AES News

For more information on UNESCO’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, visit https://en.unesco.org/wdah2017.  

Next up, the Audio Engineering Society returns to the west coast for the AES@NAMM Pro Sound Symposium, Live and Studio, to be held in NAMM’s education campus, adjacent to the Anaheim Convention Center, during The 2018 NAMM Show, which runs January 25 – 28, 2018 (aesatnamm.com). This first-of-its-kind education and training event is a collaboration with NAMM, bringing AES expertise to AES@NAMM attendees while offering registrants access to the NAMM exhibition. The AES celebrates its 70^th Anniversary as the Society returns to the Javits Center in New York for AES New York 2018, the 145^th AES International Convention, taking place October 17 – 20, 2018, co-located once again with The NAB Show New York. Visit aes.org/events for AES event updates throughout the year. 

—   Spatial audio workshops on broadcast, recording and gaming to be highlights of Immersive Audio Super Saturday events —

The AES New York has announced a full-day program dedicated to Spatial Audio and its production and applications. “Immersive Audio Super Saturday” will showcase the latest in spatial and 3D audio in a series of presentations and workshops on Saturday, October 21 at the AES New York Convention at the Jacob Javits Center. The Immersive Audio Super Saturday sessions will utilize a large-scale 9.1-channel system from PMC and, for binaural sessions, a Sennheiser wireless headphone system. From Xenakis to Doctor Who, and spanning VR, broadcast and music production, the sessions draw from the Convention’s Game Audio & VR, Broadcast & Streaming and Recording & Production tracks.

“Immersive audio has become the state of the art for film sound, as well as for gaming, home entertainment and personal listening. During Immersive Audio Super Saturday, attendees will have an opportunity to experience the sonic and emotional impact of immersive audio at its very best,” said Bob Moses, AES Executive Director. “This is a unique event that will bring an exciting crescendo to the technical program at AES New York.” While the Super Saturday sessions require All Access registration, those who can’t take advantage of the entire four-day Convention technical program can register for a one- or two-day pass and chose to include Immersive Audio Super Saturday.

A spectacular large-scale demo room featuring a full 9.1 channel PMC loudspeakers system will host the “Radical Interpretations of Iconic Musical Works” session, in which contemporary works from Morton Feldman and Iannis Xenakis will be played in 9.1 immersive audio. The Xenakis piece was recorded twice, from the perspective of a listener, and with overhead mics to capture the sound as experienced by the performers, and will be played back in both formats to demonstrate the ways in which immersive audio can capture and convey a variety of listener perspectives.

The iconic TV series Doctor Who has been around for more than 50 years – but now its audio is as futuristic as the Doctor’s TARDIS time machine. At the “What’s This? Doctor Who with Spatial Audio!” demo, BBC lead engineer Chris Pike will utilize a binaural playback system to demonstrate the way post-production transforms a normally-recorded episode into a spatial audio spectacular. Follow us into the next sonic realm with our favorite Time Lord!

In the “Binaural Listening Experience” session, Marta Olko of New York University will present a selection of binaural recordings and mixes from various artists, composers, and recording and mixing engineers, all created to highlight the ways in which binaural audio can complement and enhance the music.

Immersive audio is also a vital component of virtual reality gaming. In “Create Sound and Music for VR and 360 Using Common DAW Workflows,” Tom Ammermann of New Audio Technology GmbH will focus on the latest initiatives and developments of virtual and augmented reality development centers worldwide, including the first publicly-funded VR/AR lab in the US, located in New York.

“Creating Audio for Virtual Reality Applications” will be hosted by Bob Schulein of ImmersAV Technology, who will look at how the quest for more engaging listener experiences has raised the challenges to create more compelling audio. Elements of binaural hearing and sound capture have come to play a central role in existing and evolving production techniques, and this seminar will present and demonstrate techniques for enhancing audio for games, music, radio and music education.

Immersive Audio Super Saturday Schedule, October 21

9.1 sessions, Room 1E06

9:00 – 10:30AM, RP17 “Radical Interpretations of Iconic Musical Works” by Morton Lindberg

10:45 am–11:45 am, SA13 “3D Ambeo and Live Recordings” by Jim Anderson & Ulrike Schwartz

1:15 pm–2:45 pm, SA15 “Afternoon Listening Session in 9.1” by David Bowles and Paul Geluso

3:00 pm–4:00 pm, SA14 “Capturing Height” by David Bowles, Paul Geluso and Sungyoung Kim

Binaural sessions, Room 1E13

9:00 am — 10:00 am, SA11 “Creating Audio for Virtual Reality Applications” by Bob Schulein

10:15 am — 12:15 pm, SA12, Binaural Listening Experience” by Marta Olko

1:30 pm — 2:30 pm, GA15, “Create Sound and Music for VR and 360 Using Common DAW Workflows” by Tom Ammermann.

