AES Student Blog

Amandine Pras teaches Digital Audio Arts at the University of Lethbridge in Western Canada. She completed her PhD thesis at McGill about best practices for studio recording in the digital era. Her research investigates interconnections between technological innovation and new music production from esthetic and sociological perspectives. She recently premiered her video documentary entitled 'A Home Away From Home' based on a cross-cultural experiment that she conducted in India with improvisers from New York and from West Bengal. In July, she will take part of fieldwork research in digital studios in Mali. Graduate from the Advanced music production program (FSMS) of the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), Amandine produced albums with musicians as diverse as the ARC Ensemble, Jim Black, Quatuor Bozzini, Daniel Carter, Nels Cline, Benoit Delbecq, Mary Halvorson, Tony Malaby, Fabrice Marandola, the Metropolis Ensemble, Andy Milne and William Parker.

Magdalena Piotrowska (Plewa) is a mastering engineer and researcher based in Poland. She first became excited by sound whilst still at kindergarten, where she dreamed of becoming a builder of musical instruments. This early enthusiasm later became the basis for her education at music school.

Uniting her passion for sound and international travel, Magdalena participated in postgraduate studies in Music Production and Recording at the University of Stavanger in Norway as well as in the recording program at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada). In 2016 she received a PhD with her thesis dedicated to Music Information Retrieval. She is now involved in research making connections between science and practical applications in the field of audio technology at Gdansk University of Technology.

After several years of education, training and supervision, in 2016 she started her own facility, Hear Candy Mastering.

Magdalena has worked with artists across a diverse range of musical genres, including KARI, Further Away, SALK, Kirbanu, Ceri Jones, Laura Dickens, Claire Chase, IMA KYO, deuair and Annalie Wilson. A production that she worked on recently as has been nominated for a Fryderyki 2018 Award.

Since 2013 Magdalena has served the Society as Education Committee Vice Chair and Coordinator of Student Events during AES Conventions in the US and Europe. She was Vice Chair of the AES Education Committee, In 2015-2017 she served as a Governor.

Magdalena is also active as an educator. She has lead classes in audio subjects at universities in Poland (AGH, Kraków; PJWSTK, Warszawa, Silesia University, Gdansk University of Technology). She was awarded the Ministers of Science and Higher Education Scholarship as well as study grants from the Committee for International Research and Education, the Acoustical Society of America and the Audio Engineering Society Educational Foundation.

Magdalena is the author and co-author of scientific papers presented at numerous international conferences, including AES Conventions. Her goal is to is make connections between science and practical application in the field of audio technology.

 Maro Music, (real name, Marek Walaszek) is a prolific DJ, producer and mix engineer. For more than 20 years, he has DJ’d at major nightlife venues throughout Europe. As a music producer and sound engineer, Maro Music has worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop, reggae and electronic music, including Agallah, Dominique Young Unique, Wu-Tang Clan, Sizzla, Redman, Bang La Decks, DJ Kazzanova and others. Sought after by the biggest international brands – Coca-Cola, Absolute, Jaguar, BMW, The Voice among them – to create music for their advertising campaigns, Maro Music has proven his skill in the recording studio time and time again. HIs mixes and production earn certified Platinum and Gold albums and him youtube view are counted in tens of millions. His studio and record label, Addicted To Music, maintains a heavy schedule crafting original productions and doing mixing and mastering work for internationally recognised artists. The studio regularly produces Polish artists for Warner Brothers as well as for the bigger Polish record labels.

Marek Walaszek is in high demand on the lecture circuit, widely sought by universities to speak about music production. He has served as a judge for the Audio Engineering Society’s modern music and sound engineering contest at the annual AES conventions in New York City, Berlin, Hungary and Warsaw. He was also featured in Luca Pretolesi “Fly on the wall” youtube series. Maro Music has released music as the producer for MXF alongside DJ Frodo. Maro Music’s solo mixes have landed him consistently in the “top 5” charts on Mixcloud.

In 2011, Walaszek founded Bettermaker, an award-winning, critically acclaimed manufacturer of professional-grade mixing and mastering hardware and software built for professional musicians and audio engineers. Bettermaker is used by a who’s who of studio professionals, including the GRAMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated mix engineers, Dave Pensado, Jimmy Douglass, Luca Pretolesi and Greg Wells. Artists like KO:YU and DJ Kazzanova also use Bettermaker products to achieve a supreme quality of sound.

Born in Poznan/Poland he begun his music education with piano at the age of 7, and continued through his years in college in England. He then moved to Paris where, after obtaining his diploma in Audio Engineering from SAE Paris, he engaged in 12 years of intensive studio work for independent artists, labels and TV stations. A few years into his sound engineering career he begun writing music for films which proved to be an ongoing passion and an important part of his work. He has since also become a song writer. He has engineered over 100 albums and worked on dozens of film and advertisement projects both as a composer and sound engineer. He loves working with the new generation of music talents in Poland, producing albums and film tracks. He maintains a working relationship with musicians in France, England and Denmark. Open mind and unorthodox approach are the key ingredients of his work.

