1142 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 55, No. 12, 2007 December

2007 October 5–8Jacob K. Javits Convention Center New York

AAremarkable array of talent was gathered to create the 123rdConvention, held from October 5–8 at the Javits Center inNew York City, under the chairmanship of Jim Anderson.High on the list of the most successful conventions in

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recent years, the 123rd attracted 21,000 visitors to its bustling exhibi-tion floor and inspired technical program. Over a year’s preparationby a dedicated committee led to an event that was highly praised byindustry veterans and newcomers alike…

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OPENING AND AWARDS CEREMONYAt the standing-room-only opening ceremony, Roger Fur-ness, AES executive director, welcomed everyone to NewYork and introduced Wieslaw Woszczyk, AES president,who spoke of the international expansion of the AES, whosemembership is now at its highest level ever. Audio, he said,is more important today than it has ever been, and the AES isthe most important global force that shapes the future ofaudio. Twenty five years ago the compact disc was launched,marking a crucial transition of consumer audio from analogto the digital age. Concluding his opening address,Woszczyk praised the amazing team that had broughttogether this convention.

Jim Anderson, convention chair, praised the efforts of hiscommittee who had worked tirelessly to deliver the eventthat the delegates would now experience. It had been hisprivilege to work with them, he said. A new feature wasbeing introduced in the form of a keynote address everylunchtime, based on the considerable popularity of events

such as the Heyser Lecture and the keynote addresses givenat the opening ceremony.

Presenting awards to those who had served their profes-sion or the Society in outstanding ways over the years,Theresa Leonard, chair of the Awards Committee, intro-duced those individuals being recognized at the 123rd. JohnMeyer was awarded the Society’s Silver Medal. This presti-gious award, in honor of audio pioneers Alexander GrahamBell, Emile Berliner, and Thomas Edison, was received gra-ciously by Meyer who commented on the previouslyunusual idea of using music as a test signal, which he hadpioneered. Crediting people such as John Chowning, JuliusSmith, Elizabeth Cohen, and Mark McCarthy, as well as hiswife, Helen, he said that we have a chance to build com-pletely linear sound systems and that AES has an importantrole to play in standardization and test signals.

Fellowship Awards were presented to Graham Blyth inrecognition of a distinguished career in mixing consoledesign and service to the Society; Bob Ludwig for outstand-

1144 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 55, No. 12, 2007 December

AES 123RD CONVENTION

Roger Furness, AES executive director

Wieslaw Woszczyk, AES president

Jim Anderson, convention chair

Daniel Levitin,keynote speaker,gave a masterfulpresentation atthe openingceremonies.

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J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 55, No. 12, 2007 December 1145

AES 123RD CONVENTION

John Meyer, left, receives Silver Medal Awardfrom Wieslaw Woszczyk

Theresa Leonard,Awards Committee

chair

Fellowship Award recipients:clockwise from right,

Graham Blyth, Phil Ramone,Josef Zikovsky, Neil Muncy,

and Bob Ludwig

John Strawn receives Board of GovernorsAward

David Bialik (left) and Francisco Miranda Kirchner receive Citation Awards

ing contributions to the art and practice ofaudio mastering and to the advancement ofsound quality in recorded music; NeilMuncy for outstanding contributions in thefields of noise susceptibility and EMC inaudio systems; Phil Ramone for outstandingcontributions in the fields of audio record-ing, music productions, and the innovativeuse of technology; and Josef Zikovsky inrecognition of substantial contributions inthe field of electroacoustic applications.Citations were awarded to David Bialik inrecognition of making broadcast audio animportant part of the AES mission and toFrancisco Miranda Kirchner in recognitionof his dedication to and promotion of theactivities of the AES in Mexico. A Board ofGovernors Award was given to John Strawnin recognition of his chairing the AES ➥

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121st Convention in San Francisco.The keynote speaker at the 123rd Convention was