3:00 pm — 5:00 pm, B13, “What's This? Doctor Who with Spatial Audio!” by Chris Pike

Register before Monday, October 16 for Advance Registration online pricing, and make plans to join us at AES New York 2017. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now, upgrade to All Access registration, either four-, two- or one-day, for the Maximum Audio experience, including Immersive Audio Super Saturday, at aesshow.com.

More Information – Scroll over session titles here

 — Honors presented for Best Peer-Reviewed Papers and Best Student Papers —

The 143rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, taking place October 18 to 21 at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, will feature the presentation of the annual AES “Best Peer-Reviewed Paper Award” and “Best Student Paper Award” distinctions, which honor outstanding achievement in academic papers being presented at the convention. The awards will be presented during the Opening Ceremonies on October 18 by AES New York Convention Papers Co-chairs Braxton Boren and Areti Andreopoulou.

This year’s “Best Peer-Reviewed Paper Award” distinction will go to Sean Olive, Todd Welti, and Omid Khonsaripour, each from HARMAN International – Northridge, CA, USA, for their paper “A Statistical Model that Predicts Listeners’ Preference Ratings of In-Ear Headphones: Part 1 — Listening Test Results and Acoustic Measurements.” The paper will be presented on Thursday, October 19, as part of Paper Session P07. ("Part 2 – Development and Validation of the Model" will be presented as part of Paper Session P14 on Friday, October 20).

The “Best Student Paper Award” goes to Sarah R. Smith and Mark F. Bocko, both students of University of Rochester – Rochester, NY, USA, for their paper “Modeling the Effect of Rooms on Frequency Modulated Tones,” which will also be presented on Friday, October 20, as part of Paper Session P15. 

Abstract for Best Peer Reviewed Paper – “A Statistical Model that Predicts Listeners’ Preference Ratings of In-Ear Headphones: Part 1—Listening Test Results and Acoustic Measurements”
Part 1 of this paper presented the results of controlled listening tests where 71 listeners both trained and untrained gave preference ratings for 30 different models of in-ear (IE) headphones. Both trained and untrained listeners preferred the headphone equalized to Harman IE target curve. Objective measurements indicated the magnitude response of the headphone appeared to be a predictor of its preference rating, and the further it deviated from the response of the Harman IE target curve the less it was generally preferred. Part 2 presents a linear regression model that accurately predicts the headphone preference ratings (r = 0.91) based on the size, standard deviation and slope of the magnitude response deviation from the response of the Harman IE headphone target curve.

Abstract for Best Student Paper Award – “Modeling the Effects of Rooms on Frequency Modulated Tones”
This paper describes how reverberation impacts the instantaneous frequency tracks of modulated audio signals. Although this effect has been observed in a number of contexts, less work has been done relating these deviations to acoustical parameters of the reverberation. This paper details the instantaneous frequency deviations resulting from a sum of echoes or a set of resonant modes and emphasizes the conditions that maximize the resulting effect. Results of these models are compared with the observed instantaneous frequencies of musical vibrato tones filtered with the corresponding impulse responses. It is demonstrated that reduced models may adequately reproduce the deviations when the signal is filtered by only the early or low frequency portion of a recorded impulse response.

Best Paper Awards and other presentations are all part of this year’s AES New York Convention, taking place next month. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now, upgrade to the All Access registration for the Maximum Audio experience, including all of the research papers and engineering briefs within the hundreds of sessions that make up the full Technical Program, and reserve housing for the 143rd AES Convention at aesshow.com. Online Advance Registration discounts end Monday, October 16.

For the 143rd International Audio Engineering Society Convention, the traditional Game Audio Track is expanding into the Game Audio and VR (Virtual Reality) Track to reflect the growing importance of immersive sound and virtual reality audio. This year’s series of events, put together by co-chairs Steve Martz and Michael Kelly, incorporates the latest cutting-edge technologies and techniques used in some of today’s most popular, and growing, forms of entertainment.

