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AES Student Blog

AES144 Saul Walker Student Design Competition winner Interview: Bartlomiej Chojnacki

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

My name is Bartlomiej Chojnacki, I’m master student in Noise in technics and environment course at AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, recently graduated in Acoustic engineering in the same university. Currently I’m finishing my master’s thesis to begin the PhD studies in acoustic engineering. Professionally I’m working as a operational director of acoustic treatment manufacturer Mega-Acoustic.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

It has started with my first project on the 2nd year of my bachelor degree in the end of 2014. It was Marconi’s Spark Gap Radio, surprisingly – it worked. By this project I was awarded on local Students Scientific Conference, and then… many other project occurred, with my flagship project of Piezoelectric Omnidirectional Source and scale modeling in acoustics, which was awarded twice on previous Student Design Competition editions. Currently I’m an author of over 15 scientific publications and winner of many awards in the scale of Poland and international. I think my passion for audio was mainly supported by this additional project and very wide field of study with my courses on the university, also with the great support of educators. Brainstorming and workflow is the best catalyst for the scientific work.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry? What kind of problem can it solve or improve?

This year I’ve submitted the project which was the basic tool used by myself in my master’s thesis, which was the room sound field scanner and the method for acoustic field analysis for the acoustic fault detection. It was first entry for this project, but it was developed about a year ago – all we need to prepare was correct method of analysis for the received data and validate the results. This is the main part of the engineering work- engineering mean calculation and validation… so it was about a year that took me to develop the project in the current status. It was designed to improve overall possibilities in sound field diffuseness and spatial quality estimation for rating quality in the qualified acoustic rooms like concert halls and studios, also it needs to be applicable on the designing process before launching the construction process. Fortunately, all this points was included and working in current project status.

4) Did you considered commercializing your project? Are there any business or product possibilities?

This project has very big potential, but for now I don’t think about commercializing yet. This is quite early status and cannot be operated by no one than me because it still need a lot of documentation and validation. This is the problem with many DIY projects – they very often stop on the development process because later you need to provide instruction for it, which is not always the thing that students want to work… because it’s boring! And many of the project like that has very narrow recipients number, so the commercialization may not be profitable at all... comemercialization is a good idea for projects easy to develop with wide range of possible uses. Some of the inventions must be left as a pure science, like mine :( .

5) Do you know or consider any future steps? Will it be linked with the project you’ve presented?

My project presented in Milan was the early stage of the research I’m leading for a year and plan to lead in the next 3-4 years, also as the topic of my PhD thesis. Room sound field diffuseness estimation and its perception is very common topic in the field of room acoustic, so it will be definitely continued. The application of room sound field scanner itself need just small correction which will fix the bugs and allow better performance, especially the data export, but the project itself will be lead in more scientific, analytical and data collection way. In the closest future i plan to develop some papers and articles about this system, also including some reports about the prize it was awarded on AES in Milan! In my opinion, the succes is just 50% until you will make a report and promote it... no one cares about how big projects are you making until you let the world know them. The AES Design Competition is one of the places where it can be done best - provide the presentation of epic projects to the world.

6) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

During the 144th Convention the best part was the casual students meetings next to the canal! First after the students party, later – anytime, casual and spontaneous, people was just arriving because they knew that other will be there for sure. Great party with great people, I’ve met many AES students that i haven’t know before.

Posted: Friday, August 24, 2018

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AES144 Saul Walker Student Design Competition winner Interview: Leon Merkel

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

Hey, I’m Leon Merkel, natively from Hanover/Germany. In spring I recently finished my Bachelors Degree in „Sound and Music Production“ at the media department of the university of applied sciences Darmstadt. I’ve learned the process of Audio Production many formats from stereo radio features and rock/pop-music, surround classical music and film score to artificial 3D-Audio projects. The interactive part of the studies included extensive object-based programming in Max/MSP and the developing of hardware synthesizers with Arduino. My profound interest in 3D-Audio lead to my decision to study electrical engineering/audio engineering at the university of music and performing arts in Graz.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

Like many others, I’ve started to play the piano in my childhood. I’m very happy that my parents offered me that opportunity. In my youth played in a couple of bands and taught myself how to play the guitar. We mostly played our own compositions in different genres as my interest in producing my own music grew.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry? What kind of problem can it solve or improve?

