AES Student Blog

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

Hi, I’m So, and I’m a student in Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan. I’m studying master’s degree in recording and psychoacoustics. I always record classical music in our studio and concert hall, and also research about special evaluation for 3D Audio recordings.

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

In my childhood, I have wanted to be a pianist and practiced every day. One day, I recorded my playing for checking details. I used portable MD player/recorder and sony’s one-pointed microphone. It was my first recording. At that time, I tried to record my playing better again and again. It was very difficult for me, but very interesting for me. After that time, my piano teacher told me that recording was a kind of occupations and they was called “recording engineer.” That is my origin of recording.

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 second time entry. My first entry was in 2014, L.A.. In this time, I recorded a classical concert that soloist who was a student in our university and orchestra in our university played Viola Concerto which was composed by Béla Bartók. This is a live recording but there was less time for preparing and recording because of concert’s schedule.

My purpose was ‘Gain the best impression as few microphone as possible.’ I placed some spot microphones for being localisation clear, and main microphones for gaining spacial impression. And I mixed these microphones to best balance. It was very difficult for me to think about function of center channel speaker. I wanted to use it for being localisation clear, but that made my mix bad. I want to try other way next time.

What/who made you join AES?

In our course, some people belong to AES Japan students section, and they introduced about AES.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

All time in L.A. was my favourite and impressive. I got many hint for my recording and research, got many people friends, learned many kinds of products, and more. 

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

We are Halley Eduardo Jaimes and Nestor Mauricio Santamaria, we are from Colombia and studied at the University of San Buenaventura in Bogotá. We are students of sound engineering and we are about to continue our career. Our passion is music and recording studios.

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

In our case, we started as musicians, Eduardo as Guitarist and Nestor as bass player, we started to know the audio world from a young age, however, at this time we didin't think we would be part of this beautiful audio world. When we began to study mathematics and physics at the University, it began to be part of our lives that together with music turned the recording studio into our true passion.

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?

Cuarteto bacata is a quartet of traditional andean music from Colombia, conformed by two “bandolas”, one “tiple” and a electric bass guitar. The Goal of the project was to introduce the bandola in different types of andean rhythms, this time they played the rhythm “pasillo”. First we have the “Bandola” that sounds similar to a mandoline. On the other hand we have Colombian “Tiple” that is similar to a twelve Steel string guitar, but it has a brigther sound. With that in mind, the most complex thing was that the instruments are not conventional, which means that we had to find the best way to record them and find the most natural sound of these instruments.

It was a very cloudy and sad day, we really don't know why, but "milagro" it's a melancholic musical piece so the energy at the studio was perfect. We think that in this record is imminent the homesick feeling that the song want to transmit. In our opinion it's a really beautiful piece.

What/who made you join AES?

We joined the AES thanks to our University. We participated in local competitions about a year ago. The benefits of being linked to the AES are great and we are very grateful for the great work they have done.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

The best thing about the convention was the closeness we had with the most important people in the audio industry, learning from their experiences, listening to their recordings, comparing them and asking about them. We had this same kind of closeness to all the elite audio brands that were part of the commercial convention area. Everything was incredible. Thanks to AES, you guys are the best.

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

Hi, I’m Misaki Hasuo from Tokyo, Japan. I graduated my bachelor degree in Tokyo University of the Arts and I’ve been a student of master program in the same university. My specialty is recording and mixing with multichannel speaker systems. My university has some studios which have multichannel system such as 5.1 and 22.2, and I usually do recording and mixing there. In addition to recording music, I also make sound effects of animation. 

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

I’ve been to the music class to learn classical guitar since I was elementary school student, so I like to play the instrument and listen to music when I was young. When I had to decide my university, I wanted to study something related to music and found Tokyo University of the Arts where students can learn a variety of things about music. I entered there and met my professor, then decided to take the recording course. 

