As the Audio Engineering Society gears up for its 140th International Convention, taking place at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France, from June 4 through 7, 2016, both exhibition and attendee registration are on-pace for century-high numbers, making for one of the most exciting AES Europe conventions in recent memory. As part of the AES’s continued growth, the AES Paris Convention will once again feature top presenters and technologies through its Special Events program, which presents many of the AES Convention mainstay highlights, as well as new features, and is open to Exhibits-Plus badge-holders, as well as premium All Access attendees.
The 140th AES International Convention will bring together leading audio engineers, producers, educators, and more from around the world to present the latest in audio research, developments, and technologies. Additionally, the convention’s four days of Tech Program events and three days of Manufacturer Exhibits, the Project Studio Expo and Live Sound Expo, along with new Broadcast Forum presentations are set to provide a diverse range of opportunities for attendees to learn from, and network with, the top names in the industry.
Immersive sound, including numerous listening opportunities, is an emphasis woven throughout the program. Papers and Engineering Briefs sessions showcase the work of over 120 researchers on topics ranging from 3D Recording and Reproduction, Binaural Listening, Bluetooth Technologies, Digital Filter Design, and other in-depth areas of interest, while Workshop events will bring together panels of experts to a range of provocative and practical topics including Music Production for Film, Wind Noise in Microphones, Expert Transfer Techniques, and more.
Another popular set of events at AES conventions are the Tutorials sessions, which provide a varied horizon of presentations on important audio fundamentals, for beginners and seasoned professionals alike, on 3D and Binaural Listening, Audio Forensics and Sound Design, to name but a few. Student and Career Development events throughout the convention include a Career and Education Fair, Recording Competition and Critiques, Student Delegate Assemblies, and other exclusive networking opportunities.
Unique to this convention is also the series of special events called “Audio Projections.” Within this track will be a series of multichannel or 3D audio projections, with contributions from Morten Lindberg (2L, Norway), Hugo Romano Guimarães (Neu Records, Spain), Wilfried van Baelen (Auro 3D, Belgium), Michael Williams (France), and “The world of the Dinosaurs,” based on the work by Prof Weishampel (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA) and Jean Luc Herelle (bio-acoustician and natural sound recording engineer in France). Read more about the binaural presentations here.
The 140th AES International Convention will offer a host of Technical Tours, offering attendees exclusive visits to some of the most renowned audio-related locales in Paris – and the world. Available Technical Tours include the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Ink Production, Ferber Studios, Opéra Bastille and other facilities. AES Technical Tours are available on a first come, first served basis to anyone with an All Access badge. Tickets can be purchased during normal registration hours.
The AES Paris convention will kick off, as is customary, with the Opening Ceremonies, which will feature remarks from AES President John Krivit, Executive Director Bob Moses, and AES Paris Convention Chair Michael Williams, as well as AES Special Awards presentations by Awards Committee Chair Sean Olive. Additionally, this year’s keynote speaker, Alex U. Case, President Elect of the AES, will set the tone for the Convention with a presentation entitled “Intuition, Rebellion, Courage, and Chance – Historic Moments of Creative Signal Processing That Resonate to This Day.”
Day one Special Events also include the presentation “Podcasting – Telling Your Story with Sound,” presented by award-winning engineer Jim Anderson, and conclude with this year’s highly-anticipated Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture by distinguished researcher Rozenn Nicol, who will be presenting on “The 3D Audio Revolution from Labs to Mass Market.”
Read more about the Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture on Saturday, June 4, 2016.
New for this Convention, the Special Events program will also host a series of twelve “Audio Projections” listening experiences, offering a unique set of on-site listening environments purpose-built to showcase the latest surround, multichannel, 3D audio and other immersive audio formats from a variety of experts in the field.
