The 107th AES Convention:
A Festival of Auditory Attractions
by Karen Kalish / NT AUDIO VIDEO FILM LABS
With "Advancing the Art of Sound" as their theme, the Society engineered a festive four-day event for their 107th Convention, which was held Sept. 24th-27th at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Co-chaired by Doug Cook and Kathleen McKay, the program offered an unusually diverse and extensive menu of well-coordinated activities and attractions that ranged from being cultural and social, to educationally enlightening - as well as audibly and visually entertaining - while simultaneously covering just about every facet of audio at all levels.
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Beginning on a winning note, by having 14-time Grammy® Award Winner Chet Atkins deliver the Keynote speech, the convention maintained an energized pace throughout the four days. (Atkins is one of the world's most universally recognized guitarists a well as a 9-time CMA winner.) The Convention's opening night reception featured a Big Band Swing night, which included alumni of the Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Ray Charles "big bands," plus Little Isidore and The Inquisitors and jazz singer Ann Hampton Calloway.
The Technical Tour Program offered 12 destinations, which included an insider's look at Carnegie Hall, The Hit Factory, Avery Fisher Hall and the audio facility of the Empire State Building. A "Non-Technical" Tour of the city (on a double-decker bus) was also offered.
The Special Event Program featured The 11th Annual Grammy Recording Forum presented by NARAS and a Platinum Record Artists and Producer Series. The combined roster of the participants from these events consists of some of the most celebrated personalities in the recording industry, such as Chuck Ainlay, Ed Cherney, Jimmy Douglas, Frank Filipetti, Bernie Grundman, Phil Ramone, Susan Rogers, Al Schmitt and Dweezil Zappa. Also among the 11 Special Events in this program, was one that looked at the most "celebrated" mistakes of the 20th Century - a musically and visually demonstrative discussion on "How to Make Better Recordings in the 21st Century by Examining the Mistakes of the 20th Century."
The Technical Sessions delivered over 100 papers within 17 sessions and 18 in-depth workshops encompassed the full spectrum of contemporary audio techniques and technologies. A specially designed student program emphasized a strong commitment to the next generation of audio innovators.
Health and Hearing Preservation was also addressed. For the third consecutive year, the AES was the sole sponsor of free hearing screenings, conducted by the House Ear Institute. A mobile unit screened over 300 people during the course of the day. Jim Boswell, CEO of the Institute affirms, "With the support of the AES, we hope to provide critical hearing health information to a wider audience and, in time, lower the incidence of hearing loss in this industry."
Dilys Jones, Communications Director of the House Ear Institute acknowledges, "In the Motion Picture & Television industries, the workday for the audio community is not a 9-5 situation. When you're on a deadline, your ears are exposed to high sound levels for hours at a time. Just like anything else, your ears get fatigued and your threshold level shifts....Yes, fatigue does change your threshold," Jones re-affirms, "If you are mixing a loud action movie, consider resting your ears. Using custom-fitted attenuation earplugs can provide 15DB of attenuation without frequency discrimination. Inner ear monitors could also be used where appropriate." For more information, contact Dilys Jones via email or visit their web site.
The Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio supports Hearing Preservation, plus the HEI's "Hearing is Priceless" campaign, (which is co-sponsored by Mix Magazine) was one of the beneficiaries of the proceeds of Mix Foundation's Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards (TEC) which were held during the convention. The Mix Foundation is a non-profit corporation that also supports Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers, (H.E.A.R.), The AES's Educational Foundation and The Society of Professional Audio Recording Services (SPARS), as well as scholarship programs for audio students throughout the U.S. At the Awards ceremony, recording engineer Tom Dowd was inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame, and recording artist Sting was presented with the Les Paul Award by Les Paul himself.
SPARS has a mission to foster the success of members in a changing audio industry through the sharing of ideas and innovative business practices with education and technical application. Michael Tarsia, SPARS president, reminds us that, "as the lines which once separated the recording community have blurred, sharing knowledge and raising issues is more important now than ever."
A SPARS-sponsored JobForum was part of the Special Events Program. Among the panel members was Zoe Thrall, President and General Manager of Avatar Studios, NY, who is the first woman president of a major recording facility in the United States. As Thrall affirms, "SPARS connects." For more information visit their web site.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 20, No. 6 - November/December 1999
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