Meeting Topic: 23rd Meeting of the Portuguese Section of the AES (APEA)
Moderator Name: Marco Conceição
Speaker Name: An eclectic structure of many speakers (please see report)
Other business or activities at the meeting:
The Audio Engineering Portuguese Association (APEA), which is the legal embodiment of the Portuguese Section of the Audio Engineering Society, held its 23rd meeting on January 23, 2021. This eye-catching coincidence of numbers helped to create an aura of special meeting, and in reality just reinforced the substantive facts that sealed this meeting as a turning point in APEA history since its formal inception in 2004.
In fact, it was the first meeting that got closer to a thematic AES Conference, that motivated more participants (a peak of 46 participants was reached with an average of 35) than in any one of the previous 22 meetings, that motivated a markedly eclectic panel of speakers, and that led to the signing of two collaboration protocols between APEA and two other Portuguese associations that regard audio as a strategic theme. In this report, we condense as much as possible all of these aspects.
The meeting was hosted by ESMAE-IPP, the School of Music and Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto and the main organizer was Marco Conceição, a long-standing AES and APEA member who is professor at ESMAE and a highly experienced sound designer. Marco Conceição and the current APEA President (Salviano Soares) put forward an ambitious one-day meeting program under the theme of "Audio Archiving". The theme was motivated by the discussions and preparatory steps that led to a collaboration between APEA and a Portuguese Audio Archive installation commission under a mandate of the Portuguese Government. A panel of speakers was therefore invited that could address some of the interesting topics that were already identified in the context of the 2018 AES International Conference on Audio Archiving, Preservation & Restoration (https://www.aes.org/conferences/2018/archiving/).
The meeting program was structured as a panel of 6 invited communications on archiving-related topics, a panel of 5 communications on various audio-related topics, including a presentation of the Brazilian Section of the AES, and a round table discussion on "Sound Archiving in Portugal".
After a brief opening session by Marco Conceição and Salviano Soares who welcomed all the participants and gave an overview on the meeting program, the first panel started with a communication by Sarah Mason on "Archivematica" (https://www.archivematica.org/en/). Sarah described Archivematica as an open source web-based platform facilitating the workflow in the creation of, management, and access to long-term storage of arbitrary digital content. She explained some of the tools and standards used in Archivematica, namely JHOVE for the encapsulation of audio objects, and described useful features such as the creation of metadata that can be done either automatically or manually. Several questions emerged and helped to clarify, for example, that several tutorials on Archivematica are available for those interested.
In the second invited presentation, Daniel Gonçalves gave an overview on WTVision (https://www.wtvision.com/en/about-us/) a TV broadcast software house focusing on delivery of rich multimedia content. Daniel gave an emphasis on automatic cataloging, subtitling, and metadata creation based on audio analysis using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.
The third presentation was given by Albrecht Wiedmann on the Berlin Sound Archive
(https://www.lautarchiv.hu-berlin.de/en/sound-archive/). It was a highly illustrated explanation on the quantity and diversity of historic sound recordings that are preserved in the Berlin Sound Archive, namely in the form of wax cylinders, tapes, aluminum discs and (a collection of 5000) CDs. An interesting discussion with the audience also emerged on old playing equipment and its restoration and preservation.
The fourth presentation was conducted by Helena Patrício on a Portuguese Database of Digital Objects -RNOD (http://rnod.bnportugal.pt/rnod). RNOD consists of a platform aggregating mainly bibliographic objects such as books, iconography, but also includes multimedia objects, printed music, and even audio recordings. The database is accessible through multiple channels, namely Europeana, a platform facilitating access to digitized cultural heritage.
The fifth presentation addressed SOLAB, a lab at the University of Aveiro that is devoted to the recovery and digitization of old media, namely audio and video magnetic tapes, photos, as well as the restoration of old playing equipment allowing to recover that media. The presenter was Isaac Raimundo who told several entertaining stories on innovative tricks bringing old equipment back to life and, with it, quite valuable media. A perspective was also given on the public recognition of SOLAB and on the expansion of its activities as a result of formal agreements with several municipalities.