Dan Levitin, professor at McGill University andleader of its Laboratory for Music Perception, Cog-nition, and Expertise. Levitin’s recent book, This IsYour Brain on Music: The Science of a HumanObsession, has received considerable criticalacclaim for its brave attempt to explain what it isabout music that has such a powerful effect onhumans. Levitin, who has also been a producer andmusician of some note, told the audience about hisbackground and how famous producers such asSandy Pearlman had taught him all they knew with-out being paid. This amounted to an amazing “auraleducation” because what they could hear in trackswas a revelation to him. He wanted to know “whyam I getting goose bumps when guitarist Carlos Santana rubsa piece of plastic across these metal strings?” This led him tohis current academic pursuit. Although he had initiallydropped out of college when “his loudspeakers caught fire,”he went back some years later to study psychology, “essen-tially to study goosebumps,” he said. By the age of five, heexplained, most children have learned the rules of their cul-ture’s music, which hard-wires their brain’s built-in “musicmodule.” While it is unlikely that there is a music gene, Lev-itin suggested that a good memory, attention, will power,self-belief, and an appropriate physical configuration (suchas Oscar Peterson’s large hands), all contribute to musicalgenius. In a dazzling talk—humor, smooth pacing and deliv-ery, great PowerPoint slides and audio samples, and a timelykiller ending—Levitin went on to show a number of thingsthat demonstrated the remarkable capacity of the humanbrain to respond to music, including some examples of 500-ms snippets of music that the audience immediately identi-fied. “No computer in the world can do that!” he pointed out.

EXHIBITIONA packed-to-the-rafters exhibition featured close to 450exhibitors hosting a plethora of novel products and services.Those discussed here are just a few of the notable recentlaunches in evidence on the exhibits floor.

Of particular note were the partnerships between mixerand workstation manufacturers and the introduction of moresophisticated control surfaces for workstations. Among thesewas Digidesign’s new C|24 mid-format control surface,which is based on the previous Control 24, offeringimproved user workflow and completely updated analogcircuitry. Such control surfaces introduce the possibilityof tactile control to audio workstations such as ProToolsthat otherwise would have to be controlled using amouse and screen alone. Also in the workstation field,SSL launched ProConvert, an application that tackles thethorny problem of conversion between one workstationformat and another. This had been developed by CuiBono Soft, a company acquired just before the showby SSL. Steinberg and Euphonix were also showingthe results of recent work designed to integrate theNuendo workstation with Euphonix controllers usingthe EuCon protocol. This involved a complete redesign

1146 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 55, No. 12, 2007 December

AES 123RD CONVENTION

At the AES businessmeeting: clockwise fromtop left, Roger Furness,executive director;Wieslaw Woszczyk,president; Han Tendeloo,secretary; Chris Freitag,Tellers chair, and LouisFielder, treasurer.

Authors presentingpapers in lecturesessions included,clockwise from topleft, SiegfriedLinkwitz, Zhixin Chen,György Fazekas,Adriano Farina, Jean-Marc Jot, andJohn Vanderkooy

Nyasha Chigwamba(top) and Ben Fields

were among the manyauthors who presented

papers in postersessions

Agnieszka Roginska(left) and Veronique

Larcher, paperscochairs, present a

certificate to Phiippe-Aubert Gauthier, AES

123rd ConventionStudent Paper Award

winner.

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of the dynamic automation in Nuendo 4. In the mixer domain, SSL was showing the largest con-

sole it has developed in 15 years, a 96-channel Duality con-taining analog signal processing and integrated workstationcontrol. Also expanding its capacity was Studer, whichshowed a 42-fader version of the Vista 5 console incorporat-ing an additional bay of 10 input faders. Elsewhere on theexhibits floor, Roland was demonstrating its digital VMix-ing system for live sound, incorporating the new RSS M-400 V-Mixer. This interfaces easily with “digital snakes”based on Cat 5 Ethernet cables and remotely-controlledmicrophone preamps. There is also a partnership with audiosoftware developer Cakewalk, which has developed a meansof allowing the mixer to send multiple tracks of audio to itsSonar package using Roland Ethernet Audio Communica-tion (REAC). In the small-format market, Allen & Heathwas showing its new range of USB-equipped mixersintended for live-performance recording and production.

The ZED-14 stereo mixer incorporates USB-send and -return for integration with PC or Mac workstations.