The AES Paris Special Events schedule further offers attendees a pair of social evens providing unique opportunities to network and enjoy some of Paris’s other offerings. Sunday night’s event will feature a banquet in the heart of the Ile Saint Germain at Issy Les Moulineaux, where attendees will enjoy French seasonal specialties in a Napoleon III pavilion, which will include a musical interlude of interest, and more (the number of seats is limited, but you can reserve your place now, and pay for your ticket(s) on arrival at the Convention). The following day will conclude with a traditional organ concert presented by Graham Blyth and Francis Rumsey at Saint Etienne du Mont Church, utilizing one of Paris’s most historic instruments and open to all Convention attendees.
The new Professional Sound Expo (PSE), sponsored by Avid and Genelec, is part of the free offerings included with an Exhibits-Plus badge, and also open to premium All Access attendees. The PSE will bring together industry leaders and manufacturers of the latest technologies to discuss a wide range of topics relevant to anyone working to maximize their professional skills and knowledge.
This first edition of the Professional Sound Expo focuses on revealing further insights on fundamental topics ranging from microphones and acoustic treatments, to measurement and audio quality control. Several presentations will focus on fundamentals of frequency, phase, and crosstalk issues, along with issues and solutions in sessions including “A High Quality Crosstalk Cancellation Loudspeaker,” “Active Velocity Acoustic Absorption for Low Frequencies,” and “The Importance of Controlling Phase and Damping Monitors.” A series of “Acoustic Room Treatment” sessions will also explore specific situations and tools for successfully outfitting a room for maximum listening efficiency.
Another popular series of presentations at recent AES conventions are the “Mic to Monitor” sessions, sponsored by Prism Sound, which aim to answer questions such as what makes great gear “great,” what it takes to become a successful audio engineer, and how professionals tackle different aspects of their productions to create hit records. Further presentations each day, sponsored by AEA, invite attendees to immerse themselves in an AES ribbon microphone demo and to view featured AEA Sessions series videos.
Additional specialized sessions throughout the PSE will take a look at important technical topics, including “Measurement Microphones,” “Measurement Uncertainty in Audio Testing,” and “Microphone Basics,” and the series will also feature session on using “Pro Tools in the Cloud” and will conclude with a presentation titled “Digital Microphones — AES42 and All That,” which will shed light on the 15-year history and applications of AES42 digital microphones in the industry.
The Tutorials schedule for the 140th International Convention, as part of the convention’s Technical Program, includes more than 25 tutorials, in-depth seminars and training sessions on a broad range of topics including stereo and multichannel systems and immersive sound; studio design and acoustics; game, film and TV sound design; the latest developments in binaural recording and mixing and much more.
The Tutorials program will kick off on Saturday, June 4, with a session on main microphone techniques for 2.0 and 5.1 presented by SCHOEPS GmbH, followed by a presentation on binaural applications using Auro-3D over headphones.
Sunday’s tutorials will cover a wide variety of topics, including optimizing recording studio acoustics on a budget, object-based mixing for Radio France, surround-sound production for live electronic music, and headphone virtualization and immersive sound technologies from New Audio Technology GmbH and Auro-3D.
Monday will offer a full spectrum of sessions: binaural head recording for related HD video, immersive sound design using Sound Particles software, a new approach to “agile” game sound design that involves end-users in the design process, a historical overview of 100 years of condenser microphone design presented by Neumann, techniques for creating a 64-channel “acousmonium” in a 3D scene with the Unity5 development platform and much more.
Tuesday features another full day of information-packed programs including techniques for 9.1 immersive audio, optimizing sampling and sample rate conversion, Audio Description (AD) sound design for making visual content more accessible to visually impaired people, audio forensics, creative vocal production techniques, parametric spatial audio processing for heightened sound field realism and additional tutorial sessions in immersive sound, psychoacoustics and other topics.
Exhibits-Plus badges offer admission to valuable AES convention content including the Professional Sound Expo, an expanded Gear Exposition floor, new Audio Projections listening experiences, Opening Ceremonies, guest speakers, and other special events. Use the VIP Code “AESPARIS” or Use this Link to get FREE admission to the AES 140th Convention in Paris, France.
www.aes.org/events/140