The sixth and final invited presentation was given by Sérgio Lima Nascimento, a Brazilian electrical and audio engineer with a vast experience on media restoration. He addressed specifically the restoration of 78 rpm disc recordings. He started by providing the audience with a richly illustrated and informative overview on recording techniques, from mechanical, to electrical, and including playing equipment. Exquisite studio and orchestra "miking" techniques from the early 20th Century were documented that were highly appreciated by the audience. He expanded on the subtleties of recovering the "true audio" that is recorded on a 78 rpm disc. It amounts to a delicate game, as he explained, of a right balance between "under-processing" and "over-processing". Too much processing, like "hiss" removal, may simply destroy important instrument sounds. Examples were illustrated that reinforced the pedagogical perspective of the presentation.
The panel of audio-related communications started with a presentation by Joel Brito on the Brazilian Section of the AES (BSAES). Joel was introduced by António de Oliveira as one of the most active and diligent AES members in South America and his efforts and initiatives have been recognized at multiple times (namely in 2019 when he became an AES Fellow). Joel described several phases of the BSAES activity history which clearly denote a "crescendo" in terms of impact, audience (for example, with 1000 participants during the AES Brasil 2018), and solid ties with the Brazilian and South American audio industry. He highlighted the importance to this "crescendo" of a successful blend of seminars, scientific sessions, workshops, and exposition of equipment and companies. Then, he addressed the impact of the online/virtual modality in several AES events which he believes brings novel aspects that clearly are here to stay, namely larger audiences, automatic language translation and subtitling, restructuring of operational costs. The audience was eager to ask many questions, for example regarding the size of the BSAES, to which Joel replied that the secret is to motivate and sustain voluntary work; 95% of the BSAES "work force" is voluntary.
The next communication, by Sérgio Carolino, addressed the Tuba, the history of this peculiar musical instrument and, especially, the difficulties in miking it properly, notably in a studio context. Several first-person stories helped to enrich the presentation and to make it more "musical". In fact, as a follow-up at lunch time, Sérgio Carolino pleased the participants with a musical performance similar to a previously recorded one at ESMAE-IPP, in 2018 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T93vDucf-j8).
Then, Luis Delgado (BSc. in ECE), an experienced tonmeister for about 25 years, shared his meticulous work in recovering old vinyl recordings from the famous Brazilian artist Vinicius de Moraes and the celebrated Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues. Luis motivated an interesting discussion on the objective and subjective dimensions of the restoration process and their implication to the preservation of the "true original sound", a theme that connects nicely with the previous presentation by Sérgio Lima Nascimento giving that similar concerns are raised. Two major take-home messages were that positioning of the microphones is instrumental, and one should not establish a confusion between sound quality and aesthetics linked to a specific fashion.
The two remaining audio-related communications addressed sound archaeology and synthetic speech of mathematical expressions. Mila Abreu, an Archaeologist and professor at the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, defended that «sound is extremely important in understanding pre-historic art». The idea connects well with the concept of "rock art acoustics" by Steven Waller, and the concepts of "archaeacoustics" and "art soundscapes". For example, pre-historic paintings exist of ancestral instruments which do not exist today and this justifies that they be re-built, as faithfully as possible, so that pre-historic musical art can be studied, which implies that recordings be performed in actual archaeological sites. «Since we don't have sound from the remote past, recordings are urgent: conditions are important, places are important», she concluded.
Finally, Adriana Souza (as co-author with Diamantino Freitas) explained the specificity of speech synthesis of mathematical expressions which is not well addressed by general-purpose speech synthesizers. This is important to facilitate access to web content (i.e., audio rendering of mathematical expressions) in a manner that does not overload cognitive pressure in web-based learning. Adriana elaborated on specific language models, e.g., MathML, and suitable prosody models, e.g., those devised by Fujisaki, and showed preliminary demo results.
A round table on "Audio Archiving in Portugal — past, present and future" took place at the end of the meeting, just before the APEA General Assembly.
José Vieira, a former APEA President, professor and Pro-Dean at the University of Aveiro was the moderator and the panelists included Bruno Pereira (ESMAE-IPP), Gilberto Bernardes (U.Porto), Isac Raimundo (U.Aveiro), Pedro Félix (Portuguese Sound Achive), Rui Penha (ESMAE-IPP), Susana Sardo (U.Aveiro), and Nadja Wallaszkovits (Phonogrammarchiv, and former 2019 AES President).