“The frenetic pace of ongoing developments in Game Audio, VR, AR, and other related technologies provides the foundation for the VR and Game Audio track in the technical program at this year’s AES New York Convention,” states Track co-chair Martz. “With a common goal of presenting the latest research findings and sharing the latest production tools and techniques known to those in the industry, the AES Convention is the place to come and get a better understanding of each role in the audio production and delivery chain for game and VR content,” Martz concludes.

The new shared virtual reality action-adventure game Star Trek: Bridge Crew takes participants on a dazzling journey through uncharted areas of space, with astounding visuals, sound effects, battles and more. The “Star Trek: Bridge CrewVR Audio Post Mortem” session will feature Justin Drust of developer Red Storm Entertainment and his team as they discuss the contributions from the audio director, audio programmer and others in bringing this fantastic game to market from conception to completion.

“The ‘Horrific’ Sound of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard” will take an in-depth look at the latest installment of the smash hit videogame series. Sound Designer Ken Usami and others from Capcom will talk about their methods in creating realistic high-fidelity sound, including their use of “musique concrète” – music constructed by mixing recorded sounds to create a wide variety of textures, tones and noises to deliver an uncomfortable and disturbing sonic environment.

Video games are a worldwide phenomenon, as evidenced by the seminar “Gateways to the East: Music and Recording for Chinese Video Games.” Fei Yu, music supervisor for the NetEase multiplayer online game Revelation Online, will discuss the challenges of working with collaborators around the world, and the creative and technical processes of working with ethnic soloists and orchestras to create authentic world-music sounds. The Revelation soundtrack has won the BSOSpirit Jerry Goldsmith Award and the Tracksounds Genius Choice Vote for Best Score: Video Game.

What does the aspiring VR audio professional need to know in order to excel in this new field, and how is higher education responding to the current skills gap? “Immersive Audio and VR/AR: A Traveler’s Guide to the Growing Landscape of Experiential Audio” will address these topics and more in a session led by Josh Antonuccio, lecturer at the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University and co-creator of the Immersive Media Initiative, and Richard Warp, founder of music production company Intonic. A related panel, “State of the Art: Kickstart Your Career in Audio for Games, VR and Beyond” will discuss how to succeed in this field via the deep expertise and experiences shared by industry pros.

With the new XBOX One and Windows’ addition of native platform-level support for spatial sound, games and other applications can now implement audio above, below and around the listener, as well as transparently render to multiple endpoints (speakers, headphones) and formats (Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic for Headphones). This functionality opens up new technical and creative possibilities for game designers, as addressed in the talk “Spatial Sound for Console and PC Games,” hosted by Microsoft’s Robert Ridihalgh, Scott Selfon, and Mark Yeend, exploring a multitude of impactful and common use examples in this burgeoning field.

Additional information about these and other AES Game Audio and VR Track events is available at http://www.aes.org/events/143/gameaudio/.

Register now and make plans to join us at AES New York 2017. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now, upgrade to the All Access registration for the Maximum Audio experience, including the Game Audio and VR Track, and reserve housing for the 143rd AES Convention at aesshow.com. Online advance registration discounts end soon.

Sound is just as important as image in creating a compelling movie, TV or streaming video experience, and the 143rd International Audio Engineering Society Convention’s Audio for Cinema Track events will take a wide look – and listen – into the latest techniques for capturing and producing sound for film, broadcast and video.

“Our AES New York 2017 Convention’s Audio for Cinema Track will feature a diverse range of experts who will cover everything from nitty-gritty topics like how to best capture dialog in film and television, to the latest technologies for immersive audio and a seminar on the very future of cinema sound itself,” said Nuno Fonseca, Audio for Cinema Track Chair and professor at Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (Portugal). It’s all slated to take place at the upcoming AES New York 2017 Convention, October 18 to 21, at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.

Immersive audio is the newest approach to surround sound – so why use the same old mixing tools? “3D Audio Tools for Immersive Audio” will feature Ryan Wardell (Avid), Nuno Fonseca (Sound Particles), Rafael Duyos (DSpatial) and Gaël Martinet (Flux) as they present four new and different approaches for working with the newest immersive cinema formats. 