In 2006 he co-founded APS - a company with focus on manufacturing high quality active studio monitors. A successful venture which continues to this day and represents Polish technological thought all over the world and collaborates with number of Universities. The company’s R&D model is based on very strong relationship with the recording community, striving to make the very best tools for the sound engineers, producers and musicians. Presently Kris lives in Poland, helping in the running of APS and his own production company AudioPlanet. For a number of years now he has been involved in a working partnership with Piotr “Miki” Mikołajczak - a renowned producer and former Sony Artistic Director, with whom he has co-written and co-produced a number of projects.

All throughout his career Kris gave a lot of importance to education. He has been giving workshops to young people for the last 17 years and has recently started working with students form the Science University of Gdańsk where he is also involved through his company’s AudioPlanet collaboration with the University. He has also worked as a consultant on a number of projects on studio construction.

 Jim Anderson is an internationally recognized recording engineer and producer of acoustic music for the recording, radio, television, and film industries. He is the recipient of numerous awards and nominations in the recording industry: his recordings have received ten Grammy and Latin Grammy awards and 26 Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations; his radio recordings have received two George Foster Peabody Awards and there have been two Emmy nominations for television programs. In 2013, Jim’s recording “Modern Cool” won the Grammy for Best Surround Album at the 55th Grammy Awards and his recording “Sixteen Sunsets” was nominated for Best Surround Album at the 56th Grammy Awards. 

A graduate of the Duquesne University School of Music in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jim has studied audio engineering at the Eastman School of Music and Sender Freies Berlin. During the 1970s, he was employed by National Public Radio and engineered and produced many award-winning classical, jazz, documentary, and news programs. Since 1980 Jim has had a career as an independent audio engineer and producer, living in New York City. He has been a frequent lecturer and speaker for the Audio Engineering Society and master- class guest faculty member at leading international institutes. He is a professor of recorded music with the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and was the department’s Chair from 2004 – 2008.

He has served as Vice President for Eastern Sections of the Audio Engineering society (AES), chaired the New York City Section of the AES and was Chair of the 119th, 123rd, 131st, and 135th AES Conventions. In 2006, he was made a Fellow of the AES and has received two AES’ Board of Governors Awards. Jim was also the President of the Audio Engineering Society, 2008-2009.

 Ian Corbett is the Coordinator and Professor of Audio Engineering at Kansas City Kansas Community College. He also owns and operates "off-beat- open-hats - recording and sound reinforcement", specializing in servicing the needs of classical and jazz ensembles in the Kansas City area. Ian’s book “Mic It! – microphones, microphone techniques, and their impact on the mix” was published by Focal Press in 2014, and he also authors articles for Sound On Sound ("The Worlds Best Recording Technology Magazine"). Since 2004 he has been a member of the Audio Engineering Society's Education Committee, and has presented, mentored, and served on panels at local, regional, national, and international AES events as well as many other professional industry events. Ian holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and he can frequently be found playing saxophone in Kansas City’s jazz clubs and restaurants. For more information, please see: www.offbeatopenhats.com

Experienced, dynamic and creative as a performer, musician, songwriter 

Kyle P. Snyder is an educator, engineer, and consultant dedicated in his service to the Audio Engineering Society. Snyder is proud to be a professor within the Ohio University School of Media Arts & Studies where he's also Assistant Director of Ohio University's High School Media Workshop. An alumnus of Indiana University and Ball State University, Snyder holds a Masters of Science in Music Technology from Indiana University and a Baccalaureate Degree with specific emphasis in both Digital Media and English from Ball State University. 

His research interests include pedagogical approaches relevant to the field of audio engineering and specifically how best audio students learn. Snyder frequently contributes to various industry publications and is widely published with a new major project currently under way, a complete listing can be found on his website and in his curriculum vitae. 

As an engineer and consultant, Snyder is routinely called upon by clients of local, national, and international acclaim including countless independent artists and ensembles, private companies, and academic institutions. 

Professionally, Snyder is active in numerous organizations, including the Audio Engineering Society which he serves both internationally as Co-Chair of the Membership Committee and Vice Chair of the Education Committee and locally through his involvement with numerous sections. He serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Ohio University Student Section, and his work is ongoing with the Central Indiana Section where he championed the creation of the now annual Central Indiana Audio Student Workshop. He is also proud to host and engineer the AES Journal Podcast, produced 10 times each year in conjunction with the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Additionally, Snyder is a member of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, The Society of Professional Audio Recording Services, The Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production, and the Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association.

 Ulrike Schwarz is a sound engineer of acoustic music in the radio, television and recording industries for internationally recognized productions. Her recordings have received multiple German and international awards and nominations and have received two Echo Klassik Awards, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenindustrie, Ars Acoustica, Diapason d’Or and many others. In August 2014, the Echo Klassik for Ensemble of the Year was awarded to her recording of Alfred Schnittke’s “Konzert für Chor“, performed by the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BR)(BR Choir).