http://www.aes-sda-media.org/media/Bartek_photos/144_interview/leon2.jpg

The idea of my project evolved during an internship in an acoustics company. I prepared the acoustical simulations for a new big recording studio and found out how accurately the simulated impulse responses match the recorded ones. I stared thinking about a convolution reverb with simulated IR’s. The advantage was, instead of recording many IR’s for the reverb, to simulate them with a computer. I followed through with my idea and developed a convolution reverb based on acoustically simulated impulse responses as my bachelors research project. It took me three months to develop the software. The software enables the user to change the position of the listener and different sound sources in the spatial environment with ease. An individually simulated ambisonics impulse response exists for every possible position in order to create a realistic feeling of depth and accurate localization.

4) Do you know or consider any future steps? Will it be linked with the project you’ve presented?

Yes, I will work further on that software. After the AES convention I added a feature to use headtracking headphones to enable the user to turn around 360° and experience a better and more realistic room sound. For the future I will also upscale the impulse responses to fifth order ambisonics. I hope to present my further work on this project and the resulting reverb at the 30th Tonmeistertagung in Cologne.

Posted: Thursday, August 23, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Andrei Mankevich

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

I’m Andrei Mankevich, from Belarus. Minsk. This year I have finished Belarusian State academy of arts at sound engineering specialty. Also before academy I had finished Republican Gymnasium-College under Belarusian Academy of Music at Choir conducting specialty. For several years I’ve been working as a sound engineer at well-known acapella band “Camerata” based in Belarusian State Philharmonic. Also I work as the sound engineer and composer/arranger at the recording studio.

I Wish to continue study in this direction and planning to join master program at one European or North American university. For me it’s one of very important steps in chasing my goals.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

By a chance I took part in an audition for entering music school when I was a child. This period of time strongly influenced me and the formation of my personality. Step by step, I discovered the music world, and tried myself in different roles, also I sang and played different instruments in music bands. While studying in college, I also began to dive into the world of sound, bought a microphone, began to record my music, work with musicians and their music. After graduation from college, I decided to learn more about the world of sound and entered the university at the specialty of sound engineering. I think I’ve made the right choice, because the skills in sound engineering give me the opportunity to hear music in a different way and make my sound better.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

It was my first submission. I’ve heard about previous participants of this competition in my country and started gathering information about this event. I’ve decided that I definitely have to try it.

This song wasn’t recorded specially for this competition, it was just one of the songs from the album that we were recording at that moment at the studio.

When we work with musicians first of all we have to understand what this song is about, the main message of the song and we have to preserve and develop their main idea. This song is some kind of a protest that aimed at fighting with actual social problems. This song is based on classical rock standards but also has modern loud punchy and heavy compressed output. It was recorded and mixed a few months before the competition. Until the very last moment I wasn’t sure about my submission, but strong energy of the song made my choice.

4) What/who made you join AES?

First I knew about student recording competition and then I discovered what is AES and began to read about it. I definitely like their ideas and principles, that it is an independent organization which serves to advance technologies and knowledge, but doesn’t sell and advertise consumer products.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

Actually every part of this event was really great and useful. Especially I liked different workshops which not only give us exact knowledge, but also show us new different directions and teach us to ask the questions. And of course competition was one of the most exciting moment of the convention, it was very surprising when I’ve heard my name as one of the winners.

Posted: Wednesday, August 22, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Agnieszka Szczepańczyk

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

I am from Poland and I study Music Production at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw where I am doing my last year of master’s degree. I am also interested in other fields of sound engineering such as radio dramas and, of course, sound for visual media.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

It started during my first year of studies at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. I was not sure if I had made the right decision about my future job, but courses and my first internships persuaded me that working in audio is the best decision. Making sound for different purposes gives me opportunity to express myself and present my point of view of reality. I consider it as a great combination of technology and art. It is also amazing that the group of people, who may not have known each other before, can create something unique together.

