AES News

 — AES Virtual Vienna will bring attendees a full program of on-demand presentations, including scientific Papers, Engineering Briefs and Poster sessions —

The AES Virtual Vienna Convention is just days away – taking place, online, June 2 through 5 – and the final schedule of events is being announced, including the Convention’s slate of over 100 On-Demand presentations being made available throughout the show. From full scientific research Paper presentations and Poster sessions, to experimentation in practical applications of breaking audio technologies outlined in Engineering Briefs and more, this year’s AES Spring Convention Technical Program offers unprecedented access in an affordable format available to anyone with an internet connection. 

Scientific research of audio principles and theory is the backbone of the Audio Engineering Society’s mission of furthering the science and art of audio engineering, and a highlight for Convention attendees each show. This year’s Papers program features over 45 such presentations, available on demand beginning June 2, covering a variety of disciplines including Audio Signal Processing, Perception and Evaluation of Audio, Spatial Audio, Loudspeakers and Microphones, Recording and Production, Audio Education, Network Audio, Room Acoustics and more. Papers being presented during AES Virtual Vienna will be available to attendees for a period after the show and will then join the archive of over 17,000 searchable documents in the AES E-Library. In addition, over 70 on-demand Engineering Briefs and Posters present more concise studies of a given topic, offering quick analysis of concepts, studies and application experimentation from researchers, students and engineers from around the world.

This year’s new online format for the AES Spring Convention offers a variety of opportunities to experience an AES event like never before, combining live streaming, on-demand content, and live Q&A dialog into a new experience, more accessible than ever. On-demand content will be available at the start of the Convention, and available for a limited time to AES Virtual Vienna attendees.

The complete AES Virtual Vienna Technical Program of events, presenters and more is now available online – Register Now and make plans to join us at AESEurope.com.

More Information

— Technical program presentations offer the latest audio engineering science and technology in a variety of fields of expertise —

The schedule of events for the upcoming AES Virtual Vienna Convention is now available, outlining the 40-plus scheduled Workshop presentations taking place June 2 – 5 as part of the AES’s first-ever exclusively online, international event. AES Virtual Vienna offers an unprecedented chance for attendees to experience what AES Conventions have to offer from anywhere with an internet connection. Industry experts, educators, peers and pros from around the world will present on topics including Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, Archiving and Restoration, Audio for Cinema, Audio Education, Game Audio, AVAR, Spatial Audio, Product Development, Recording and Production, Sound Reinforcement, and more. Complete schedule and online registration are available at AESEurope.com with low registration fees – as low as $50 USD for AES members – sweetening the opportunity.

AES Virtual Vienna will offer a wide variety of scheduled streaming and on-demand paper, poster and engineering brief presentations, real-time Q&A, and more. The four days of scheduled content begin with the Workshop “Active Sensing and Slow Listening” presented by Thomas Lund and continue on with presentations throughout the day including “Transform Processing Of Audio: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly!” with Jamie Angus – who will also be presenting one of the convention’s keynotes lectures on day four – along with a presentation on “Getting a Foot in the Door” to your audio career, a Student Delegate Assembly meeting, and the convention’s Heyser Presentation, presented by Francis Rumsey.

Other Virtual Vienna Convention highlights include presentations on “The Secret Life of Low Frequencies” with Bruce Black and the Workshop on “Binaural Audio V2 – Is Future Entertainment Ready to Go?” featuring producer Tom Ammermann, producer/engineer/musician/author David Miles Huber, composer/sound designer Thilo Schaller, AES Past President Andres Mayo, and current AES President Agnieszka Roginska. Other featured presentations rounding out the program include the timely topic of “Teaching Technology in the Time of Pandemic,” “Virtual Audio Interfaces – Interacting with Sound and Music in Extended Realities,” “Deep Learning for Audio Applications – Engineering Best Practices for Data,” “The Lead Vocal – Record and Mix Strategies,“ “Remapping the Model of Studio Production Techniques,” and many more presentations designed to present “A World of Audio” possibilities to attendees.
 
The complete AES Virtual Vienna schedule of events can be viewed here, and registration is open 24/7 at AESEurope.com.  

