AES Student Blog

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. 

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

I'm studying in Düsseldorf/Germany at the Institute of Music and Media of the Robert Schumann Conservatory. I selected my courses and programs quite straightly towards recording and production of Classical Music.

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

I play piano since I can think which made me develop interest in classical music quite early. My piano lessons have always been about classical music and I started composing little pieces by myself. Despite my mp3 player as a 13 year old was filled with pop music, this classical understanding of music grew parallely to me discovering pop culture. I got in contact with audio when I wanted to record the (Rock-)songs I wrote. The Tech stuff never impressed me much, although I found great pleasure in trying to make my songs sound like I wanted them to sound like.

Starting my studies I initially wanted to go into Media Composition, but then I quickly realized how much I loved the recording and producing of music. I got interested in more complex Audio systems and signal transmission to be able to work in music production professionally.

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 submission is a edited version of three live orchestra recordings. At some point in my studies I felt the need to get experience in big recordings, so I organized several live recordings of orchestras to improve my namagement skills in bigger productions. This submission is actually my second orchestra recording which I was in charge of which was already followed my several more, so I learned a lot from it and would already do a lot of things differently now...

It is my first submission to a competition.

4) What/who made you join AES?

Since I am studying, there always have been people of our programme going to AES conventions. As I am not overly interested in Tech as a self-porpose, so I felt like I don't actually need to go to AES conventions. It's this competition that made me come th Milan and I am super happy I did! I heared a lot of inspiring presentations and read interesting papers and I will definitely be there again next time.

 TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik strives for absolute perfection. By offering historic recreations of classic microphones alongside our own proprietary designs based around the distinctive tube mic sound, we have established a product line that perfectly blends vintage style and sound with the reliability of a modern-day microphone. Our commitment to both the sonic excellence and quality of all of our products is rivaled only by our dedication to provide the BEST possible service to each and every one of our customers.

Thank you to RAISIN TOAST RECORDS, which ​is a new model for a record label dedicated to citizenship in Detroit founded by a team of musicians and innovators from the University of Michigan. 

 Thank you to Merging, the company that brought the incredible DAW Pyramix into the industry, and one of our sponsors for the student recording competition!

Merging Technologies is the world’s foremost manufacturer of high-resolution digital audio recording systems.  The list of customers reads like a who’s who in the recording industry and recordings made with Merging Technologies’ systems regularly receive the recording industry’s prestigious Grammy® Award. 

The company was founded in 1990 in Chexbres, Switzerland by Claude Cellier; an electronics graduate of the Institute of Technology in Lausanne  Prior to this, Claude worked for the famous Swiss audio maker Nagra Kudelski for 10 years. Within a short time of its founding, Merging quickly established a reputation for their expertise in digital signal processing and associated hardware, and with their Pyramix Virtual Studio, was one of the first companies to produce a DSD recording system. 

In 2007, Claude Cellier was presented with the Audio Engineering Society Fellowship Award  for outstanding contributions to the development of high-performance, high-resolution audio workstations.  Merging Technologies currently has over 20 employees with offices in Switzerland and the UK.

 Like many other audio technology companies, Genelec’s roots are deeply seeded in the world of Broadcast & Music recording technology. Our current offering is the most complete in the market place: from the very compact 8010 to the massive 1236A with technologies like Directivity Control Waveguide™, pioneered by Genelec and the Smart Active Monitor technologies featuring AutoCalibration etc. Still to date, after 10 years in the market something Genelec is alone of. Genelec stays at the forefront of speaker technology and is proud to serve many of the worlds finest audio facilities.

Cycling '74 are once again sponsoring the Student Competitions, with some prizes of Max MSP licences.

Cycling '74 creates software for the specialized needs of artists, educators, and researchers working with audio, visual media, and physical computing. They are best known for their work with the digital signal processing software environment Max.

HARMAN designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including audio and visual products, connected car systems, enterprise automation solutions; and connected services. Audiophiles from every generation call on HARMAN to deliver the best in sound in the studio and on the stage, at home and on the go. HARMAN's portfolio of legendary audio brands includes AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®.

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