Before finishing bachelor studies in Bydgoszcz, one of my Professors told that the most important thing in life is to do what you love. I always remember about it, and I am glad, that I have the opportunity to work as sound engineer in different musical and film projects.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

I made sound for the submitted animation ‘Llapse’ because I have been impressed by quality and strength of the picture. In original soundtrack there is only music, but the plot gives opportunity to create variety of sounds. I decided to challenge myself. I began my work by expanding the story with additional, original plot elements. For me, the cube represents the unintended effect that the human civilization has on its environment. It was also crucial to me to tell through the sound the story in a way that would match fast-paced action and tension of the picture. After the presentation at the university, some of my friends suggested that I should try to submit my work. It was my first AES student competition entry.

4) What/who made you join AES?

Mainly, the recommendations of students, especially Krzysztof Kicior who is the chair of Warsaw student section. After short conversation with him I checked reports from previous conventions and some AES publications that I found interesting. It convinced me to join.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

My favorite experiences were connected with amazing people who came there. That was wonderful to meet many students and professionals from the industry from all over the world and be able to share ideas and opinions with them. During the convention I had a feeling that I am the member of one big family of audio enthusiasts.

Posted: Tuesday, August 21, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Krzysztof Ptak

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

I'm from Kielce in Poland - the city located in Świętokrzyskie voivodeship. I'm studying sound engineering at Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. I make beats since 2010. I love music, especially jazz, soul, hip hop and electronic.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

I think i got it from God as a talent. My parents showed me good music and took me to music school when I was 7 years old. I play piano and organ. Music was always important part of my life. In medium school I've became interested in music studies, but I wanted to connect music with technical subjects. I love mathematic, physics etc. I searched and I found sound engineering in Warsaw.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

I heard about remix category from my friend in march. I gathered for a long time to start remix. I've started my work about two weeks before deadline. First thing was to listen all song and then track by track. Fast picked guitar inspired my to make remix in drum and bass genre. I make it in two weekends. It was my first entry so I'm so shocked and excited that I was awarded a bronze medal.

4) What/who made you join AES?

My girlfriend Dominika and my friends from studies. I'm sure that I wouldn't make this remix without their "keeping asking" me about remix and motivating me to do something.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

Everything was exciting. Talking with people from different countries. Listening lectures from many areas of audio. Competitions. My friend submitted participant in all category. For me the most unpredictable moment was contest results announcement of my category - remix.

Posted: Monday, August 20, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Kevin Langlois

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

I'm from France, I studied in Paris and I finished this year my school of Audio Engineering and Studio Production at AbbeyRoad Institute Paris.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

I am passioned by music since my childhood and I discovered sound engineering by searching how the actual music could be sounded like today. I had understood how a band played and why they played like that but the engineering part of that was absolutely dark to me. And the electronic music, darker than that! So I wanted to discover this other part of music's world, the technics part and the engineering of it.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

My production for my submission was a real opportunity to construct a project from scratch. That was the first time for me to do that, to have a deadline to show and present a finish and concret music project. My goal was to use this opportunity to meet, construct and share a good music I like, and go until the end who cares the results (and finally was good!). So I contacted different bands I liked, some of them heard at radio like Canari (the one I recorded) to propose the project : record them on a new track never released before, or start from a jam and construct from it ; and after, use that recording to produce for real. I finished this project like I wanted, with adding a personal touch just before starting to mix it. So yes, that was my first and only one entry to the contest. I was on the project for 1 month and worked on it concretely 7 entire days spread on this month.

4) What/who made you join AES?

I joined the AES the year before when the event was in Paris, I had news from my school and be able to go there due to it. After that, it was Layan Clifford who made me come at the next event at Milan and participate at the contest. He works at AbbeyRoad Institute and works for AES to record all the conferences ; that what I did there before have the results of contest, sound recording assistant during the conferences!

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

My best experience was that moment I heard my name as finalist in my category contest! I was the 4th name called while the other categories before had only 3 finalists! I thought that was finished and no one from us was finalist and... yes, I was! It's very personal but it's my favorite moment during the convention!

Posted: Sunday, August 19, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Kseniya Degtyareva

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

My name is Kseniya Degtyareva and I am a completing my masters degree in Sound Recording at McGill university. Previously, I did my bachelors in Belarus.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

From my childhood, I was surrounded by music. I started to play the piano when I was 5 years old. When I was 18, I was composing some music for indie computer games. So I started to mix my own music in DAWs. Then I decided that I would like to learn more about sound, so I entered the university program in sound engineering. It did not take long for music recording to become my passion.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

This submission wasn’t my first one. I have already been a finalist at the 2016 AES student recording competition in Paris. Also, I submitted a couple of works in between this time. I find this competition an incredible opportunity to receive some feedback for productions I am working on. Sometimes the comments are controversial but every time they give you a lot of useful information about technical qualities of a mix and new creative ideas for future recordings.