On a more down-to-earth level, “The Art and Science of Foley” will host the EMMY®-winning team from Alchemy Post Sound as they talk about creating organic sounds from both a technical and artistic perspective and integrating them into the overall soundscape. In the “Dialog for Film and Television” session, top recording pros including Bobby Johanson (The Avengers, Bridge of Spies), Peter Schneider of Gotham Sound and EMMY winner Alexa Zimmerman will share their experiences in getting this most important sonic aspect right, every time.

In a session co-organized with the Cinema Audio Society, “Production Sound: Current Trends and Proven Traditions,” veteran film/video sound mixer and Trew Audio owner Glen Trew will discuss the application of new technology and techniques as well as long-established traditions for capturing production dialog and music on the set. The session content will cover choices made during mixing and tracking, including the use of boom mics vs. body mics, and music lip-sync vs. recording live. 

We’ve all heard about loudness wars in music and it’s become an issue in the movies as well. “Loudness Issues in Cinema – Is the Reference Lost?” will look at the pressures on movie production professionals to print at louder levels – but what about the hitherto “sacred” reference level? This workshop, featuring experts from Dolby, the National Association of Theater Owners and Cinema Audio Society, will look at the balancing act between audiences, sound mixers, theater management and technology providers.

In “Best Practices in Re-Recording Mixing,” OSCAR® winner Tom Fleischman, who has worked on more than 170 films, will show attendees how he approaches a project from beginning to end, focusing on how the audio mix can enhance the storytelling through engaging the audience’s emotions. In this session co-organized by the Cinema Audio Society (CAS), Fleischman will also discuss the evolution of technology over the last 40 years and how digital has changed the way movies are mixed.

The saying goes, “don’t try this at home,” but when it comes to sound for picture and video, not anymore! “Constructing a 5.1 Home Studio” will demonstrate that, thanks to advances in technology, freelancers and other pros can now convert that garage or extra room into a bona fide mixing stage using readily available components and economical and ingenious solutions.

Cutting-edge technology is a hot topic for many AES Convention attendees, and in “The Future of Audio for Cinema,” Kevin Collier (Warner Bros Director of Engineering), Doug Greenfield (Senior Director of Production Services, Dolby), Avi Laniado (Chief Engineer, Harbor Picture Company) and Brian Vessa (Executive Director of Audio, Sony Pictures Entertainment) will provide insight into changing technologies and how they’ll affect the future of cinema audio, along with the unresolved challenges that still need to be addressed.

Additional information about these and other AES Audio for Cinema Track events is available at: http://www.aes.org/events/143/audioforcinema/. 

Register now and make plans to join us at AES New York 2017. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now, upgrade to the All Access registration for the Maximum Audio experience, including the Audio for Cinema Track, and reserve housing for the 143rd AES Convention at aesshow.com. 

The Audio Engineering Society is proud to announce that its Convention student design competition has been named the “Saul Walker AES Student Design Competition” in recognition of Mr. Walker’s tremendous impact on the audio industry, as an inventor and as an educator. The naming was formally announced during the AES New York 2017 Opening Ceremony, on Wednesday, October 18, with members of the late Mr. Walker’s family in attendance.

The Saul Walker AES Student Design Competition is an opportunity for aspiring hardware and software engineers to participate in a worldwide contest during AES Conventions and gain recognition for their hard work, technical creativity, and ingenuity, as well as advice and mentorship from the competition judges. Students are encouraged to submit entries, with few restrictions on the nature of the projects, except that designs must be for use with audio. The competition is one of many throughout AES Conventions that are coordinated by the Student Delegate Assembly. “Our student & career events are a cornerstone of the convention and fantastic opportunities for students to grow in their craft,” said Kyle P. Snyder, AES Education Committee Chair. “We’re honored to pay tribute to Saul Walker in the most fitting way possible, by connecting him to future hardware engineers through our educational initiatives.”

Saul Walker was a pioneer in the pro audio industry, an influential teacher and an exceptional man. He began his career as an Electronics Engineer for the U.S. Navy, where his successful designs prompted him to co-found API in 1968. He went on to transform the audio world with innovations including the API 312 mic preamp, the 325 line driver, the 512 mic preamp, the 550 EQ, the 1604 console, the world-renowned 2520 Op Amp and much more. Mr. Walker's incredible talent and creativity helped establish API as an industry mainstay, and after nearly 50 years, his groundbreaking designs are still the backbone of API.

