AES Los Angeles 2014 Presenter or Author
Leslie Gaston-Bird
Primary Affiliation: University of Colorado Denver - Denver, CO, USA
AES Member Type: Fellow
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Leslie was born in Dayton, Ohio. She began playing classical piano as a small child and studied privately with Mrs. Phyllis Katz for many years. Many of her young years were spent in a Montessori setting. At Chaminade-Julienne High School, Leslie took several honors classes and played in Jazz Lab Band (piano and keys), Chorus (Piano Accompanist), Marching Band (Snare, Marimba), Symphonic Band (Percussion) and String Ensemble (Double Bass).
Leslie enrolled in Indiana University in 1987 to pursue an A.S. degree in Audio Technology and a B.A degree in Telecommunications. She recorded many operas at IU, including “Tales of Hoffman” and “The Barber of Seville”, and assisted Dr. David Pickett on Claude Baker's “Omaggie e Fantasie” work for double bass.
Shortly after graduating in 1991, Leslie was hired at NPR as a Broadcast / Recording Technician. She worked on many shows, such as “Morning Edition”, “All Things Considered”, “Talk of the Nation” and “Performance Today”.
In 1995 Leslie moved to Denver to work for Colorado Public Radio, putting together hundreds of weekly features during her 7-year career there. In 2002, along with Kelley Griffin and Dan Drayer, she earned the 2002 Radio and Television Digital News Association’s Edward R. Murrow Award for Large Market Documentary.
In 2002, Leslie began working at Post Modern Company in Denver, Colorado, restoring soundtracks for classic Sony / Columbia films dating as early as the 1930's. At the same time, she began work on her Master of Science in Recording Arts (MSRA) degree at the University of Colorado Denver.
She earned her MSRA degree in 2003 with a thesis titled, “Music Video Verite” which is a pioneering work in editing music with video and cutting them together for a seamless performance (a music video with no lip syncing but with cuts between locations). Shortly afterwards, she accepted a tenure-track position at CU Denver and is now Associate Professor of Recording Arts and the Chair of the Music and Entertainment Industry Studies program.
Leslie has been involved in research with Dolby Laboratories in San Fransisco and Gates Planetarium in Denver. She continues to do freelance work, and is currently exploring ways to improve the audio experience as a whole. In 2011 she was granted a Fulbright award to research Blu-Ray audio at the University of York in York, England.
More Info: http://www.insideaudio.com/mpr
Session List
Oct 9:
P2: Education
Case Study: University Recording Arts Program Seeks to Educate, Engage, and Recruit High School Students (Author)