This year my submission is an original composition of the talented Montreal musician “Krystale“. I found this recording experience to be very valuable. The band was made up of professional musicians and I was fortunate enough to have plenty of time to realize a general recording approach I always wanted to try. For example, demo recordings Krystale sent me in advance helped me to make decisions about an ideal input list and placement of musicians in the room.

At the session, the right amount of time was spent with the drummer to carefully tune his snare and toms. Also, I enjoyed the creative connection we had with the musicians during the whole session. I didn’t have a lot of chances to produce this kind of music in such an ideal and controlled context but I definitely enjoyed being responsible not only for the best sound but for the best performance representation of the musical material.

I want to thank my colleagues from McGill, who were involved in this recording session: Mathieu Bourassa and Ephraim Hahn. This submission is my first experience mixing pop music in surround. I find it very interesting how a new format opened a whole world to me for new mixing ideas in this genre of music.

4) What/who made you join AES?

I found out information on the internet about the Student Summit in Berklee Valencia in 2015. I am happy that after that experience some students from my former university in Minsk started visiting European Conventions.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

My best experience was meeting my friends from Europe and learning about the oldest organ in Milan in the church of San Maurizio during a convention technical tour.

Posted: Saturday, August 18, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Quentin Durual

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

My name is Quentin Durual, I’m 23 and I come from Lyon in France.
I’ve studied there during 2 years in an audiovisual school called Studio M. After that, I’ve lived in London for a year, to play music, discover another music culture and widen my perspectives. I’m currently studying at Abbey Road Institute in Paris for a one-year training. The school offers recording, mixing, mastering courses. It covers all the fields of the music industry and I definitely improved my skills in arrangement, post-production, music business, marketing courses and so on.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

When I was a teenager I started learning how to play guitar by myself because I was listening to some good rock, like Gun’s n roses, Led Zeppelin etc.. I wanted to be a guitar hero you know ! I began composing music and recording it, on Garageband (with no clue of how it was working, it sounded pretty bad !). But I really loved the process of shaping and harmonizing sounds, even more than just playing my guitar. So I spent a lot of time on it, bought more and more gear. At some point I wanted to take one step further and to start doing it in a professional way. That’s why I went to an Audiovisual school with a sound option. From that point, I knew I wanted to work as a sound engineer.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

Actually, I have discovered the category 5 of the contest only a week before the submission deadline. But I was really inspired by the original song « Circle » from Chris Dupont so I decided to have a go. I took on the challenge because the opportunity of competing with engineers from all over the world was thrilling. I had courses this week, so I worked at night and during my spare time at school. It was a very formative and intense exercise, because I had to make choices really quickly and stick to them until the end, no backtracking was permitted. I did the main composition in a production studio in Abbey Road Institute with guitars, keyboards, drum machines..

4) What/who made you join AES?

One of my teachers from Abbey Road Institute, Mr Layan Thornton pushed me to join the AES contest. He was working at the AES convention in Milan and he let me know about the contest. The concept was so tempting, I did not hesitate. Today I am very grateful he believed I was able to run the competition.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

The research aspect of the convention was particularly rewarding. Seeing professionals looking for concrete solutions to create new sound technologies was appealing.

The award ceremony was really formative as well. I was very thankful when I won the Honorable Mention Award for the category 5 remix. I learnt a lot from the feedbacks of the judges, which were sharp but fair.
I know I still have a long way to go and I will definitely come back.

Posted: Friday, August 17, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Frederik Brandt Jakobsen

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

My name is Frederik Brandt Jakobsen. I’m 27 years old and live just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark.

I'm currently finishing my master’s thesis at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM), where I study to be a Tonmeister specialized in rhytmic music. I have a Bachelor’s degree as a classical Tonmeister from RDAM, but found myself more passionate about recording drums and noisy guitars, and so I changed to the rhythmical approach for my master's.

