The Audio Engineering Society will celebrate the history of professional audio through a series of Historical Track presentations at the upcoming141st International AES Convention in Los Angeles.
Taking place Thursday, September 29 – Sunday, October 2, 2016, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the convention will offer sessions covering the innovative and interesting histories of iconic recording studios, acoustics and technology design, sound reinforcement of historical events and more, curated by Historical Events chair Mark Gander of Harman Professional Solutions.
Register now (here) to receive early registration pricing on all access badges, including AES member and student member discounts.
Slated sessions include:
“Political Audio: Sound for Past and Recent Presidential Debates and Conventions.” A panel of industry professionals with first-hand experience working on past and present presidential events will come together to discuss the sound reinforcement, broadcast, and audio communications production and workflow of these historic happenings. Panelists include consultant Ken Fause, audio expert Dave Brand, and sound designers Michael Abbott, Patrick Baltzell and Stan Miller.
“The Great British Recording Studios.” Author Howard Massey will explore the origins of the fabled “British Sound” and celebrate the people, equipment and innovative recording techniques of the day through rare photographs, videos and musical examples covering many historic studios and sessions. Panelists will include Geoff Emerick, Dave Harries and Malcolm Toft.
“History of Studio Acoustic Design.” Studio designer George Augspurger of Perception Incorporated will give his perspective from over six decades of studio design. Covered will be the evolution of applied acoustics from the 1960s to the present day, outlining the development of modern studio design principles by presenting key examples of projects and a timeline of historic events that influenced studio development.
“Horns and Waveguides: Evolution of Technology.” This tutorial by Alex Voishvillo of Harman will give a retrospective review of horns and waveguide technology including both theoretical design aspects as well as a retrospective review of patented practical developments.
“Historic Microphone Technologies and Their Connection to Pop Vocal Performance.” AES president-elect Alex Case leads this session highlighting how lessons from audio history can be used to drive our decisions for getting the right vocal sound at the next gig, specifically by analyzing initial limitations in microphone technology and the slow-but-steady advancement of the audio technologies available at the time.
“Control Systems and Electroacoustical Considerations for Large-Scale Loudspeaker Arrays: Past, Present & Future.” David Scheirman of AES reviews four decades of system development, presenting highlights of the evolutionary process from control-only networks to networked digital audio, and migration paths from powered speaker arrays to line array elements to beam-steerable systems, as well as developments that have taken place since the 6th International Conference (Sound Reinforcement) and the 13th International Conference (Computer-Controlled Sound Systems), with content at these AES events having foreshadowed today’s high-powered loudspeaker arrays that incorporate beam-steering technology.
“The AES Historical Track sessions present achievements by audio pioneers whose innovative ideas and inventions have contributed to this industry and beyond,” Gander states. “The rich history of science and art in audio design and production has much to teach us about the future evolution of audio, and we look forward to sharing many of these great stories throughout the AES Los Angeles Convention.”
Again, go here for registration options. Exclusive convention housing options with partner hotels are also still available.
