Paul Hoffert
Encyclopedia
Paul Matthew Hoffert, CM
(born 22 September 1943 in Brooklyn
, New York
) is a recording artist, performer, media music composer, author, academic, and corporate executive. He studied mathematics
and physics
at the University of Toronto
. He later studied music composition with Samuel Dolin
and music theory
with Gordon Delamont
. In 1969 the 26-year-old Hoffert co-founded Lighthouse
, a rock group that sold millions of records and earned three Juno Awards as one of Canada
’s leading pop
bands. His film music earned him a San Francisco Film Festival and three SOCAN Film Composer of the Year awards.
In 2001 Mr. Hoffert received the Pixel award as the New Media industry’s “Visionary of the Year”.
Hoffert has parallel achievements in science
and technology
. He was a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada
in the early 1970s and returned to research in 1988 as Vice President of DHJ Research, where he invented precursor algorithms to mp3
audio compression
, as well as microchips for Newbridge Microsystems, and products for Mattel
, Akai
, and Yamaha
.
In 1992, Hoffert founded CulTech Research Centre at York University
, where he developed advanced media such as digital
video-phones and networked distribution of CD-ROMs. From 1994 to 1999, he directed Intercom Ontario, a $100 million trial of the world's first completely connected broadband
community that landed him on the cover of the Financial Post
and in the Wall Street Journal. He is an expert in online content distribution and usage consumption.
Hoffert was awarded the Order of Canada
[C.M.] in 2004 for his contributions to music and the arts. The Canadian Government citation reads: "[Mr. Hoffert] is multitalented, determined and a visionary. Paul Hoffert is a founding member of the rock group Lighthouse
and an award-winning composer
who has scored countless feature films and television productions. A teacher at the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, he founded the University's CulTech Research Centre and is a renowned expert on new media and technology. A founding director of the Canadian Independent Record Producers Association and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, he was instrumental in bringing about the Gemini and Prix Gémeaux awards. He was the first artist to chair the Ontario Arts Council and he continues to lend his leadership to numerous arts organizations and to the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund."
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born 22 September 1943 in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
) is a recording artist, performer, media music composer, author, academic, and corporate executive. He studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. He later studied music composition with Samuel Dolin
Samuel Dolin
Samuel Joseph Dolin was a Canadian composer, music educator, and arts administrator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a founding member of the Canadian League of Composers , he served as the CLC's vice president in 1967-1968 and president from 1969-1973...
and music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
with Gordon Delamont
Gordon Delamont
Gordon Arthur Delamont was a Canadian music educator, author, composer, and trumpeter. He is best remembered for his work as an educator, having helped shape the talents of dozens of notable musicians in Toronto. He also published several books on musical theory topics which have been used widely...
. In 1969 the 26-year-old Hoffert co-founded Lighthouse
Lighthouse (band)
Lighthouse is a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 in Toronto which included horns, string instruments, and vibraphone; their music reflected elements of rock music, jazz, classical music and swing...
, a rock group that sold millions of records and earned three Juno Awards as one of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
’s leading pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
bands. His film music earned him a San Francisco Film Festival and three SOCAN Film Composer of the Year awards.
In 2001 Mr. Hoffert received the Pixel award as the New Media industry’s “Visionary of the Year”.
Hoffert has parallel achievements in science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
. He was a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada
National Research Council of Canada
The National Research Council is an agency of the Government of Canada which conducts scientific research and development.- History :...
in the early 1970s and returned to research in 1988 as Vice President of DHJ Research, where he invented precursor algorithms to mp3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
audio compression
Audio compression
Audio compression may refer to:*Audio compression , a type of lossy compression in which the amount of data in a recorded waveform is reduced for transmission with some loss of quality, used in CD and MP3 encoding, Internet radio, and the like...
, as well as microchips for Newbridge Microsystems, and products for Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
, Akai
Akai
Akai is a consumer electronics brand, founded by Saburo Akai as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929. It is now headquartered in Singapore as a subsidiary of Grande Holdings, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns the formerly Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui. The Akai brand is now used...
, and Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
.
In 1992, Hoffert founded CulTech Research Centre at York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
, where he developed advanced media such as digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
video-phones and networked distribution of CD-ROMs. From 1994 to 1999, he directed Intercom Ontario, a $100 million trial of the world's first completely connected broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
community that landed him on the cover of the Financial Post
Financial Post
The Financial Post was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new National Post, although the name Financial Post has been retained as the banner for that paper's business section and also lives on in the Post’s...
and in the Wall Street Journal. He is an expert in online content distribution and usage consumption.
Hoffert was awarded the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
[C.M.] in 2004 for his contributions to music and the arts. The Canadian Government citation reads: "[Mr. Hoffert] is multitalented, determined and a visionary. Paul Hoffert is a founding member of the rock group Lighthouse
Lighthouse (band)
Lighthouse is a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 in Toronto which included horns, string instruments, and vibraphone; their music reflected elements of rock music, jazz, classical music and swing...
and an award-winning composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
who has scored countless feature films and television productions. A teacher at the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, he founded the University's CulTech Research Centre and is a renowned expert on new media and technology. A founding director of the Canadian Independent Record Producers Association and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, he was instrumental in bringing about the Gemini and Prix Gémeaux awards. He was the first artist to chair the Ontario Arts Council and he continues to lend his leadership to numerous arts organizations and to the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund."
Current Positions
- CEO, Noank MediaNoank MediaNoank Media Inc. is a US corporation which provides access to audio, video, still image, and document files under a flat-rate licensing scheme....
Inc, 2006- - Professor of Fine Arts at York UniversityYork UniversityYork University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
, 1984- - Chair of the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, 1997-
- Chair of the Guild of Canadian Film and Television Composers, 1999-
- Co-Leader, Lighthouse Rock Band, 1968-1974, 1993-
Previous Positions
- Faculty Fellow at Harvard Law School, 2005-2007
- Board Director, World Summit Information Society Awards (United Nations), 2004-2005
- President, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, 1981-1982 [Dir. 1979-1980, 1983-1987]
- Chair, Ontario Arts Council, 1994-1997
- Research Professor, Sheridan College, 1999-2003
- Director, CulTech Research Centre, York University, 1992-2000
- Director of R&D, Rights Clearing House, Calgary, 2001-2004
- Research Director, OnDisC Alliance, 2000-2003
- President, Intercom Ontario (broadband research trial), 1994-1998
- Director, DACARIE Audio Research Laboratory, York University, 1990-1992
- Vice President Research, DHJ Research, 1986-1992 [VP Technology Transfer 1989-1992]
- Researcher, National Research Council of Canada, 1969-1971
Current Boards
- Guild of Canadian Film Composers GCFC, 1999-
- Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, 1997-
- Glenn Gould Foundation, 2000-
- The SOCAN Foundation, 1993-
- Ontario Foundation for the Arts, 1994-
- Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, 1999-
- Ontario Arts Trust, 1999-
Archives
- Paul Hoffert fonds, York University, Toronto (2005): paper documents, CDs, DVDs, audio tapes, video tapes
- Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa (2005): musical instruments, computer and research technology, awards, performance clothing
External links
- Paul Hoffert official site, accessed 24 November 2006