In Mr. Walker’s own words: “In the late 60’s I co-founded API. Back then, we had a simple plan: build the best-sounding audio gear, use superior components, and give the customer the best warranty in the business. Four decades later, API is still faithful to my vision. The designs remain true to my original circuits. I’m still proud of it.”

After his time at API, Mr. Walker continued to lend his brilliance to companies including Otari, Mitsubishi Pro Audio Group, and Anchor Audio, before dedicating himself to teaching. As an educator, Mr. Walker began teaching electronics as an Adjunct Professor of Music Technology at New York University in 2006. He lectured at Schulich School of Music, McGill University, and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and as a guest speaker at universities in Canada, USA, and Argentina. Mr. Walker served as a mentor to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students.

The Audio Engineering Society awarded Mr. Walker a fellowship in 1979 for his innovative console system designs, and in 2011, he received the prestigious AES Silver Medal Award for “decades of innovative analog designs that have raised the bar on audio quality while offering solutions that empower the creative side of all audio engineers.” Mr. Walker engineered audio consoles for film production used at Sony, Skywalker, and Universal. In the broadcast and music production world, Mr. Walker’s products found a home at ABC, NBC, CBS, The Hit Factory, Sunset Sound, The White House, and in private studios for Les Paul, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, to name but a few.

“API is so pleased that the Audio Engineering Society is honoring our co-founder Saul Walker in this way,” remarked API president and owner Larry Droppa. “In addition to developing a large number of our products, Saul has had a significant impact on the audio industry at large, both as an inventor and as an educator.” When the AES shared its competition-naming plans with API, Mr. Droppa’s company stepped forward to further honor its co-founder by funding three “API Bootstrap Awards” to recognize the designs of a student engineer/designer in the spirit of Saul Walker.

 — Student recording competition, Education and Career Fair, mentoring and other events are aimed at furthering student AES attendees’ knowledge and career paths —

The 143rd AES International Convention’s Student and Career Development Events Track features numerous seminars, educational events and networking opportunities aimed at aspiring audio professionals. “Our AES student members and younger attendees are literally the future of the audio industry,” said Kyle P. Snyder, AES New York Education Chair. “Our Student and Career Development events are designed to educate and encourage the next generation of audio industry pros, something that’s always been a top priority for AES.” The events will take place at the upcoming AES New York 2017 Convention, October 18 to 21, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

Student and Career Development sessions and events are part of the full AES NY technical program, comprising hundreds of sessions covering the full spectrum of professional audio. All Access registration is your ticket to maximize your audio experience, an amazing value that includes every opportunity the Convention has to offer. Advance pricing – the best value – is currently available online, with steep discounts for AES Members and an extra special discount for Student Members. Registration is available at www.aesshow.com. 

On day one, the first Student Delegate Assembly (SDA) meeting will mark the official opening of the Convention’s student program and offer an opportunity to meet with fellow students from around the world. Among other topics, the meeting will announce the finalists in the Student Recording Competition categories and the Student Design Competition, and discuss important issues relevant to all audio students.

Next up will be the first of three Student Recording Critiques, to be held the first three days of the AES New York Convention. In these sessions students will be able to bring their recordings to non-competitive listening sessions on a world-class playback system using PMC loudspeakers and receive feedback on their projects from renowned industry professionals. Day one ends with a party! The always-popular AES Student Party returns to New York for a fun evening where students can relax and meet fellow AES student members and attendees.

Day two’s Student and Career events lead off with the SPARS (Society of Professional Audio Recording Services) Mentoring session, a group speed-mentoring format specifically aimed at students, young professionals and those interested in career advice. Categories to be covered will include live sound/live recording, gaming, sound for picture, studio production and more.

In the Student Design Competition, participants will be able to show off their hardware and software designs, from loudspeakers and DSP plug-ins, to hardware, mobile applications, sound synthesis devices and more. Day two will end with the first of two Student Recording Competitions, where finalists in each category will present and play their projects for a panel of industry judges and attendees.

Day three features the can’t-miss Education and Career Fair. All convention attendees, students and professionals alike will be welcome to visit participating company representatives to find out about job and internship opportunities. Academic institutions offering audio studies will also be present. Bring your resume! Another day three highlight will be the “Teaching Electronic Instrument Design: Technologies and Techniques” seminar, where a panel of university faculty, instrument makers and others will explain how students can go on to careers as software and hardware designers, product specialists, consultants and entrepreneurs.