A large number of new product introductions were evidentin the loudspeaker and amplifier domain. In a joint venturewith amplifier manufacturer CAMCO, L-Acoustics waslaunching its new integrated amplifier and DSP platform in2U rackmount modules. The LA4 and LA8 units offer inte-grated digital EQ together with network control and loud-speaker protection. Another amplifier venture to note wasNexo’s NXAmp 4x4 and 4x1 providing an incredible4x4000W of power, and based on Yamaha’s EEEngine tech-nology. Also at the reproduction end of the signal chain,Klein + Hummel introduced its new O 410 midfield monitorsystem, which is a tri-amped three-way loudspeaker with abass response down to 34 Hz and an optional digital inputworking up to 192-kHz, 24-bit resolution. For sound rein-forcement applications, D.A.S Audio launched its new Refer-ence Series of mid-sized loudspeakers, there being six two-way systems and three subwoofers, including new rotatablehorns with two different dispersion patterns. Genelec intro-duced its SE (Small Environment) DSP monitoring system,designed to solve a lot of the acoustic problems of limitedspace in the reproduction room. The subwoofer contains sig-nal processing to manage the filtering for satellite loudspeak-ers as well as network connections to a host computer forcontrol purposes. In an attempt to bring back the “shock andawe” of the large-scale coaxial loudspeaker system, in aworld of nearfield monitors, the new company Equator Audiointroduced its Q10, 12, and 15 biamped reference monitorswith sophisticated DSP to compensate for the individual fre-quency response anomalies of drive units and room.

Wireless microphone systems received a boost withSennheiser’s new EM 3732 twin receiver, which offersautomatic scanning and five frequency ranges, as well astransmitter synchronization using an infrared interface andanalog/digital interconnection options. In its RF condensermicrophone range, the company also introduced the newMKH8000 series with extended frequency response charac-teristics. Conventional microphone systems were alsoenhanced by the introduction of Focusrite’s LIQUID4PREfour-channel microphone preamp, which uses convolutionDSP to emulate the sound of 40 vintage and classic micro-phone amplifiers. For those with USB in mind, MXL wasshowing its MXL990 USB stereo condenser microphone, ➥

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AES 123RD CONVENTION

From left, Keith Johnson, Klaus Heyne, and Oliver Archutwere among the experts who presented master classes.

Among those who gave workshop or tutorial presentationswere, clockwise from top left, Elliot Omiya, Takehiro Moriya,Junich Yoshio, Masaki Shimmachi, Chris Lacinak, AlexCase, and Jeff Levison

Surround Workshop Playback Session: from left, EverettPorter, Chuck Ainlay, Michael Bishop, LawrenceManchester, Martha DeFrancisco, and Akira Fukada

Surround 5.1 Mixing DOs and Don’ts: from left, CrispinMurray, Jeff Wolpert, Ronald Prent, Frank Filipetti, andGeorge Massenburg

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which can connect directly to a computer without needingexternal mic preamps.

Taking the development of artificial reverberation to newheights, Lexicon was showing its new PCM96 unit as wellas its MX500 dual stereo/surround reverb processor. Thelatter incorporates FireWire-streamed audio to and fromworkstation packages running on an associated computerand can be controlled from any VST or Audio Units-basedsystem. Soundcraft, in an interesting move, also introducedthree new FX mixers with integrated Lexicon effects pro-cessing based on the AudioDNA processor used in otherLexicon products such as the MX500.

For those still looking for a source of analog tape, ATR Mag-netics was showing its ATR Master Tape, which is now in pro-duction. This is the first new analog mastering tape in 10 years,and it is available in two-inch, one-inch, and half-inch widths.

TECHNICAL PROGRAMAuthors from around the world presented papers in lectureand poster sessions on numerous current topics from per-

ception to audio forensics, in a program carefully chosenfrom hundreds of submissions by papers cochairsVeronique Larcher and Agnieszka Roginska. Three ses-sions on perception testified to the importance of this topicin today’s audio research, with a number of papers leadingto a greater understanding of the way in which the brainperceives secondary arrivals of direct sound, which is ofimportance to the way in which both stereophony andreflections are perceived. Perhaps room reflections are notthe demon they are supposed to be, provided that a loud-speaker has a sufficiently flat off-axis response, suggestedSiegried Linkwitz. This would typically only be achievedwith dipole or monopole loudspeakers.