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 work “Cosmic Wind” is the original piece for 5.0 surround system. There is only one classical guitar in this work, no other kind of instruments. This was specially composed for 5.0 surround system, not for stereo. There are 9 guitar parts and one guitarist played all these parts. I recorded them with using main microphones and some spot microphones and mixed up all parts in Protools. The player changed the sitting position according to the part she played. For example, she sat in front of the left microphone when she played L part. Other parts (C, R, Ls, Rs) wes recorded like that. I am always trying to make the best use of the features of the playing system when making (recording and mixing) a work. Then I took such a way of recording because I decided to use 5ch system in this work. The recording took 2 days and mixing took about 2 weeks. Actually, I tried to submit my work to SRC in Warsaw a year ago but there was some accident and I could not. I regretted it very much at that time, so very happy to have received the award this time! 

What/who made you join AES? 

My professor and senior students who are great and cool ;) 

Tell us about your favorite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA! 

There are many favorite experiences....but I choose 3 points. First, I got valuable feedback on my work from wonderful judges. Second, I got to see and listen to a lot of projects and presentations of students from other countries. That is very exciting for me. Finally, I was able to see a lot of famous engineers, musicians, professors, and take many interesting presentations and sessions. I think AES convention is rare and valuable opportunity to have many experiences that I can not do in Japan. 

To hear Misaki's project, click here

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

I live in Provo Utah with my wife Alaura and new born son Lando. I am also a Senior in the Commercial Music Program at Brigham Young University. I auditioned and was accepted into the Jazz Studies Program on Baritone Saxophone, but on my first day of school realized that the Jazz Studies Major was being absorbed into Commercial Music and being offered as a specialized track. Being a new Commercial Music major I was required to take a Music Technology class that immediately peaked my interest. It was a beginner's introductory course to Pro Tools and recording technology and I immediately became obsessed. I started taking less and less performance based courses and focusing on recording and engineering. I grew up in a home of musicians and remember listening to bands like Tower of Power, Earth Wind and Fire, Sly and the Family Stone, and my all time favorite James Brown. This era of music always appealed to me but it wasn't until I started getting deeper into recording and engineering that I understood exactly why. I felt immediately drawn to learn how to produce, record, and mix music that is high caliber like my musical idols.  

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 am Head Engineer for BYU's Studio Y. This gives me the opportunity to work on projects of every imaginable style and genre. BYU Animation is a program that is well known for submitting and winning Student Emmy's, and it came time to record the music for that year's short film entitled Papa'. Instead of a traditional smaller studio orchestra, the Director of Commercial Music wanted to involve one of the School of Music's biggest premier orchestras, the Philharmonic. I was ecstatic to be recording a 90 piece orchestra. The session overall was difficult to pull off. We could only record during their normal rehearsal time, which was 1-3 pm which included the orchestra setting up and taking down. There are classes taught in the same room before and after so the session prep was done at 4 am that morning. All the mics and stands were then moved to line the walls while classes were taking place and then at 1 o clock it was a mad dash to reset the room. We recorded in mid December with a Student Emmy submission deadline of January 15th. My goals for the project were to, at all costs, preserve the sound of the full orchestra. So I focused and taking full takes of cues. After recording the orchestra we brought in other instruments for an overdubbing session like the accordion, acoustic guitar, acoustic piano. We didn't have final, locked picture when recording the orchestra and edits were made by the directors in the ending of the film, so we used supplementary virtual instruments in the last 15 seconds. Other than the edit in the final scene I was able to use all live instruments, which I'm very pleased about. The music was the hallmark of the film and represents the vast majority of my work. The sound design elements were reduced due to time restraints but given proper time I'm sure would have enhanced the film more.

What/who made you join AES?

