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Learn From Audio Experts

The AES Audio Experts are here! Please enjoy the following excerpts of interviews from our AES Oral History series. The full-length interviews are available for purchase, and some are freely available to AES Members in our AES Live: Legends series.

Featured Videos

Fred Pfost "Early Stereo"

Fred Pfost of Ampex tells a story of an early demonstration of stereo sound. (2:40)

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Phil Ramone "Music Production"

Phil Ramone talks about music production. (10:49)

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John Eargle "Trade Secrets"

John Eargle talks about trade secrets in the audio industry. (1:20)

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David Hewitt "Location Recording 2"

David Hewitt talks about who makes a good location engineer. (6:59)

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Emil Torick "CBS Laboratories"

Emil Torick discusses the work of CBS Laboratories. (10:06)

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Edgar Villchur "Live VS Recorded"

Edgar Villchur discusses the philosophy behind live vs. recorded demonstration concerts. (5:44)

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Ed Greene "Old Blue Eyes"

Los Angeles recording engineer, Ed Greene, talks about his first encounter with Frank Sinatra. (2:57)

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David Blackmer "Perceptual Perfection"

David Blackmer is interested in what it is that we can hear. (4:19)

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Karlheinz Brandenburg "Digital Audio"

Karlheinz Brandenburg tells a short history of the development of the MP3. (8:36)

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Les Paul "Developing the Electric Guitar"

Les Paul talks about his long development of the electric guitar. (7:43)

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Emil Torick "Quadraphonic Sound"

Emil Torick talks about the development and issues with quadraphonic sound. (3:38)

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George Alexandrovich "Fairchild Spring Reverb & Limiter"

George Alexandrovich talks about classic Fairchild gear. Mobile version (2:20)

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Thomas Stockham III "Digital Audio"

Thomas Stockham III talks about his father’s work with Soundstream. (3:35)

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Stefan de Koning "Reverberation Systems - Mobile version"

Sefan de Koning discusses ambiophony systems. (3:53)

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Ed Greene "Jazz Samba"

Recording engineer, Ed Greene, talks about his recording of the jazz classic, "Jazz Samba." The recording features saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd. (2:31)

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Robert Langevin "Wireless Microphones"

Robert Langevin talks about the discovery of how to improve the first wireless microphone. (2:13)

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Phil Ramone "Music Production - Mobile version"

Phil Ramone has other thoughts about working in the studio, today. (1:37)

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Bill Windsor "Early Multitrack Studios"

Bill Windsor talks about early multitrack equipment developments. (3:31)

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Les Paul "Recording Innovations"

Les Paul explains how he eventually heard how he sounded. (6:58)

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Daniel von Recklinghausen "Advice"

Daniel von Recklinghausen gives advice to the young and the old in audio. (0:50)

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John Eargle "Recording Practices"

John Eargle explains his philosophy of recording. (3:10)

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Bob Mack "Record Production"

Bob Mack talks about the recording of the classic album “The First Family”. (2:52)

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David Hewitt "Location Recording 1 - Mobile version"

David Hewitt talks about his beginnings in location recording and other tales. (2:27)

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David Robinson "ABC’s of Noise Reduction"

David Robinson explains the alphabet soup of noise reduction. (3:19)

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John Vanderkooy "Digital Audio - Mobile version"

John Vanderkooy discusses the importance of dither in improving digital recordings. (2:44)

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Neil Muncy "Early Multitrack Recording"

Neil Muncy explains the evolution of multitrack recording. (2:38)

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John Chowning "Origins of FM Synthesis"

Composer, John Chowning, gives a brief overview of his role in the discovery of FM Synthesis (4:15)

Norman Pickering "Phonograph Cartridges"

Norman Pickering discusses the development of the lightweight phonograph cartridge. (3:32)

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Ray Dolby "Noise Reduction"

Ray Dolby discusses the importance of perceptual coders. (6:04)

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David Blackmer "On the AES"

David Blackmer talks about the importance of the AES. (1:35)

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Keith O Johnson "The Professor - Mobile version"

Keith O. Johnson talks about his audiophile hit. (2:08)

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Frank Laico "Studio Recording"

Frank Laico talks about recording with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. (2:18)

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Les Paul "Musician"

Les Paul talks about multitrack and sound-on-sound recording. (2:27)

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Bill Windsor "Early Multitrack Studios"

Bill Windsor talks about the movement from mono to stereo to multitrack. (5:31)

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Keith O Johnson "The Professor"

Keith O. Johnson tells the story of his early electronic developments. (5:10)

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Edgar Villchur "AR Turntable"

Edgar Villchur talks about the design of a classic turntable. (3:02)

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Norman Pickering "Early Years of AES"

Norman Pickering talks about the very early years of the AES. (1:53)

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Karlheinz Brandenburg "Digital Audio - Mobile version"

Karlheinz Brandenburg tells a short story about MP3 development. (2:30)

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Richard Burden "Early FM Stereo"

Richard Burden tells about early work with KDKA-FM. (1:54)

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Daniel von Recklinghausen "Revolutions in Audio"

Daniel von Recklinghausen talks about the evolution in equipment design. (3:50)

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Bill Whitlock "Transformers"

Bill Whitlock discusses his development of a transformer imitation circuit. (1:29)

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Michael Dorrough "Signal Processing"

Michael Dorrough explains early studio signal processing. (2:58)

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Stanley Lipshitz "Digital Audio"

Stanley Lipshitz discusses the history of improvements in digital recording. (4:50)

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Peter Tappan "Concert Hall Acoustics"

Peter Tappan explains the reinforcement system in Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall. (2:37)

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Ioan Allen "Film Sound"

Ioan Allen discusses cinema soundtracks. (9:50)

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Richard Burden "FM Stereo"

Richard Burden talks about his work with KDKA-FM. (4:01)

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Stanley Lipshitz "A Short History of Dither"

Stanley Lipshitz discusses the paths to improving digital recording. (2:59)

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Frank Laico "Studio Recording"

Frank Laico talks about his work in the studios at Columbia Records. (7:21)

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Bob Ludwig "Bob Ludwig talks about mastering with the Isley Brothers."