Many interesting points of view were exchanged with reference to past events and lessons learned (e.g., as a result of the 2018 AES International Conference on Audio Archiving, Preservation & Restoration) and good practices as, for example, those along the guidelines expressed by the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA -https://www.iasa-web.org/about-iasa) on the safeguard of audiovisual heritage. Specific topics included aging of media support ("material decay"), the obsolescence of player equipment, access modalities to archives, how to query an archive, typical/expected users of future archives. The debate got vivid with such ideas as «having everything digital on a disk is not a safe strategy», «what information can be added to the archive such as to leverage functionality? », and «Sound archiving is not only about preserving data, it is also about preserving knowledge». Problems and solutions were also debated with the audience. The sensation at the end was that no doubt audio archiving is a very important theme that elicits many unsolved problems and that justifies continued debate, work and dedication.
The APEA General Assembly too place at the end of meeting and the main item in the agenda was the signing of two collaboration protocols. The first protocol, between APEA and the Avanca Cine-Club (https://www.avanca.com), aims at motivating academic collaboration between students that are associated with APEA and the activities of the Cine-Club, especially regarding sound in cinema, and aims at stimulating the active participation of APEA members in such events as the Avanca Cine-Club cinema festival, workshops, seminars and other public initiatives.
The second collaboration protocol was established between APEA and the installation commission of the Portuguese Sound Archive (http://arquivonacionaldosom.gov.pt) which was headed by Pedro Félix on a mandate by the Portuguese Government. The main objectives of this collaboration include technical advice on technologies, engineering procedures and good practices that relate to sound archiving, in addition to support in such aspects as education and the cultural and scientific valorization of Portuguese sound archives.
During the General Assembly, ideas and plans for the next APEA meeting were also addressed including venue and time, the need to incorporate more musical-orientated moments, the need to devise and implement initiatives bringing more students to AES and APEA taking advantage, for example, of the dynamics being created by the two collaboration protocols just signed.
Finally, on the closing remarks of this busy one-day APEA event, the APEA President, Salviano Soares, and the APEA General Assembly President, Diamantino Freitas, highlighted the fantastic profile of the whole event, thanked all participants, with a special word of thanks for the ESMAE-IPP organizing team beautifully orchestrated by Marco Conceição. First-time participants voiced that they were impressed and eager to follow on future events, which was probably one of the nicest notes joining the final farewell to all participants.
Meeting Location: Porto, Portugal
The Audio Engineering Portuguese Association (APEA), which is the legal embodiment of the Portuguese Section of the Audio Engineering Society, held its 23rd meeting on January 23, 2021.
The meeting was hosted by ESMAE-IPP, the School of Music and Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto and the main organizer was Marco Conceição, a long-standing AES and APEA member, and professor at ESMAE. Marco Conceição and the current APEA President (Salviano Soares) put forward an ambitious one-day meeting program under the theme of "Audio Archiving". The first part of meeting program was structured as a panel of 6 invited communications on archiving-related topics, and a panel of 5 communications on various audio-related topics, including a presentation of the Brazilian Section of the AES (see the detailed report).
A round table on "Audio Archiving in Portugal — past, present and future" took place at the end of the meeting, just before the APEA General Assembly.
José Vieira, a former APEA President, professor and Pro-Dean at the University of Aveiro was the moderator and the panelists included Bruno Pereira (ESMAE-IPP), Gilberto Bernardes (U.Porto), Isac Raimundo (U.Aveiro), Pedro Félix (Portuguese Sound Achive), Rui Penha (ESMAE-IPP), Susana Sardo (U.Aveiro), and Nadja Wallaszkovits (Phonogrammarchiv, and former 2019 AES President). Many interesting points of view were exchanged with reference to past events and lessons learned on the safeguard of audiovisual heritage. Problems and solutions were also debated with the audience.
The APEA General Assembly too place at the end of meeting and the main item in the agenda was the signing of two collaboration protocols. The first protocol, between APEA and the Avanca Cine-Club aims at motivating academic collaboration and stimulating the active participation of APEA members in several Avanca Cine-Club events.
The second collaboration protocol was established between APEA and the installation commission of the Portuguese Sound Archive which was headed by Pedro Félix on a mandate by the Portuguese Government. The main objectives of this collaboration include technical advice on technologies, engineering procedures and good practices that relate to sound archiving.
During the General Assembly, ideas and plans for the next APEA meeting were also addressed including venue and time, the need to incorporate more musical-orientated moments, the need to devise and implement initiatives bringing more students to AES and APEA taking advantage, for example, of the dynamics being created by the two collaboration protocols just signed.
Written By: Aníbal Ferreira