Philippe-Aubert Gauthier won the 123rd Convention Stu-dent Paper Award for “Adaptive Wave Field Synthesis forSound Field Reproduction,” written with coauthor AlainBerry and presented in the session on signal processing foraudio (published in this issue, p. 1107). Gauthier describedprocesses of adaptive compensation that can be used withwavefield synthesis reproduction to minimize reproduction

1148 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 55, No. 12, 2007 December

AES 123RD CONVENTION

Jim Anderson,convention chair

Alex Case (right), workshops andtutorials chair

Dottie Kreps (right),student/career events chair, andYujin Cha, assistant

Agnieszka Roginska (left) andVeronique Larcher, paperscochairs

We Thank…123rd Convention Committee

Agnieszka Roginska andVeronique Larcher

papers cochairs

Alex Caseworkshops and tutorials chair

Alan Silvermanmaster classes chair

Henry Cohen andJohn Kilgore

live sound events cochairs

David Bialikbroadcasting sessions

chair

Michael McCoyfacilities chair

Alex Kass andMichael Leikin

facilities assistants

Dottie Krepsstudent/career events

chair

Yujin Chastudent/career events

assistant

Lou Mannotechnical tours chair

Harry Hirschhistorical events chair

Bob SchuleinTechnical Council liaison

Jim Andersonchair

Alan Silverman, masterclasses chair

John Kilgore (left) and HenryCohen, live sound eventscochairs

Michael McCoy (center),facilities chair, MichaelLeikin (left), and Alex Kass,facilities assistants

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errors in real reflective spaces. Fur-ther papers on the topic of signalprocessing for room correction werepresented in a session on the Sundaymorning of the convention, chairedby Rhonda Wilson. They includinga paper by John Vanderkooy enti-tled “Multi-Source Room Equaliza-tion: Reducing Room Resonances,”in which he discusses the possibilityof using some loudspeakers in aroom as sources and some as sinksfor acoustic energy, so that modalpeaks and antimodal dips arereduced in level.

In addition to sessions on percep-tion, signal processing, and roomcorrection, a number of alternativeswere available including acousticmodeling, audio coding, automotiveaudio and amplifiers, signal pro-

cessing applied to music, audio forensics, and applicationsin audio, ensuring that there was truly something of interestfor everyone attending.

Alongside the papers program ran a comprehensive pro-gram of workshops and tutorials coordinated by Alex Case.A wealth of knowledge was presented by world-renownedexperts from all walks of audio life, dealing with topicspitched from the basic or introductory level to the highlyspecialized. Among these were popular tutorial sessions onoperational aspects of recording and mixing, such as 7.1Movie Mixes for Blue Ray and HD DVD: Workflow fromMix to Encode, presented by Ronny Katz and Jeff Levisonof DTS, and Snare Strategies for Stage and Studio, pre-sented by Alex Case himself. Tackling the science of high-frequency sound perception, Poppy Crum of the John Hop-kins University School of Medicine gave an exhaustive 2 1/2-hour review of the evidence for the advantages orotherwise of high resolution audio, using evidence fromother species to examine the evolutionary reasons why cer-tain animals might have developed hearing beyond theknown limits of frequency and dynamic range. In total, 19tutorials were offered in addition to 23 workshops, includ-ing sessions on multichannel main miking techniques, sur-round mixing DOs and don’ts, and mastering for newmedia. Game audio was also featured in a big way with ses-

sions on game audio for mobile phones, adaptive music forgames, and audio for games as it relates to dialog record-ing, workflow, and asset management.

A “conference within the convention” was devoted tobroadcast topics, organized by David Bialik, who alsoreceived a fellowship during the awards presentation for hisdedication to this matter over past years. An amazing totalof 17 broadcasting seminars were offered, including sometutorials on building a broadcasting facility, understandingRF from microphones to antennas, and how to work withtelecom to get the job done. There were other sessions onsuch popular topics such as The Macy’s Thanksgiving DayParade—An Audio Primer, in which a panel moderated byJoel Spector explained how a team of audio technicians atthree locations captures and transmits the excitement of thismajor event to millions each year.

Six master classes, organized by Alan Silverman, wereoffered during the course of the four days. These weredesigned to enable key figures from the industry to deliver a90-minute exposition on their specialist topic. They includedpresentations by Henry Ott on dispelling the myths aboutaudio interconnections and by Ken Hahn on advanced ideasand techniques in high definition surround postproduction.

Without the energetic efforts of facilities chair MichaelMcCoy and his assistants, Alex Kass and Michael Leikin,the 123rd Convention would not have run so smoothly andin such a professional manner.

LIVE SOUNDOn the day prior to the convention a major additional eventwas held to focus on the live sound domain. Surround Live V, chaired by Fred Ampel, the fifth such event toaccompany an AES convention, took place at the BroadStreet Ballroom in downtown Manhattan. This event used aspecially calibrated Klein & Hummel studio monitor systemconfigured for 5.1 playback. Other sponsors included theSports Video Group, Sennheiser USA, beyerdynamic, Neu-ral Audio, DiGiCo, Dolby, TiMax, and Harris Corporation. Itincluded presentations from a wide range of industry experts,including a panel on surround operational issues moderatedby Ken Kerschbaumer of the Sports Video Group.