I have great mentors at BYU in Jeff Carter, Ron Saltmarsh, and Aaron Merrill. Jeff mentioned one day that I should submit one of my projects to the AES student competition. I had always wanted to attend AES and until Jeff mentioned it I had no idea there was a student competition. By the time I became a registered member I only had a week to submit my project. I felt going in that because Papa was lacking in Sound Design and Foley I didn't stand a chance of being competitive in the Student Competition. I was blown away I was a finalist and awarded a Silver award. I am so grateful for the opportunity to submit my work and have it evaluated and critiqued by working professionals. The judges were extremely complimentary of the music and gave valuable feedback regarding the Sound Design that I'm already employing in my current projects.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

The whole Student Competition and critique sessions are definitely a stand out experience for me at AES. But the single thing that blew everything else out of the water was the clinic George Massenburg gave showing off his raw stems from Earth Wind and Fire sessions. My mentor Jeff Carter did workshops with George and has taught me techniques he learned from George in those workshops. I could watch the Producer and Engineer I respect the most show off stems from one of my favorite bands, from one of my favorite albums. It was incredible.  

To hear and see Parker's project, click here

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

I'm originally from New York City, but I came to Montreal to do my undergrad at McGill University in Percussion Performance, and have since graduated and I am now in my second year of the Sound Recording Master's Degree at McGill. 

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

My passion for Audio definitely began in High School, when I first started making electronic music. I was making beats all throughout my undergrad, and when I began mixing my first EP I realized that working on records in my DAW was something that I truly loved to do, so I decided to work toward entering the Sound Recording Masters to work more on my production skills. 

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 was part of a 5 song EP that I submitted as my end of first year "production project" for my master's degree. I first started working on the song with Henri over the summer of 2015, and then decided that I wanted to work on a whole EP with him for my 1st year project. We went through the pre-production slowly until about February 2016, when we began tracking. The song was done by the end of April 2016, I believe. The project was quite interesting to work on, since when we started there wasn't a group together to perform the songs. So Henri and I had to write out parts and find musicians to play them for all of our recording sessions. This also made producing the record kind of fun, because we didn't have the constraints of having a set instrumentation to conform to, so the limit was really our imagination. This was actually my first entry into the student recording competitions. 

What/who made you join AES?

I initially joined the AES to attend the convention in New York in October 2015. 

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

Probably my favorite experience at the 141st convention was attending the student recording competitions, and hearing both the skill of my contemporaries, along with the judges' feedback for each of the different categories. Additionally, it's always fun and exciting to window shop at all of the gear retailers booths. 

To hear Will's project, click here

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

We are from Bogotá Colombia and we study sound engineering.

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

Andres Osorio: The passion for audio start when I was in the secondary school, I have played on the guitar. I started finding the best sound for the guitar testing some delays compressor and some others processors to find the best sound and that's how it all started.

Julian Rincón: My passion for audio began mainly with music, since I was in school, I wanted to know how the recordings of great musical productions were made and it was for the music that I began to make home recordings and I began to discover the great amount of things that have sound engineering and I decided that I was going to study this career.

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 project start when we were looking for the project to take the sound engineering degree, was a big investigation about to solve a problem that is common in the recording studios, the versatility to have a control surface with the possibility of controlling several DAW with a monitoring option in one devise. The whole project was carried out in one year.

What/who made you join AES?

We joined because it was necessary to participate in the event and because it is a great tool to be updated in everything related to the audio industry and get multiple benefits like the news paper among others.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

Was won the gold award, the tour to Capitol Records and see the biggest brand in the audio world.

To see Julián and Andrés's project, click here

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

I am an audio engineer singer/songwriter and composer. I currently work as an audio engineer for The Cleveland Institute of Music. At Case Western Reserve University, I study a foundation of classical recording and acoustic production techniques with Bruce Egre, Alan Bise, and Jack Renner.

I have recently completed work on a new EP “Give Me a Reason”. My YouTube Channel has amassed thousands of views and features original music videos and covers. Two of my original songs “Dream of You Tonight” and “Not as I Have Been” were featured on Dee Perry’s radio show “Around Noon” on 90.3 NPR after winning the Great Lake Theater Festival’s Bardstock songwriting competition.

I have had the honor of working with The Aspen Music Festival, Megan Zurkey, The Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, The Contemporary Youth Orchestra, Roots of American Music, The Chagrin Falls Academy for The Performing Arts, Stagecrafters Teen Theater Academy. As a musician I have performed in a variety of venues around the eastern united states including; The House of Blues, Peabody’s, The Grog Shop, Negative Space Studios, Menorah Park, and The Evening Muse and more on a variety of recording, live sound, composition, and performance projects.