Day four will feature another must-see panel, “Irons In the Fire: Career Development and Business Mentoring for Independent Music Creatives.” Here, members of the Manhattan Producers Alliance (ManhatPro) from New York, Nashville, San Francisco and Los Angeles will offer fresh insights into career development, developing your brand and your business, and working as a creative talent. Attendees will get one-on-one time with ManhatPro members.

Day four will conclude with the second Student Delegates Assembly meeting, where, among other activities, the judges’ comments and awards will be presented for the Recording Competitions and Design Competitions. In addition, plans for future student activities at local, regional and international levels will be announced.

Additional information and a complete listing of Student and Career Development events are available at http://www.aes.org/events/143/students/. 

Register now and make plans to join us at the 143rd International AES Convention. AES New York 2017 will be co-located with the NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now and reserve housing for the 143rd AES Convention at aesshow.com. “If it’s about audio, it’s at AES”, and if you are serious about advancing your professional audio career, you need to be there too. 

Embrace “The Power of Sound” with the Audio Engineering Society in Milan, Italy, at the 144th International AES Convention and Exposition, to be held at the spacious and modern NH Hotel Milano Congress Centre. The four-day technical program at AES Milan 2018 will run May 23 through 26, while the expo will be open May 24 through 26.

As the most prominent city in Northern Italy, Milan is a technology and manufacturing stronghold in the heart of a nation characterized by old-world charm and world-renowned as an incubator of innovation. The thinker-craftsman-inventor culture of Italy is notably linked to Leonardo da Vinci, who stands in history as one of the great minds blending science and art. From the father of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, through the Olivetti corporation (inventor of the typewriter and the first programmable desktop computer) to auto-makers Fiat and Ferrari, the many unique and successful technical design and manufacturing firms found throughout Italy have a demonstrable legacy of technological innovation blended with aesthetic style and manufacturing prowess.

“Italy has become a key center-of-gravity for pro audio in the Mediterranean region, increasingly known for the design and manufacture of amplifiers, transducers and loudspeaker systems of all types,” commented AES President-Elect David Scheirman, who will ascend to the Presidency this fall and preside over AES Milan 2018. “Numerous respected professional audio brands throughout Italy are built upon a historical and globally-known heritage of invention, construction, manufacturing and global export, inspiring the ‘Power of Sound’ theme for the 144th AES International Convention.”

The Technical Program at AES Milan will feature a proven mix of sessions covering the latest in audio research, practical workshops and fundamentals tutorials, covering the gamut of professional audio. The program will reflect the title “The Power of Sound” through an emphasis on loudspeaker components, speaker system technology and audio power amplification, taking advantage of regionally available expertise. The companion technology exhibition will house leading manufacturers with wares on hand for demonstration and evaluation, along with educational presentations on the show floor. Individuals with ideas for workshops and tutorials for AES Milan can now view the call for proposals and authors can additionally view the call for papers and engineering briefs.

As Europe’s premier professional audio technology and networking event, AES Milan 2018 simply can’t be missed. There’s no better investment in your career and skills development. Mark your calendar now and watch http://www.aeseurope.com for emerging details about the tech program, exhibitors, registration and housing. “If it’s about audio, it’s at AES”; if you are serious about audio, you should be at AES Milan 2018.

For more information on the AES and how to become involved, visit aes.org.  

More Information

 — “Disruptive Topics in Audio Product Development” is this year’s theme. Methods of bringing products to market faster, new headphone design techniques, development methods and better audio coding methods,
and more will be covered in series of in-depth seminars —

Advancements in technology and methods are at the very core of the Audio Engineering Society’s efforts, and the 143rd AES International Convention’s Product Development Track (http://www.aes.org/events/143/productdevelopment) will provide a detailed look at the latest innovations in audio product and software development, and the process of bringing those products to market. “The events in this Track have a practical, ‘real-world’ focus, and anyone involved in audio product development will gain new insight and understanding of the critical elements involved,” noted Scott Leslie, AES Product Development Track Chair. “Our Product Development Track spans the entire development process from Concept to Production. Our target audience is anyone who is responsible for product success.”