There were also 14 live sound seminars during the con-vention, cochaired by Henry Cohen and John Kilgore. Theseincluded an exciting range of topics from professionals invarious parts of this diverse part of the industry, includingChurch and House of Worship Audio and Acoustics chairedby Tom Young and Sound System Alignment and AcousticMeasurement chaired by Sam Berkow. Also included was atutorial on the important topic of radio frequency interfer-ence given by Jim Brown of the Audio Systems Group.

HISTORICAL PROGRAMThe historical program has become an important feature ofrecent conventions. Here in New York, Harry Hirsch, his-torical events chair, assembled a fascinating retrospective ofsome key elements from audio history, including a celebra-tion of history-making New York studios and legends ofNashville sound. Surround sound has been attempted ➥

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AES 123RD CONVENTION

Harry Hirsch,historical events chair

Bob Schulein,Technical Councilliaison

David Bialik, broadcastsessions chair

Lou Manno, technical tours chair

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before, as attested to during two of the seminars, the firstdealing with the beginning of surround from 1925 to 1940,presented by Robert Auld. During this presentation Auldlooked into the origins of this field, including early work atBell Labs, encouragements by conductor LeopoldStokowski, and the production of the film Fantasia. A sec-ond session, also chaired by Auld, looked at the rise and fallof quadraphony, with some of the veterans of the “quadwars” that took place in the 1970s.

A full listing of the entire program can be found online at<www.aes.org/events/123/123rdWrapUp.pdf>. An orderform with a complete list of the 123rd papers is inserted withthis issue Papers can also be purchased online at<www.aes.org/publications/preprints>. A second insert tothis issue is an order form for audio recordings of the events.

STUDENT PROGRAMOne of the legacies of Roy Pritts, who died earlier this year,is the now vibrant student community that holds a full pro-gram of events at the conventions. Student membership ofthe society has been the fastest growing sector over the pastfew years, and now matches the other main classes ofmembership in terms of numbers. The New York programwas coordinated by Dottie Kreps and Yujin Cha. There wasan opening meeting of the Student Delegate Assembly,chaired by Josh Tidsbury, followed a career workshopchaired by Keith Hatschek and a recording competition forclassical and pop music. One-on-one mentoring sessionswere available for students, during which they could dis-cuss their future careers with professionals who offered

their services for the event. At the Career/Job Fair, Fruan-hofer IIS, Rane Corporation, AEA, Røde Microphones,THAT Corporation, Eventide, and Dolby Labs offered stu-dents information on job and internship opportunities. Aresume review chaired by John Strawn was aimed at jobcandidates in electrical engineering and computer sciences.The workshop Studio Slave to Audio Professional chairedby Gary Gottlieb featured professionals sharing their viewson the traits and characteristics most sought after byemployers. Inside the Job Interview, also chaired by JohnStrawn, enabled students to hear from employers involvedin recruiting and interviewing for jobs in the audio industry.A student design competition, sponsored by UniversalAudio, provided a forum for audio projects to be evaluated.Design and recording competition prizes were awarded andnew officers elected at the closing Student DelegateAssembly. (For a further information on the 123rd studentevents see Education News on page 1168.)

TECHNICAL TOURSA full program of technical tours taking in the rich opportu-nities available in the New York area was organized by LouManno. Anyone who wanted a break from the conventionhall could choose to venture out on visits to recording stu-dios, a dealer of handcrafted pianos, broadcast facilities, anda vinyl pressing company (attesting to the resurgence indemand for vinyl these days). The last technical tour was afascinating trip to Broadway Sound, founded by MichaelUngar and Ralph Kelsey in association with Sandblast Pro-ductions, which is an audio postproduction facility for all

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AES 123RD CONVENTION

Platinum Producers: from left,Paul Verna (moderator), HalWillner, Ed Cherney, FrankFilipetti, and Jack Joseph Puig

Platinum Mastering: from left,moderator Bob Ludwig, BradBlackwood, Tim Young, GregCalbi, Gavin Lurssen, and PaulStubblebine

Platinum Events

Platinum Engineers: from left, John Horesco, Nick Sansano,Steve Rosenthal, Ralph Sutton, Tony Maserati, Gimel “YoungGuru” Keaton, Paul Verna (moderator), Kevin Killen, and BobClearmountain

Platinum Road Warriors: from left, Clive Young (moderator),Robert Scovill, Brian Speiser, Paul “Pappy” Middleton, TomYoung, and Howard Page

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types of media, including dialog recording and originalmusic composition.

