AES returns to San Francisco

Post, Oct, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Audio Engineering Society (www.aes.org) returns to San Francisco for the first time since 1998, holding its 117th convention at the Moscone Convention Center from October 28th through the 31st. This year's show will follow an "Art of Audio" theme and will include a series of tutorials, workshops, papers, exhibits and special events.

John Strawn serves as chairman of this year's show, working with an all-volunteer committee to coordinate the diverse programs that make up the four-day pro audio convention. In addition to an exhibit floor showing new technologies, this year's show is offering 14 workshops designed to provide attendees with hands-on experience and carefully researched findings from respected engineers, designers, consultants and educators.

Workshop co-chairs Christopher Struck and David Harris coordinated the line-up, which kicks off on October 28th with "Field Recording in the Wild." The session will address the rapidly disappearing natural soundscapes. Chaired by Bernie Krause, field recordist with Wild Sanctuary, Glen Ellen, CA, the workshop will explore extraordinary measures employed to capture these audible environments.

On October 29th, Mark Davis of Dolby Labs will chair a workshop titled, "Spatial Coding of Surround Sound, A Progress Report." While both stereo and 5.1 now enjoy wide acceptance, it's necessary to implement a common data format. The workshop will provide an overview of the principles of such systems and examine some of the primary problems and solutions of systems currently under development.

And on October 31st, Dana Massie of London's Waves, Inc., will chair "Future Challenges for the All-Software Studio: Scalability, Stability, Usability." The workshop will explore issues ranging from an operating system crash in the middle of a billable session to how a pro studio can incrementally add more processing power. In addition, it will review obstacles to entry for new engineers.

Other scheduled workshops include: "High Resolution Audio in an Age of Universal Playback," "Firewire in Studios," "Mastering for Low Bit-Rate Perceptual Codecs," "Architectural Acoustics for Film & Broadcast Studios," "Which Audio Recording & Storage Medium for What Purpose" and "Lossless Audio Coding."

Technical tours are also a part of this year's show and will include visits to a number of local facilities. The line-up includes game developer Electronic Arts. Scheduled for October 28th, the tour will look at the company's Redwood City headquarters. AES visitors will view and discuss production suites, recording studios and other technical areas.

Tours of Meyer Sound are planned for October 29th. Meyer manufacturers pro loudspeakers. Also on the 29th is a planned visit to Fantasy Studios/Saul Zaentz Film Center. This is one of the Bay Area's largest recording/post production facilities. Work on the Oscar-winning films Amadeus and The English Patient took place at the studio.

Students or pros looking to further their education might want to attend the October 30th tour of the Ex'pression College For Digital Arts & Center For New Music & Audio Technologies. The school focuses on entertainment technology and offers a curriculum that includes audio recording, animation and sound design.

And capping off the technical tours schedule is a visit to Skywalker Sound on October 30th. George Lucas's audio post complex has produced the Star Wars films, Forrest Gump, Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park, among many others.