More Information

— In its first global online event, the AES will offer a full convention experience through a variety of streaming, on-demand and interactive events —

As the first-ever virtual convention hosted by the Audio Engineering Society approaches, anticipation grows over the chance to share convention sessions and interact with industry experts in a new and unique platform. The AES Virtual Vienna Convention will take place June 2 – 5 and will be accessible by anyone in the world with an available internet connection, offering an unprecedented chance to listen, learn and connect globally with audio peers and pros. 

An Overview of the AES Virtual Vienna Convention

What: The AES Virtual Vienna Convention 2020 presents the finest traditions of AES Convention Technical Programs. The latest audio research, technologies, practical application, boundary-expanding experimentation and inspiration will be offered through Special Events, Keynote and Heyser presentations, Workshops, Tutorials, and Paper and Poster sessions.

The online streaming and on-demand format is tailored to the realities of a world practicing social distancing. Virtual Vienna will feature scheduled streaming content – nine hours a day with two independent streaming channels available on the final two days. A host of Convention paper, poster, tutorial, and additional Technical Program presentations will be available on demand to registered attendees during the Convention, and for some period of time after. Realtime Q&A with presenters will follow streamed presentations, and ongoing Q&A text dialog will be available on all sessions. Scheduled streaming presentations will be added to the on-demand library after airing. 

AES Conventions are rich in student and career activities – for AES Virtual Vienna, that means new spins on Student Recording Competitions (drawing their largest ever number of submissions given that attendance is now online), critique sessions of student projects and the Education and Career Fair. 

AES Virtual Vienna Convention sponsors, including Platinum Partner Genelec, Silver Partners Sound Solutions International and USound, along with sponsor Focusrite Pro, will present additional instructional, educational and informational content.

Where: Available on internet connections around the world

When: Scheduled streams: June 2 – 5, 11 AM – 8 PM Vienna time (UTC+2) / 5 AM – 2 PM EDT (UTC-4). “Prime time” each day will be 2 PM – 5 PM (UTC+2) / 8 AM – 11 AM (UTC-4). On-demand content will be available beginning June 2.

Who: Audio technology thought leaders including engineers, producers, students, educators and more working in recording and production, broadcast and streaming, acoustics and psychoacoustics, sound reinforcement, archiving and preservation, networked audio, product development and audio education.

Pricing:
AES Members, Associates & Fellows – $50.00

AES Student Members – $25.00

AES Non-Members – $175.00
AES Life / Honorary Members – Free

For professionals and students who’ve never invested in an AES Convention’s full technical program, AES Virtual Vienna offers an affordable and convenient opportunity to see what they’ve been missing and to participate in everything an AES Convention has to offer. Make plans to join the AES and help make history during the first-ever Virtual AES Convention. Find out more and register now at AESEurope.com.

— AES Virtual Vienna Convention activities to include student recording and design competitions, an Education and Career Fair, Student Delegate Assembly events and more for just $25 for AES Student Members —

While the world is taking on day-to-day activities in new ways and working with new circumstances, the Audio Engineering Society is bringing “A World of Audio” to virtual attendees, this June 2 – 5, with the AES Virtual Vienna Convention. AES Conventions place a high priority on the education and enlightenment of tomorrow’s audio professionals. This year’s AES spring convention continues that tradition, offering a slate of activities aimed directly at audio students and educators, including Technical Program content, meetings and events hosted by the AES Student Delegate Assembly (SDA), a virtual Education and Career Fair, student competitions and student project critiques – all available in the most accessible AES convention ever. AES Virtual Vienna registration is now available online, with a low rate of $25 for AES Student Members for all four days of the Convention’s comprehensive and expansive Tech Program.    

Several highlights for students attending the AES Virtual Vienna Convention include the Student Recording Competitions in six categories (Traditional Acoustic Recording, Traditional Studio Recording, Modern Studio Recording & Electronic Music, Sound for Visual Media, Remix and Immersive Audio), and the Saul Walker Student Design Competition (gear and software), where students’ projects are critiqued and judged by a host of industry professionals, offering a great learning opportunity for participants and observers (and great prizes for the winning submissions); the Education and Career Fair, showcasing educational offerings and job opportunities from leading institutions and companies from around the world; Student Recording Critique sessions, providing non-competitive professional input and advice for students at all stages of training; SDA organizational and planning sessions; and externally available webinars on audio software design from MathWorks and Audio Programmers Workshop.