I have composed, arranged, engineered and performed original scores for several theatrical productions including Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carriere’s “Conference of the Birds”, and Ben Claus’s “May Day”.

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

My passion for audio engineering began out of necessity. In 2013 I was ready to move forward on recording my first studio album. I was inspired by independent artists on sites like YouTube, BandCamp, and ReverbNation to attempt recording my first album myself. As you can imagine the learning curve was pretty steep. I ended up recording several smaller projects before I was confident enough to begin work on a 10 track album. I learned a lot by trial and error and through my exploration of audio recording technology and microphone placement I realized that I had a real passion for audio engineering, which lead me to pursue a degree in audio recording from Case Western Reserve.

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?

Singer/Songwriter Megan Zurkey’s “All My Life” was recorded as the title track to her most recent album. “All My Life" has a pop/rock feel with a 50's beat in the bridge. In Megan’s words “All My Life about the idea of someone more than about one particular person. It's the simple hope and wish anyone has when looking for their match. It's always easier for me to put feelings into music, and this was how I felt thinking about the ideal guy.. that I'd get to be with.. All My Life”. The song is arranged for a basic four-piece rock combo. The challenge to this piece was to create the lush, and full soundscape that has become synonymous with pop music of this sort, while maintaining the integrity of Megan’s singer/songwriter roots. It was important to maintain transparency and accuracy to the source sounds of her and the band whenever possible.

All My Life represents my second entry to the AES Student Competition. My previous entry, “Neon”, received the Bronze award at AES New York 2015. 

What/who made you join AES?

I actually joined AES in 2015 in order to enter the Student Recording Competition. However, I decided continue my membership full time. The membership fee really pays for itself when you take into account the many benefits of membership, such as free plugins, services, and networking/professional development opportunities. I plan to continue my membership into the foreseeable future. 

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

My favorite experience at the 141st AES convention in LA, was definitely the technical tour of Paramount Studios. It was an eye-opening experience to see the inner operations of a studio that worked in very different musical styles from my current job. Everything from the esthetics of the rooms themselves to the tuning of the studio monitors was unique and I enjoyed seeing the space in action. 

To hear Keifer's project, click here

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

I am from Caracas Venezuela, and I studied Music Production and Engineering at Berklee

College of Music

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

My passion for audio started as a musician. As a drummer I was exposed to the studio life a couple of times for recording sessions with different groups. It didn't take too long to fall in love with the process and the environment. When I got to Berklee and started the Music Production and Engineering Program, that was when that love for recording started turning into a reality. Being exposed to such a unique environment with talented musicians and incredible facilities, it was definitely the right place for me to learn the craft. Post production really began as a hobby for me. I've always been fascinated by film more than with music. When I had the opportunity to work with audio for visual media it opened up a whole new world of possibilities of what I can do with sounds and recordings.

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 the very first cinematic trailer for the video game "Elder Scrolls Online". I decided work on this video because I wanted to challenge myself and create something in a larger scale to what I've ever done before. My partner Filipe Antunes had won Category 4 the previous year in New York, and I remember sitting in the audience saying to myself "wow, I wanna do something like that", so in the next couple of months I planed out this project. 

Having the video with absolutely no audio provided an amazing blank canvas witch served as a foundation for what took months of work to create. From the Backgrounds to the Music, it was all carefully planed out and created in a matter of months. I estimate more than 50 hours were put on the creation of this submission on my end, and it was my first entry in the AES Student Recording Competition.

What/who made you join AES?

I joined AES the same time I joined the committee of the Berklee Chapter of AES. I was inspired to join by our faculty advisor and mentor Susan Rogers.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

My favorite experience at AES was seeing all of the people with who'm I studied with at Berklee. Reuniting with past classmates and seeing what they are working on became one of my favorite parts of the trip.