I’m currently running my own studio called Hikikomori Mastering that offers full analog mastering and 50/50 ITB/analog mixing. This is where I work professionally. My studio is always growing, evolving around my passion for DIY projects. Every new piece of knowledge and hardware I pick up on my journeys around the world develops me as a producer.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

I grew up in a house filled with music. My dad plays guitar and inspired us kids to play music as well through playing us stuff like Smashing Pumpkins, Joy Division, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pavement and Sonic Youth.

At 12 years old my parents discovered my abilities playing piano and I went through some kind of prodigy program. But after years of pacing I grew super tired of studying and performing classical music and decided to form a punk band. There was a sweet relief in the simplicity of strumming just one chord and screaming about whatever bothered a given day.

I’ve played guitar and synth ever since in various punk and rock bands until at last I found my passion for music production through an inspiring high school teacher. He was the one who encouraged me to apply for the conservatory in Copenhagen.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

Yes, this was my first entry and first time at AES. I played synth for the Danish post-punk band Shiny Darkly on their UK tour in late 2014. Shortly after the drummer asked me if I would mix and produce his other band Motorique. The whole process developed my enthusiasm for “producing" bands. The album turned out so great with a well-recieved 12”vinyl release that we decided to hit the studio to do one more. And this is where “I Love To Start A War” is from.

4) What/who made you join AES?

I was encouraged by my professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Jesper Andersen.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

It was a very inspiring convention for me in a lot of ways. As I do not see myself as much of a technical engineer as much as I consider myself a music producer and mastering engineer. So I especially attended the creative talks at the convention. I think the talks and discussions about mastering; vinyl vs. digital, myths and new loudness standards were very interesting. Also, following the new discoveries and developments of Ambisonic, Atmos, 3D and immersive sound is always interesting. Actually that part inspired me a lot and I’m currently working intensively on a new project to be released soon. If any readers are intrigued, I will definitely post more about it on my Facebook studio page “Hikikomori Mastering” very soon.

Thanks for letting me show my work at AES, it was a learning experience for me to hear people’s opinion on the sound-side of a song, and actually present my thoughts on the process. See you at the next AES!

Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2018

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AES144 Student Recording Competition Interview: Katarzyna Sochaczewska

1) Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

My name is Kat Sochaczewska, I'm from Poland and currently doing phd at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, where I graduated from Acoustical Engineering last year. I am a little bit of a patchwork - as I am involved in broadcasting, studio recording, and my phd oscillates around ambisonics widely speaking. I try complement all of those fields and constantly learn from them.

2) What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

As a kid, I always used to play with toy-instruments, so I was sent to music school, where I learnt to play piano. But I was fascinated not only with music itself, but sonic experiences in various forms (including soundscapes, melody of foreign languages, maybe that is also why I developed the passion for jazz - where a lot of organic noises can be found) - so I decided to study sound and get involved in audio field.

3) Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

The production that I submitted for recording competition was a piece of folk music in modern arrangement (Vidma w sadoczku). It was first mixed in stereo as regular cd production, but while working on the material I really felt it would be a sin not to space it out and make a version in surround. I had a great great pleasure working with lovely vocalist Susanna Jara (thank You!) and she was the inspiration for this experiment. I played a lot with layers of vocals, trying to create a story and mood, and it was among others possible thanks to her stunning harmonies. I had a lot of fun creating the immersive atmosphere and using tricks that normally wouldn't be possible to apply in casual production. It was my first entry, and it took me quite long to prepare it (the recording took few hours, then mixing in 5.0 around a month with breaks - it is still quite new to me - mixing in surround). I was extremly stressed to share the work with the audience and judges, but I'm more than happy with that incredible experience - especially for professional feedback from experts.

4) What/who made you join AES?

I first joined AES right before the conference was held in Warsaw few years ago, thanks to my lecturers and peers. And I kept it since then because of great publications useful in my research work and fantastic conferences obviously.

5) Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 144th AES convention in Milan!

Well - definitely the whole recording competition was exciting but not only that! I've heard some stunning works during listening sessions (for example 3d music - "In the fields" which became my great inspiration to start creating ambisonic music). I always enjoy lectures held by Alex Case, you can get so much from them. Besides, fantastic workshops about immersive audio, audio for VR, trends and new gear on exhibitions. Lovely atmosphere, wonderful city, open and experienced people to share ideas with and simply nerd-talk to:)

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2018

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