“AES Conventions are filled from start to finish with student activities offering amazing opportunities for learning, for meeting fellow students and networking with industry leaders, and for students to develop leadership skills of their own in these student-led and organized events,” said AES Education Committee co-chair Magdalena Piotrowska. 

Education Committee co-chair John Krivit notes that as a benefit of the Convention going online, with no travel required, the number of students taking part in the various competitions has increased, and similar increases are possible for technical program registration. “Taking these elements online for AES Virtual Vienna will make these opportunities available all around the world, to anyone with an internet connection – come join us!”

Across 80-plus hours of Technical Program sessions, core audio topics and the technology of today and tomorrow will be explored, with additional focus on audio elements and workflow solutions for new distribution platforms. Representing cutting-edge developments in the science of audio, the latest research and the application of such research will be showcased through streaming presentations of Keynote addresses, Papers, Posters Workshops, Engineering Briefs, Tech Tours and other technical program content, along with live- and forum-based dialog with presenters. AES Virtual Vienna Convention sponsors, including Platinum Partner Genelec, will also present instructional, educational and informational content.

Find out more and register now at AESEurope.com to make plans to join us for this first-of-its-kind AES event. 

AES members will have the exclusive opportunity to join the perennially popular AES presenter Alex U. Case on Monday, September 14 for a live, online Q&A to cover topics from his AES Virtual Vienna Convention session, “The Lead Vocal – Record and Mix Strategies”. Video playback of the session is available to members now through 5 PM EDT September 18 for on-demand Encore Presentation replay via the AES Member Portal. The live Q&A will take place at 8PM EDT via a Zoom link that will be available on the AES Member Portal on Monday, September 14.

“The lead vocal is almost always the single most important track in any sound recording,” begins Case, Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator - Sound Recording Technology, University of Massachusetts Lowell. “From music to podcasts,” he continues, “the voice is a critical source of human emotion, expressive musicality, engaging tone, and essential intelligibility. Such traits must be captured, preserved, and often enhanced through a workflow that includes good practices for artist comfort, local acoustics (studio, booth, or bedroom), microphone selection and placement, and signal processing (EQ, Compression, Reverb, Delay, Pitch Shift, Distortion, and De-Essing).” Case’s presentation is a structured discussion of the key elements of art, craft, and technology designed to empower sound engineers to develop creative strategies for recording and mixing the lead vocal.

The Encore series of members-only events brings noted presenters of enlightening – and even historic – AES events together with AES members for online dialog.

— The AES’s campaign to raise funds to sustain the Society through the COVID-19 pandemic has garnered support from a host of individuals, from audio industry companies including speaker manufacturer Genelec, and from partner organizations including PAMA —

The Audio Engineering Society has raised more than $159,000 USD since the launch of its COVID-19 pandemic-driven fundraising campaign in mid-April with a goal of raising $500,000 by June 1. More than 170 individuals, making donations ranging from $10 to $4500, have been joined by corporations and organizations – 21 new names have been added to the educational non-profit AES’s Sustaining Member roster. “The AES is grateful for the validation of its importance to the professional audio industry by each and every contributor that is helping at whatever level they can,” said AES President Agnieszka Roginska. 

Further such validation has come from AES industry partners. “To us, the AES represents the only serious forum for the development of audio, and the work it does for our industry is invaluable,” said Siamak Naghian, Managing Director of Genelec, an AES Sustaining Member, when announcing the speaker manufacturer’s contribution to the fund drive. “In its pursuit of excellence and dedication to raising the bar in the industry, it is without equal, and our approaches have much in common. We will do everything we can to help the Society through the ongoing crisis, and this donation is just one way of showing our support and appreciation for this much-loved institution.” Genelec has committed a percentage of all 2020 sales of its new “endlessly recyclable” RAW series of loudspeakers, housed in environment-sustaining chassis. Further, Genelec is inviting individuals in the audio community who have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, both professionals and students, to apply for one of ten Genelec-funded 12-month AES memberships.  (To apply to Genelec for a one year AES membership, please visit www.genelec.com/AES.)