SPECIAL EVENTSAs previously mentioned, every lunchtime there was a keynoteaddress on a topic of broad interest. These included some inspir-ing experiences presented by Barry Blesser (one of the pioneersof digital audio) and John Chowning (the father of FM synthe-sis). Among these was the unusual and engaging topic ofBeethoven’s deafness, presented by Charles Limb and PatrickDonnelly. Limb is a neurotologist and surgeon at John HopkinsHospital, as well as being a faculty member at the PeabodyConservatory of Music. One of his main interests, aside fromhis professional work, is the study of possible reasons whyBeethoven might have gone deaf. He presented a remarkablecollection of evidence including autopsy results, exhumationstudies on the body, and analyses of the composer’s hair toenable the discounting of some of the more popular myths. Heconcluded that Beethoven’s condition was most likely a pro-gressive form of sensorineural hearing loss that might now betreatable using a cochlear implant, although that would not bemuch use for music perception. In fact, he was quite glad thatBeethoven did not recover his hearing, because we might neverhave heard the musical results of his struggle.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper’sLonely Hearts Club Band, Geoff Emerick, the Beatles engi-neer on the original recording, was commissioned by the BBCto rerecord the entire album on the original vintage equipmentusing contemporary musicians. This presentation by Emer- ➥

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AES 123RD CONVENTION

Lunchtime keynote presenters: clockwisefrom top left, Barry Blesser,

John Chowning, Charles Limb, andPatrick Donnelly

Grammy Soundtable: from left, Jason Corsaro, Tony Bongiovi,Bob Clearmountain, Zoe Thrall, moderator, Neil Dorfsman,Nile Rodgers, James Farber, and Maureen Droney, whointroduced the panel

Beatles engineerGeoff Emerick, left,marks the 40thAnniversary of therelease of Sgt.Pepper’s LonelyHearts Club Bandduring 123rd specialevent with moderatorPeter Filleul.

Heyser Lecturer Leo Beranek (2nd from right) receivescertificate from Bob Schulein (right), Technical Council chair,and Jim Kaiser (left) and Jürgen Herre, Technical Council vicechairs.

Internet Streamingpanel: clockwise fromtop left, moderatorDavid Bialik, KarlheinzBrandenburg, BrianCarroll, ThomasSporer, and ThomasMintner

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AES MEETINGS1 Regions and Sections: from left, Francis Rumsey, chair,

Jose de Oliveira, Andres Mayo, David Murphy, PeterSwarte, Peter Cooke, and Bob Lee

2 Conference Policy Committee: Geoff Martin (right), chair3 Standards: Mark Yonge (right), standards manager4 Education Committee: from left, Dottie Kreps, Josh

Tidsbury, and Jason Corey, chair5 Technical Council: from left, Jim Kaiser and Jürgen Herre,

vice chairs, and Bob Schulein, chair6 Historical Committee: Gene Radzik, vice chair, Harry

Hirsch, and Al Grundy7 Publications Policy Committee: Bozena Kostek and Søren

Bech, chair8 Strategic Advisory Group: from left, Subir Pramanik, Nick

Zacharov, chair, Peter Swarte, and Bob Moses

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ick was sponsored by the UK Association of ProfessionalRecording Services, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Large crowds attested to the popularity of recording-industry events at the 123rd. The Platinum Producers panelwas moderated by Paul Verna and featured Hal Wilner, EdCherney, Frank Filipetti, and Jack Joseph Puig. The 19thannual Grammy Recording Soundtable, moderated by ZoeThrall and presented by members of NARAS, provided a ret-rospective of New York’s Power Station studios, which gavebirth to many landmark recordings. Platinum Mastering, mod-erated by Bob Ludwig, looked at the topic of “level wars” andother mastering issues in the context of the new record-busi-ness paradigm. Platinum Engineers and Platinum Road War-riors featured well known engineers and offered insights onhow to navigate the challenges of today’s recording and livesound industries. The Mix Foundation’s TECnology Hall ofFame recognized products and innovations that have made sig-nificant contributions to the advancement of audio technology.

