonderfull times in my life.

RS

[bigmaho]

Sad to hear.  Like most of us, I wish I knew more about him.  I only know the sketchiest outlines of who he was and how he came to play such a major role in our industry.  Thanks Stefan for all you've done!

[pindrop]

This article originally appeared in the June 1966 issue of American Cinematographer

http://www.filmsoundsweden.se/backspegel/kudelski.html

[Marc Wielage]

That's a terrific article, and provides many insights as to the background of Mr. Kudelski and his company. The word "legend" is thrown around much too often, but the inventor of Nagra certainly qualifies. 

 

I'm reminded of the quote from the 1981 French film Diva:

 

"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

which translates to "It's a Nagra. Swiss and very, very precise."

[old school]

I only knew the man through his product. My hat is off to the man, machine, and legend. May he rest in peace.

CrewC

[Eric Toline]

NAGRA means "Will Record" in Polish, the native language of Mr. Kudelski. A perfect name for an indestructable recorder. 

 

Eric

[Richard Lightstone, CAS]

Stefan Kudelski the creator of professional portable audio recorders NAGRA was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1929. Both of his parents had engineering background. His father’s field of work was in the chemical industry and mother was an anthropologist. In 1939 the family fled Poland to escape German Nazi invasion. They travelled through Romania and Hungary to settle in South France where Stefan continued his education and his father took an active part in French Resistance as an officer. The resistance network fell in 1943 and the Kudelski family escaped to Switzerland. For the contributions and their activities during this period both parents were honoured with French Croix de Guerre.

 

In Switzerland Stefan Kudelski enrolled in studies at the Ecole Florimont in Geneva and quickly become interested in technology and electronics. He built a small laboratory at home and experimented with high frequency oscillators generating extra high tension. Later invented an instrument for measuring the accuracy of watches. Although no commercial interest was made, he took out several patents of his ideas. From 1948 he studied physics and engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique de I’Universite de Lausanne and at the same time started experimenting with magnetic recording. In 1950 he made the first prototype of a tape recorder with spring motor and miniature tubes and called it NAGRA. The word ‘NAGRA’ comes from Stefan Kudelski’s mother tongue (Polish) and stands for "will record".

 

 

Nagra III

A year later Kudelski’s NAGRA participated in The First International amateur Recording Contest in Lausanne and won the first price. The sound quality was good enough for the radio studios, but quite poor compared with modern standards. The recorder was constantly perfected and in 1953 ‘NAGRA II’, an improved version with incorporated mechanical filters was released. The movie industry become interested and ‘NAGRA II’ was used during a shooting to the first full length feature film called ‘Black Orpheus’. In 1957 a transistorised version of ‘NAGRA III’, which allowed synchronized recording (camera + tape) was launched and became a technological revelation. 

 

The ‘NAGRA’ recorders continued with the series IV-L, 4.2, IV-S, T-Audio, SN, SNN, SNS, SNST, SNST-R, IV STC, D, V all with the reputation for extreme ruggedness and reliability. NAGRA become the standard sound recording systems used by reporters, radio and film studios from the early sixties until the nineties. 

 

Nagra recorders series

Stefan Kudelski received many awards during his career: Academy Awards (Oscars) in 1965, 1977, 1978 and 1990, two entertainment industry awards an ‘Emmy’, Gold Medals from L. Warner, AES (Audio Engineering Society), Lyra and Eurotechnica. In 2008 during the ‘Polish Film Festival in America' (PFFA) Stefan Kudelski received ‘Wings Award’ for his achievements.

 

‘Wings Award’ – the award to the artists and film professionals of Polish descent for their outstanding contribution to the art of film beyond Poland.

[Whit Norris]

A sad day indeed in our community. That is where I started in my career on  a Nagra III. I still have a few of his recorders in my collection. My head is low and I wish his family well. What a change he did in our world. 

 

Cheers and Best another leader and innovator in our craft of capturing dialog for film and video on location!

 

Wish his family the best,

 

Whit and Kathy Norris 

[johnpaul215]

@Richard that just adds to the legend. Wow.

[Glen Trew]

Truly a somber moment for me.

 

Glen Trew

[soundtrane]

I remember my excitement receiving the Nagra 4.2 I got from my friend Daniel Macintosh. No less than the moment i received my Cantar X2. 

 

I've requested JP to put a flower on him for me. Truly sad day. 

 

-vin

[Simon Hayes]

Rest in Peace.

 

I count myself extremely fortunate to have been trained on Kudelski's products,starting on the IVL,progressing onto the 4.2,then owning my own IVS which i had converted by David Lane (RIP) to full IVS T/C Spec.

 

To this day i have not used another product that i had such a personal connection with.

 

Mr Kudelski's Nagra changed the shape of Sound Recording on Film's and set the standard for the future.

[old school]

My 2 retired Nagras. A 4.2 n  a 1V S. I use them now and again in my home studio. Love them. BTW, I just bought John Coffey's old Nagra 3 to add to my collection.

CrewC

[mastermixaudiomedia]

May this legend Rest In Peace.

[mastermixaudiomedia]

This article originally appeared in the June 1966 issue of American Cinematographer

http://www.filmsoundsweden.se/backspegel/kudelski.html

 

Awesome. I especially liked this bit from it, rings true today:

 

"Mr. Kudelski pointed out that people who have need for new automobiles do not wait for next year's model. As the improvements do not justify the delay, he expects to see a similar trend in recording equipment, which should not block the immediate sales of equipment's now being offered."

[480sound]

Wow a momentous day indeed, a ripple in the force. I owe my career and a huge part of my life to him and his invention. He was not unlike Steve Jobs was to us now. He moved us all forward with his knowledge and skill. The story about him I heard from Carrolll Williams, one of the early importers of Nagra to the US, was that he was originally interested in robotics and robotic memory which lead him the memory storage and recording. His girl friend was a reporter for Swiss radio and needed a way to capture live interviews so he built a Audio recorder for her. When she took it out into the field all the other reporters wanted one, so Nagra was born. Please dive in here, but wasn’t one of his innovations or improvements that he solved Head Biasing. The record head has a 

high frequency signal applied to it that allowed for much flatter and phase coherent recording. Hence the quintessential and beautiful and Sound recording standard that we have to judge all other recording by. With Great Respect, Rest in peace in the trackless land. 

[old school]

I am now a proud owner of this fine Nagra 3. Thanks JC. Thank you Mr K.

CrewC

[Philip Perkins]

I am now a proud owner of this fine Nagra 3. Thanks JC.

CrewC

Always the coolest of the Nagras.  I rue the day I sold mine.

 

philp

[AndyB]

Heard a piece about his passing on NPR today. Very sad news, but it was treated with a great sense of nostalgia by the NPR reporter, who spoke of being old enough to remember having used Nagras in the field as a reporter.