“Genelec has been a steadfast partner to the AES for decades,” shared Roginska, “contributing resources and expertise that play a major role in the quality of our Convention technical programs.” With their contributions to AES’s fundraising campaign, she elaborated, along with the company’s Platinum Sponsorship of the upcoming AES Virtual Vienna Convention, “Genelec is reinforcing its commitment to the continued vitality of the audio industry. The AES greatly appreciates Genelec’s pledge of this further support, helping sustain the Society’s essential contributions to the audio industry.” These contributions are in addition to Genelec’s endowment of the AES Education Foundation’s Ilpo Martikainen Audio Visionary Scholarship, offered annually to an AES Student Member that is a U.S. graduate student in the field of audio engineering. 

The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA), an association of leading companies dedicated to the awareness and appreciation of high-quality professional audio through education, passion and common purpose, is also contributing to the Audio Engineering Society’s fundraising initiative. “The AES plays a vital role in the advancement of audio technology, promoting innovation and education.” said Greg Beebe, chair of the board of directors of PAMA. “Many of our member companies are key exhibitors at AES Conventions. PAMA recognizes the importance of a healthy AES. We are proud to join the roster of AES Sustaining Members.”

“PAMA shares AES’s ultimate goal – a thriving audio industry for all,” commented AES Executive Director Colleen Harper. “We appreciate their work towards that shared goal, and their wonderfully supportive and generous contribution to the AES to sustain our own complementary work.”

The AES staff and volunteer leadership have worked diligently to reduce operating costs and postpone expenditures while maintaining membership services, supporting student and continuing education efforts and other ongoing activities, and planning future endeavors. As with any business, AES has recurring expenses such as rent, utilities and infrastructure; web hosting and email; and various mission-critical contracted services. Creation of a virtual convention, AES Virtual Vienna, has incurred start-up costs while the cancellation and postponement of several AES events have impacted budgeted cashflow. Planning and organization are also underway on the comprehensive Technical Program for this year’s AES Fall Pro Audio Convention, scheduled for October 21 – 23 in New York City, with contingencies being developed to allow the Convention to proceed regardless of the ongoing impact of the global COVID-19 crisis.

Donations may be made on the AES website at https://tinyurl.com/AES-Give or via PayPal (use PayPal’s “Send” function to route your donation directly to [email protected]). No donation is too small. 

Learn more about the AES COVID-19 fundraising initiative by visiting http://www.aes.org/blog/2020/5/the-aes-needs-you. 

About the Audio Engineering Society

The Audio Engineering Society, celebrating over 70 years of audio excellence, now counts over 12,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry. Currently, its members are affiliated with 90 AES professional sections and more than 120 AES student sections around the world. Section activities include guest speakers, technical tours, demonstrations and social functions. Through local AES section events members experience valuable opportunities for professional networking and personal growth. For additional information, visit aes.org.

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35% e-books discount in May for everyone, 30% discount on print titles always for AES members on Routledge, CRC Press and Focal Press titles

Taylor & Francis Group – publisher of books for all levels of academic study and professional development, across a wide range of subjects and disciplines – has launched a new AES member benefits page which unites the book imprints Routledge, CRC Press and Focal Press.

To celebrate this merger of resources, Taylor & Francis Group is offering a discount of 35% on all e-books until May 31st (no discount code required). As always, AES members are entitled to a 30% discount on online orders of print books, applied by using the discount code available through the AES Member Portal.

Titles available include the collaboratively developed “AES Presents” series of books, featuring the recent releases:

Women in Audio by Leslie Gaston-Bird, a valuable resource for professionals, educators, and students looking to gain insight into the careers of trailblazing women in audio-related fields and represents required reading for those looking to add diversity to their music technology programs.

Intelligent Music Production by Brecht De Man, Ryan Stables, Joshua D. Reiss, presents the state of the art in approaches, methodologies and systems from the emerging field of automation in music mixing and mastering. It covers the music production processes; methodologies in classification, data collection and perceptual evaluation; and advances on introducing intelligence in audio effects, production and interfaces.

Beep to Boom: The Development of Advanced Runtime Sound Systems for Games and Extended Reality by Simon N. Goodwin, a rigorous, comprehensive guide to interactive audio runtime systems. Using practical, lowest-common-denominator techniques, Goodwin covers soundfield creation across a range of platforms from phones to VR gaming consoles.