“Each year we have a theme for the Product Development Track,” Leslie continued, “this year the theme is ‘Disruptive Topics in Audio Product Development.’ The sessions will cover areas where change is disrupting traditional thinking and approaches, with such topics as ‘Modern Hybrid Audio Coding,’ ‘Loudspeaker and Amplifier Power Ratings: Is it Time to Start Over?’ and ‘Is the Anechoic Chamber Obsolete?’ The AES is the audio education leader, and we owe it to our audience to bring them invaluable information and discussions not available to them otherwise.” As has become the standard for the Product Development Track, all sessions are workshops, where the session presenters lead a discussion that is highly interactive and at times quite high-energy. This year’s Product Development Track is part of AES New York 2017, which brings a Maximum Audio experience to the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, October 18 to 21.

The Product Development Track sessions are part of the full AES NY technical program, comprising hundreds of sessions covering the full spectrum of professional audio. All Access registration is your ticket to maximize your audio experience, an amazing value that includes every opportunity the Convention has to offer. Advance pricing – the best value – is currently available online, with steep discounts for AES Members and an extra special discount for Student Members. Registration is available at www.aesshow.com. 

The Product Development Track events open with “Parallel Development: Speed Time to Market,” led by Scott Leslie. In this seminar Leslie will address the ever-growing time-to-market pressures facing audio manufacturers today. Product lifecycles and windows of opportunity are shrinking, and companies often miss their time-to-market needs because they don’t make the appropriate changes to their development strategy that are required in today’s fast-moving environment. Leslie will lead a discussion on how parallel development can be an effective strategy in speeding time-to-market. He’ll explain ways to leverage best practices, look at the use of both inside and outside resources, evaluate build vs. buy approaches and explain the latest development technologies in the aim of achieving a true parallel development process.

Headphones are on everyone’s minds – and heads! – these days, and the second Product Track Development event, “Headphones, Headsets and Earphones: Electroacoustic Design and Verification” will review basic electroacoustic design concepts, including gain, sensitivity, sound field correction, linear and non-linear response and the use of test signals for ear-worn devices. Presenter Christopher Struck of CJS Labs will cover these and more advanced considerations – such as the concept of insertion gain, equivalent volume and acoustic impedance – while using ear simulators and test mannequins. He’ll also look at issues with interfacing headphones to digital devices over USB and Bluetooth, active vs. passive noise cancellation and more.

Day two leads off with “What Happens in a Patent Lawsuit?,” which will cover what to expect when you’re involved in one – and how to win. “New Amplifier Requirements for Speaker Protection and Control” will address the growing demand for active speaker protection and the design challenges as audio amplifiers transform more and more into “smart” products with integral sensing capabilities, digital interfaces and internal signal processing. Day two closes with “Loudspeaker and Amplifier Power Ratings: Is it Time to Start Over?” How to properly measure amplifier output power and the “power” consumed by a loudspeaker have been subjects of debate for decades, and this session will discuss ways in which the industry can move forward in creating new specifications and testing methods that will give system designers better real-world working parameters.

Day three’s “Modern Hybrid Audio Coding” will present the current state of development in overcoming traditional limits for compression efficiency in audio coding by using semi-parametric, or hybrid, audio signal coding. Audio examples will be used to demonstrate the relevant technologies. “Agile Audio Product Development” will cover the most recent advances in design tools for audio product developers and walk attendees through a typical product development cycle. The next seminar, “Reusing and Prototyping to Accelerate Innovation in Audio Signal Processing,” will explain how designers can re-use existing design assets, code, and IP in bringing complex products like voice-activated devices to market more quickly. Rounding out day three, “Front End Audio Processing for Voice-Enabled Products” will examine processing techniques like beam forming, echo cancellation, direction of arrival estimation and noise reduction, which are necessary for effective voice recognition in consumer and automotive audio products.

“Is the Anechoic Chamber Obsolete?” Day four asks the question and explains that, although using an anechoic chamber is still an effective way to measure loudspeakers, there are pitfalls that must be avoided, and that a new method of holographic measurements based on near-field scanning can provide highly accurate reference data. AES New York 2017’s Product Development Track events will close out with “FIR-Based Beam Shaping – Revolution or Evolution?” This session will examine the next advance in sound field control: horizontal arrays and modular planar systems with steering capabilities, using horizontal and 3D coverage control via FIR filter optimization.

Additional information about the AES Product Development Track is available at: http://www.aes.org/events/143/productdevelopment

Register now and make plans to join us at AES New York 2017. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now, upgrade to the All Access registration for the Maximum Audio experience, including the Product Development Track, and reserve housing for the 143rd AES Convention at aesshow.com.