For Release: May 18, 2010

Distinguished Guests Prepare For AES London

Sir George Martin CBE & Masataka Goto To Attend AES London Convention

London, UK, May 2010: With the conference line-up for the Audio Engineering Society's 128th Convention in London now confirmed, some distinguished guests are beginning to make their way to London for the associated conferences (May 22nd-25th) and exhibition (May 23rd-25th), both of which are taking place this year at the Novotel Convention Centre in Hammersmith. Japanese music technology research scientist and gifted public speaker Masataka Goto has now been confirmed as the Keynote Speaker at the Convention's opening ceremony on May 22nd, and the Convention's final day will be graced by an appearance from Sir George Martin CBE, who will be accepting an Honorary Membership from the AES before introducing one of the afternoon seminars on the final day of the Convention.

Masataka Goto

Masataka Goto is a music technology research scientist, music software developer, and leader of the Media Interaction Group at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan. Since 1992 he has since been at the forefront of research in music technologies and music interfaces based on those technologies. Since 1998 he has also worked on speech recognition interfaces and artificial voice technologies — together with a colleague, he helped to design VocaListener, vocal analysis software which derives performance parameters from real vocalists which may then be applied to a 'singing synthesizer' such as Yamaha's Vocaloid. The title of his keynote address at AES London is Music Listening In The Future, and it will cover how some of the current developments in speech recognition and music analysis and detection software may change the way we all listen to music over the next few years. Well known for his demonstrative, entertaining, and singularly off-the-wall talks on the subject of the human race's endless fascination with music, audio, and technology, Masataka Goto will provide a lively introduction to the AES's 128th Convention. 

Sir George Martin CBE

Everyone in the audio industry knows of Sir George Martin because of his association with the Beatles, whose records from 1962 to 1970 he produced almost exclusively. But impressive though these achievements are, Sir George has achieved much besides in an audio industry career that began as a humble assistant at EMI's Abbey Road studios in 1950. He was one of the first independent producers, leaving his tenure as an EMI staff producer in 1965 to set up Associated Independent Recordings (AIR), he helped to establish the concept of producers receiving a percentage of sales income on the records they help to create, and was instrumental in founding AIR studios in Central London and Montserrat in the 1970s and 80s, and latterly in the 90s in Hampstead (as AIR Lyndhurst). He has been actively involved in the audio industry throughout his career, and remains President of the Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS), the first professional body to look after the interests of those working at all levels of the UK audio industry. With this year's Convention taking place in London, the APRS have had an important role to play in organising some of this year's most prestigious AES industry seminars, making the presentation of the Honorary Membership to Sir George a fitting event for the final day of the Convention.

“The AES is delighted to present George Martin with this award,” comments AES Executive Director Roger Furness. “The ranks of those who have previously received an AES Honorary Membership include Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Walt Disney, and Herbert von Karajan, and I can think of no finer addition to their number than Sir George Martin. We’re also excited to welcome Masataka Goto to London to deliver the Keynote Address at the opening ceremony — we expect a good time will be had by all who can attend.”

Masataka Goto's address will be delivered at 12.30 on Saturday May 22nd, whilst the presentation to Sir George will take place before the final AES/APRS-organised seminar at the Convention, at 2pm, Tuesday May 25th. All visitors to the AES Convention are welcome to attend.

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About AES

The Audio Engineering Society is the only professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology. Founded in the United States in 1948, the AES has grown to become an international organisation that unites audio engineers, creative artists, scientists and students worldwide by promoting advances in audio and disseminating new knowledge and research. Currently, over 14,000 members are affiliated with more than 75 AES professional sections and more than 95 AES student sections around the world. For additional information, visit www.aes.org.