Loudspeakers: For Music Recording and Reproduction, Second Edition by Philip Newell and Keith Holland is a comprehensive guide, offering the tools and understanding needed to cut out the guesswork from loudspeaker choice and set-up. This new edition provides significant updates on the topics of digital control, calibration, and cinema loudspeaker systems.

AES members interested in writing a book for the AES Presents series are encouraged to contact the editor, Hannah Rowe, whose contact details are on the member web page.

The Audio Engineering Society has begun to announce program details for the upcoming Virtual Vienna Convention, including three keynote lectures and the Heyser Presentation. As a result of circumstances dictating the move of the Convention to an online format, the Audio Engineering Society is bringing the AES Europe Convention directly to virtual attendees around the globe, with Keynotes from AES Fellow and Silver Medal Awardee Jamie Angus (University of Salford), Marisa Hoeschele (Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and Franz Zotter (Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Arts and Music, Graz), as well as this year’s Heyser Presentation by AES Fellow and Bronze Medal Awardee Francis Rumsey (technical consultant, author, Audio Engineering Society). The AES Virtual Vienna Convention will take place online June 2 – 5, and registration is now open for as little as $50 USD for AES members.

On the opening day of AES Virtual Vienna, The Heyser Presentation – an online adaptation of the AES Technical Council’s Heyser Lecture series that serves as a highlight of each AES convention – will be presented by Francis Rumsey on “Sound Quality in the Era of Interaction and Extended Reality.” Rumsey’s description of his presentation notes, “When evaluating sound quality, audio engineers have traditionally relied on some explicit or implied comparison with a reference. Even if a reference signal is not formally used, any judgement about what is ‘good’ or ‘correct’ has traditionally been rooted in a concept of fidelity to some ideal. That ideal might be a memory of ‘the best I have ever heard,’ some naturally occurring version of the sound in question, or perhaps ‘what the engineer/producer heard in the control room.’ We assume that we know what correct sound reproduction is, and that high quality means getting as close to that goal as possible. This is all very well when we are mainly aiming at sound reproduction of something that actually happened, and when a canonical version exists. Audio products are increasingly interactive, though, and multiple versions can be rendered depending on user interaction. Extended reality systems make the user experience increasingly indeterminate. The concept of fidelity breaks down, and the engineer no longer has ultimate control over what is delivered to the listener. New paradigms for integrative evaluation of sound quality are needed.”

On day two of the Convention, Marisa Hoeschele will give the keynote address “Audio from a Biological Perspective.” In the abstract of the address, Hoeschele states, “Audio plays an important role in the human experience. We communicate and express ourselves via sounds such as language and music. For a long time, the types of sounds we produce in both language and music were considered arbitrary cultural phenomena. But over the last decades, it has become increasingly clear that biology plays an important role in how we perceive and produce sounds. This talk will be an overview of insights that can be taken by considering biological foundations of our cultural practices in producing audio and perceiving music.”

The day-three keynote “Try Ambisonics, It's Better Than Ever!” will be given by Franz Zotter, “Ambisonics sounds and works better as 3D audio technology than ever before,” says Zotter. “There are microphone arrays available for higher-order recording, excellent Ambisonic decoders for loudspeakers, and excellence has been achieved by new headphone decoders.” Additionally, he notes, “In the last decade, we have gathered a profound perceptual understanding of Ambisonics. In addition to commercial tools and plugins, many free tools developed at universities became available in recent years. Currently, we experience Ambisonic technology that is highly versatile and can easily live up to the expectations that its inventors had been dreaming of several decades ago.

On day four, Jamie Angus will deliver the final keynote of the Convention, titled “Dicing With Audio.” Says Angus, “Noise, random or otherwise, has been around in audio since its very beginning. It can be a compositional tool, a synthesis element, or just a nuisance to be eliminated. How do we use noise creatively and technically to enhance our audio experiences? The answer might surprise you. Join me for a white noise ride at the boundaries of audio!”   

Additional details on the AES Virtual Vienna Convention Technical Program, including topics and events, Paper presentations, Workshops, Tutorials, Posters, Engineering Briefs, Virtual Tech Tours and other technical program content, along with live- and forum-based dialog with presenters, will soon be announced. Registration and preliminary information are available at AESEurope.com.