Location: Temple University, Presser Hall (Music Building), Room 142, 2001 N 13th St, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Moderated by: Jules Keenan and Christopher Uzokwe
Speaker(s): Gary Gottlieb, Eastern Region Vice President, Co-Chair, AES Historical Committee and Conference Policy Committee, Audio Engineering Society
When we consider the future of the audio industry, we look to audio students and other young audio professionals. What are the lessons they need to draw from history? Let’s take a look at history ourselves in an attempt to understand the lessons that are available.
One day Chet Atkins was playing guitar when a woman approached him. She said, "That guitar sounds beautiful". Chet immediately quit playing. He asked, "How does it sound now?"
The quality of sound in Chet’s case clearly rested with the player, not the instrument, and the technical and aesthetic quality of our product lies with our engineers and producers, not with the equipment. The dual significance of this question, “How does it sound now”, informed my research from 2007 - 2010 and will inform our discussion, since it addresses both the engineer as the driver and the changes we have seen and heard as our methodology evolved through the decades. The book that resulted from this research, “How Does It Sound Now?” received the 2010 ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research for the Best Research in General History of Recorded Sound.
One of the most interesting facets of the research, comprised of interviews with top engineers and producers, was the way the conversation kept returning to the thread of quality. They loved to talk about how they strived for quality then, and still do.
Let’s talk about how engineers and producers retain quality and create a product that conforms to their own high standards. This may lead to other conversations about musicians, consumers, and the differences and similarities between their standards and our own. It will certainly lead to a discussion of methods to empower young engineers to challenge their clients to strive to create the highest quality product possible.
It will also touch on internships and mentorship, and what young engineers need to know to survive in the changing job market.
Posted: Saturday, November 9, 2019
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