Bob Ludwig talks about mastering with the Isley Brothers. (2:45)

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Fred Pfost "First Public Video Tape Recorder Demonstrations"

Fred Pfost of Ampex tells the story of demonstrating the first professional video tape recorder (2:32)

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Emil Torick "Perceptual Coding"

Emil Torick discusses the perception of audio quality. (2:20)

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Carson Taylor "Recording and Editing"

Carson Taylor saves the day for Jacqueline du Pré. (4:37)

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David Hewitt "Location Recording"

David Hewitt talks about the variables in location recording. (5:40)

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Ioan Allen "Film Sound 3"

Ioan Allen talks about the film soundtrack. (3:37)

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Neil Muncy "On Grounding"

Neil Muncy talks about the importance of grounding and misconceptions. (3:35)

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Edgar Villchur "Dome Tweeter"

Edgar Villchur talks about the development of the dome tweeter. (2:33)

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Ray Dolby "Compression"

Ray Dolby talks about the problem with noise in analogue recording and subsequent improvements. (2:42)

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Robin Caine "First Stereo Broadcasts"

Robin Caine tells the story of the first stereo TV broadcasts in the UK. (7:23)

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Jack Renner "Music Recording"

Jack Renner explains how Telarc got its sound. (2:42)

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Ioan Allen "Film Sound 1 - Mobile version"

Ioan Allen talks about the history of improvements in film sound. (3:37)

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Neville Thiele "On Alan Blumlein"

Neville Thiele explains his connection with Alan Blumlein. (2:35)

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Stefan de Koning "Reverberation Systems"

Stefan de Koning discusses the development of ambiophony systems. (6:09)

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Bob Ludwig "Mastering 1 - Bob's Ah Ha! moment"

Bob Ludwig reveals his “Ah, Ha!” moment in mastering. (2:24)

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Jack Renner "Music Recording"

Jack Renner discusses the development of his philosophy of recording. (6:28)

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Daniel von Recklinghausen "On the AES"

Daniel von Recklinghausen talks about the importance of the AES. (1:08)

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Les Paul "Multitrack Recording"

Les Paul led a triple life. (3:07)

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Edgar Villchur "Loudspeaker Performance"

Edgar Villchur talks about what counts in loudspeaker performance. (3:25)

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Dan Dugan "Sound for Theatre"

Dan Dugan discusses the development of the Music System. (2:47)

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Kunimaro Tanaka "Digital Audio Editing"

Kunimaro Tanaka talks about the development of razor blade editing of digital audio tapes. (2:55)

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Michael Dorrough "Studio Recording"

Michael Dorrough discusses early studio recording and signal processing. (6:27)

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George Alexandrovich "Fairchild Industries"

George Alexandrovich discusses his work with Fairchild. (4:37)

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Robin Caine "Advice"

Robin Caine suggests there are many directions in audio. (1:24)

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John Meyer "Live Sound and Theatrics"

John Meyer demonstrates the importance of ‘show business’ in the show. (3:12)

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Carson Taylor "Recording and Editing"

Carson Taylor saves the day for Jacqueline du Pré. (6:11)

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Bill Whitlock "On Deane Jensen"

Bill Whitlock talks about audio pioneer Deane Jensen. (2:59)

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Ioan Allen "Film Sound 2"

Ioan Allen explains the nature of film sound. (3:25)

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Bob Ludwig "Bob Ludwig explains the history of improvements in vinyl cutting."

Bob Ludwig explains the history of improvements in vinyl cutting. (11:12)

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Robert Langevin "On Les Paul"

Robert Langevin talks about his encounter with Les Paul and the ghost note. (2:08)

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Michael Dorrough "Early Studio Recording"

Michael Dorrough recalls the early days of studio recording. (1:49)

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Neil Muncy "Early Studio Equipment Design"

Neil Muncy discusses the development of studio equipment design. (3:15)

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Daniel von Recklinghausen "Revolutions in Audio"

Daniel von Recklinghausen talks about revolutions in audio equipment design. (2:01)

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Bob Ludwig "Bob Ludwig tells about the mastering of Led Zepplin II."

Bob Ludwig tells about the mastering of Led Zepplin II. (2:22)

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Edgar Villchur "Loudspeaker"

Edgar Villchur discusses the development of the AR-1 loudspeaker. (7:31)

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Phil Ramone "Reverberation"

Phil Ramone talks about reverberation. (2:53)

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John Vanderkooy "Digital Audio"

John Vanderkooy discusses the history of improvements in digital recording. (4:54)

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Ray Dolby "Film Soundtracks"

Ray Dolby talks about the development in the improvement of cinema soundtracks. (3:37)

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Other Videos

David Robinson "Noise Reduction"

David Robinson talks about the acceptance of noise reduction. (4:00)

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Special thanks to Irv Joel, Harry Hirsch, Jim Anderson, and Bill Wray.

Please access the Oral History Project Store to purchase any of the videos released thus far.