For Release: May 28, 2013
134th AES Convention Draws Int’l Pro Audio Community To Rome For High Level Dialogues On Loudness, Digital Cinema & Spatial Audio
ROME: "Our 134th Convention exceeded expectations in every way,” reports AES executive director Bob Moses. “Our 4 day program of over 150 workshops, tutorials and round table discussions on digital cinema, loudness, spatial audio and other timely topics, packed our presentation rooms. In addition to a solid pro industry turnout, we attracted many enthusiastic students whose quest for information and mentors was palpable. Our sponsors were uniformly pleased with the new customers in attendance throughout the Convention. I feel confident that we are on a good path in Europe and look forward to expanding this new AES model in future years," he adds.
The 134th AES Convention was held May 4–7, 2013 at Rome’s Fontana di Trevi Conference Centre. Under the guidance of Convention Chair, Umberto Zangheri, the Convention program presented attendees with the opportunity to discuss the issues that impact the vitality of the pro audio industry.
“This Convention provided a unique environment for deliberating hot issues, and incubating future innovation and growth in the pro audio industry,” Moses states. “Many events were educational in nature, bringing professionals up to speed on important topics. But many others crystallized critical technical milestones in rapidly evolving fields such as Digital Cinema. One of our missions is to take all this amazing mental power in our industry and turn it into new standards and best practices. The work in the Digital Cinema community is a prime example of this synergy. They’re not just talking about the future; they’re making it happen in our meeting rooms. It’s very important work!” he adds.
Brian McCarty, chair of the AES Technical Committee of Sound For Digital Cinema and Television reports, “the standing-room only attendance for virtually all our Sound for Pictures Track events was augmented by the fact that these meetings were extremely productive in terms of producing demonstrable findings to support our Standards Committee activities.”
Following through on his promise to serve businesses in new ways, Moses says the decision not to have an exhibition floor was deliberate. “I wanted to test a model based on sponsorship,” he said, “in contrast to a traditional exhibition. This event and venue was a good opportunity for such a test. If you look at what our sponsors did — training, product placement, and so on, you can see some very interesting and creative ways for AES to serve them.
“I’m very grateful to these companies for supporting us and coming out to play,” Moses adds. “I heard many success stories from them, and I'm looking forward to stepping our sponsor program up another level in 2014."
Commenting on her reaction to the Convention, Gioia Molinari, Head of Marketing for Gold Sponsor, RCF remarked, “The emphasis on serious industry issues and meaningful technical dialogues distinguished this event from the new product introduction focus of many large scale conventions. The AES European gathering is sized and designed to establish critical new business relationships and, to help us assess where the industry is headed technically. We were extremely pleased with the quality of the attendees and the genuine enthusiasm expressed by our co-sponsors. This was one of the most productive and stimulating Conventions we have participated in.”
“AES Conventions are unsurpassed environments for student interaction,” said Stephen Webber, Gold Sponsor, Berklee College of Music’s Valencia Campus Director for Technology Innovation. “These are the kinds of events, which inspire dialogues that spark creative breakthroughs. The students we engaged with were bright, inquisitive, and grateful for the opportunity to meet with both their international peers and the industry professionals who are pioneering the changes which are moving our industry forward.”
“The AES Rome Convention technical program focus appealed to us as a manufacturer,” said CharterOak President Michael Deming. “The format successfully allowed us to present our products in a focused way in two technical training sessions ‘Intelligent Compression In the Analog Domain’ and ‘Wide Bandwidth Equalization in the Analog Domain.’ Our presentation room was filled with industry pioneers, working professionals and wide-eyed students, creating an environment for training and technical discussions, that doesn’t happen on a crowded exhibits floor,” Deming adds.
AES President, Frank Wells concludes, "In the marketplace of ideas, the 134th Convention proved that the AES remains professional audio’s prime source for the fundamental information, leading edge technology and technique, standards and practices—AES convention attendees have the information available to allow them lead the curve while others follow."
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Photos
1. Keynote crowd at 134th AES Convention in Rome
2. Members of the AES Board and Committee Chairs in Rome
3. 134th AES Convention co-sponsor, CharterOak, President, Michael Deming during a presentation in Rome.
The Audio Engineering Society was formed in 1948 by a group of concerned audio engineers. The AES counts over 14,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry. For additional information visit http://www.aes.org