To see Filipe and Gonzalo's project, click here

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

I’m an audio engineer from Cleveland, Ohio studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music. I study my audio program under the incredible Grammy award winning engineers: Bruce Egre, Alan Bise, and Jack Renner. It’s an honor being educated by such talented individuals who have experienced every bit of the industry. I also study saxophone performance with the world renowned, Greg Banaszak, at Case Western Reserve University and perform with wind groups around the area.

Receiving my education through CIM and CWRU allows me the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most talented classically trained musicians of our generation. During my time at CIM I’ve had the honor to record many successful string quartets, solo artists, wind chamber groups, and orchestras.

I have the privilege of working for CIM’s Recording Arts and Services where we record over 600 concerts, recitals, recording sessions and rehearsals for CIM faculty, students and alumni each school year. Over the summer of 2016 I worked as the audio engineer for Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine. In the past couple of years I’ve started working on a personal website, www.PazProject.com where many of my works, compositions, and recordings are displayed for others to hear.

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

My passion for audio all started from my love for music. I was six years old when I first noticed a picture on the wall in music class. It was as if everything around me had stopped and all I could focus on was the shiny lust of the golden curves. For the entire period all I could do was wonder about this mysterious instrument. As soon as the bell rang, I jumped out of my seat to ask my teacher about the instrument in the picture. With a bright smile, she told me that it was a saxophone. From that day forward, music has been a part of my life every single day. Gradually my love for playing music has grown into creating and composing my own music. I have trained rigorously in music theory with private lessons in saxophone and guitar for over 15 years and counting. This education has allowed me to orchestrate the ideas in my head and put them on paper. The next step was finding a way to capture the words and sounds which introduced me to the art of audio recording.

During high school I purchased a simple beginner’s home recording kit, which included a cheap microphone, cable, a two channel interface, and free version of a DAW. Throughout the next few years I had self taught myself recording and mixing techniques which allowed me to create my own music. After placing in the top 10 rock charts on Reverbnation.com around the Cleveland area, I recieved great feedback on my works. These kind comments motivated me to continue and create music.

I only started thinking of audio as an optional path when I first applied to colleges. The idea of pursuing my passion as a career had truly inspired me to go into school for audio engineering and music.

I find the art of recording to be a beautiful way to capture specific moments in time which will never be repeated the same way again.

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 for this AES Student Recording Competition was a recording of a live performance of the Requiem by Maurice Durufle. I was asked by my teacher, Bruce Egre, to cover for him on a session of a performance of several CWRU groups at a local church. It was recorded and mixed with a total of three stereo pairs of microphones and a single spot (vocal solo) microphone for one movement. I chose to present the 4th movement, “Sanctus”, at its entirety. It features an orchestra, a 60 voice choir, and a large church pipe organ. I also added a small section of the 5th movement, “Pie Jesu”, in order to present the vocal soloist, accompanied by a cello and pipe organ. Coming into this session, I had a main goal in mind. I wanted to achieve a clean recording of a live concert which consisted of the limitation of one take.

The recording session took only one evening with a couple of hours of preparation and soundcheck. I worked on the mixing stage of the project for a couple of weeks before reaching the aspired quality to present to the competition.

This recording was my first submission to the Traditional Acoustic Recording category in the competition. I had participated in the Traditional Studio Recording submission in the previous AES in New York City, which helped me have a better understanding of the judges’ expectations and prepared me for this competition in LA.

What/who made you join AES?

I joined AES after hearing great feedback about the conventions from students in my program. I was very inspired to be part of a larger group of people who shared the same love and passion for audio as I do. After consulting with my teachers, I decided to join AES and attend my first convention in New York City, which was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

Some of my favorite moments from the AES convention were meeting my greatest inspirations in the audio industry. I had the chance to have conversations with people such as Fab Dupont, Dave Pensado, Andrew Scheps, and many more. One of the greatest outcomes of this convention were the connections I made with people all over the world. From walking around the exhibit hall floor and meeting representatives from many leading companies, to attending the AES student after party and bonding with young audio engineers alike, I was able to make lifelong connections.

To see Ophir's project, click here