The 131st AES convention in New York promises a rich experience for any student or faculty member of a college level audio program. A full schedule of student and education programming from October 20-23 will ensure valuable connections to the professional world.
All student AES members are encouraged to arrive bright and early on Day 1 to catch Alex Case’s Tutorial on Delay. Production strategies of this essential effect will be explored by the noted author and University of Massachusetts professor who always draws a big and enthusiastic crowd.
At 11:30am that same morning is where all student participants of the convention will meet to announce their college program’s participation in the events of 131. The First Meeting of the Student Delegate Assembly, is where the finalists in the AES Student Recording Competition will be announced, where students can sign up for the SPARS mentoring sessions and the PMC Student Recording Critiques and where SDA Student Leaders will bring us all up to date about events and opportunities that will avail themselves over the next four days. This is where you’ll meet your fellow audio students from programs around the globe. This is also where they will meet you!
Day 2, Friday October 21 marks the opening of the Exhibition Hall, perhaps the largest “candy store” of audio equipment that you’ll ever see. This is a great opportunity for fledgling audio engineers to understand the breadth and depth of the audio “business.” What are the new products? Which companies are being the most inventive?
The Career and Education Fair is a table-top event where audio educators can display literature and program information about their colleges to all who pass through. It’s also a great “meet-and-greet” for the educators to informally make connections.
At lunchtime on Day 2, SPARS will sponsor a Mentoring “Speed Dating” Workshop where students can spend time with professionals representing a full spectrum of audio careers. (Remember to sign up for this at SDA1 on Day 1.)
Friday afternoon provides a diverse program with presentations from the father of the MP3 KarlHeinz Brandenburg and from recording artist Ben Folds.
Students tell us that the single-most reason why they attend the conventions is the opportunity to compete in or simply witness the Student Recording Competition. Finalists in the Sound for Visual Media and Traditional Acoustic Recording categories will be presented to the judges on Friday afternoon and all in attendance will have the good fortune of hearing their comments and expert opinions. You can read about this year’s judges at the AES SDA Student Blog. http://www.aes.org/students/
Day 3 Saturday October 22 is always a packed house and will feature two Education events not to be missed.
The Education Forum, is a unique opportunity for educators to discuss curriculum, facilities and pedagogy and to hear about a proposed Summer 2012 AES Conference on Education that you might want to be a part of.
The AES Student Recording Competition continues with the Traditional Multi-track Recording and Non-Traditional Multi-track Recording categories. Even if you are not a finalist, you can still benefit by hearing the student presentations and the judges comments.
Sunday morning October 23 provides many great reasons to rise early. While Alex Case Untangles the Comb Filter in his second tutorial at 131, audio students might find several events in the Game Audio track to be essential. Education: A Career in Game Audio will give an overview of the kinds of skills required for any recent graduate to matriculate into the game audio industry. Careers in Game Audio will describe the unique roles and responsibilities of the audio team as they perform the tasks required for audio design, content creation, technology development and implementation of the audio assets. Whether you aspire to be an audio programmer, composer, sound designer, sound engineer, or team manager, this workshop will help you understand what it might take to jump into these roles.
The Second Meeting of the Student Delegate Assembly is where awards will be presented and an election will be held for a new AES SDA North and South American Region Vice Chair. If leadership in the SDA is something that interests you as you study audio, please contact your Regional AES Vice President for a referral. You could also contact me with any questions that you may have about this important role.
There are so many incredible opportunities for any student who manages to make the trip to New York this October 20-23. I’ve only spoken about a fraction of the events that will make your experience full and rich. You can check the detailed convention calendar on the official AES.org website and find workshops and tutorials that connect with your unique interests.
Most important is for you to connect yourselves with the professional audio world, to meet the people who will remember you each time you participate. It’s your audio career so get it started at the 131st convention of the Audio Engineering Society October 20-23, 2011 at the Javitz Center in New York. I look forward to meeting you there!
John Krivit
Chair
AES Education Committee
Posted: Thursday, August 25, 2011
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