Graham Blyth, recipient of a Fellowship Award at thisconvention, gave his customary organ recital, this time atthe Brick Presbyterian Church on 92nd Street, which hadrecently been blessed with a new organ built by CasavantFrères in close imitation of the great 19th Century Frenchorgans built by Cavaillé-Coll. In a program whose first halfconsisted entirely of British music and finished with thewhole of Widor’s 5th symphony, Blyth showed off the richcolors of this beautiful instrument to spectacular effect.

Leo Beranek is one of the best known experts in audito-rium acoustics in the world, and his books on acoustics areknown by most professionals. In the Richard C. HeyserMemorial Lecture, Beranek spoke about the factors he had

found to give high grades for concert hall acoustics, build-ing on his many years of experience and mentioning thework of numerous colleagues who had made seminal dis-coveries. To a large audience he described how halls like theBoston Symphony Hall had been built on the template ofprevious shoe-box designs that had been found to have goodacoustics, but before the days when we had really knownwhy that was. The AES Technical Council sponsored thelecture, followed by a reception with refreshments.

BEHIND THE SCENESBehind the scenes at AES conventions, there are a host of pro-fessional and committee meetings that are part of the mainbusiness of the Society. In New York there was a full programof standards meetings, coordinated by Richard Chalmers,Standards Committee chair, and Mark Yonge, standards man-ager. A comprehensive agenda of Technical Committee meet-ings covered the many fields of endeavor that make up audioengineering. Throughout the convention there were manycommittee meetings, including an open meeting of theRegions and Sections Committee attended by section officersfrom around the world. The Board of Governors met on theevening of the last day of the convention (see next page), dur-ing which the Society’s future policies were debated.

This was a truly remarkable convention, demonstratingthe breadth and range of interests that are included under thebanner of audio engineering, and attesting to the strengthand vitality of this world-class Society. Preparations havebegun on the 124th Convention in Amsterdam (May 17–20)and the 125th Convention in San Francisco (October 2–5).See <www.aes.org> for the latest news and updates. ➥

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EDUCATION EVENTS1. Josh Tidsbury addresses Student Delegate

Assembly.2.Bistra Ivanov, 1st place winner in the Sound for

Picture category of the recording competition,receives Sony Sound Forge 9 and certificate fromJosh Tidsbury.

3.Dolby Labs was among the companies discussingjob opportunities at the Career/Job Fair

4.Ronald Prent (left) and Bob Ludwig were among theaudio pros who served as judges for the StudentRecording Competition

5. Design competition judges: from left, Rob Maher,Scott Dorsey, and Christopher Struck

6. New England Institute of Art was among the schoolsoffering information to students at the Education Fair

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Board of GovernorsMeets

The AES Board of Governors met on October 8 tohear reports from AES officials and standing

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John Strawn, governor and Convention PolicyCommittee chair; Jim Anderson, president-elect

Wieslaw Woszczyk, president

Neil Gilchrist, past president and NominationsCommittee chair

Theresa Leonard, governor and AwardsCommittee chair

Han Tendeloo, secretary

John Vanderkooy, editor; Jason Corey, EducationCommittee chair

Karlheinz Brandenburg, incoming governor

Chrstopher Struck, governor; Peter Swarte, EuropeNorthern Region vice president; Bob Schulein,Technical Council chair

Jim Kaiser, USA/Canada Central Region vicepresident, Christopher Feitag, Tellers Committee chair

José Leonardo Pupo, student representative

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123RD AES CONVENTION

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Bob Lee, USA/Canada Western Region vicepresident; Bob Moses, incoming president andLaws and Resolutions Committee chair; Frank Wells,Strategic Advisory Group chair

Nick Zacharov, Membership Committee chair; JoshTidsbury, student representative

Steven Harris, governor; Richard Chalmers,Standards Committee chair;

Ron Streicher, governor; Bozena Kostek, EuropeCentral Region vice president

Suzana Jakovic, student representative

David Murphy, International Region vice president;Jay Fouts, legal counsel

Jose de Oliveira, Europe Southern Region vicepresident

Roger Furness, executive director; Francis Rumsey,Regions and Sections Committee chair; KimioHamasaki, governor

Dottie Kreps, governor

Mercedes Onorato, governor

Andres Mayo, Latin America Region vice president

Geoff Martin, Conference Policy Committee chair;Peter Cook, USA/Canada Eastern Region vicepresident; Misato Yamada, student representative;Gene Radzik, Historical Committee cochair

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