Tutorials, Competition On Tap At Aes Confab

The pro audio industry's principal exhibition and networking event, the Audio Engineering Society Convention, is less than three months away. Planning for the 115th confab, to be held Oct. 10-13 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, is well under way.

Zoe Thrall, GM of the Hit Factory Studios in New York and Miami, serves as chair of the convention, the theme of which is "The Power of Sound."

In 20-plus years in the professional recording industry, Thrall has worked in the fields of artist and studio management, engineering, performance and touring. She is a member of AES, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the American Federation of Musicians. She is also former director of the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services.

The 114th AES, held in March in Amsterdam, introduced Exhibitor Seminars, which were well-received and will be added to a U.S. convention for the first time in New York.

Exhibitor Seminars give manufacturers closer interaction with attendees and a means of demonstrating new products in greater detail than possible in a crowded exhibition hall.

A student design competition for audio projects is also new at the 115th AES. Projects for submission can include loudspeaker designs, electronic circuits, audio/music software, microphones, musical instruments and any other item made for use in the audio field. Design and manufacture industry experts will judge entries.

The convention program will also include Tutorial Seminars, comprising daily lectures on a range of topics. Technical papers will be presented, along with workshops covering various subjects.

The unprecedented change experienced by the music industry in a third consecutive year of declining album sales has seriously impacted the professional audio industry, the front end of the production chain.

The industry is also being transformed by the migration to digital audio workstations and small-format digital consoles, along with the proliferation of home and personal studios these products have fostered. While they offer larger, acoustically treated spaces, superior services and skilled staff, commercial facilities increasingly employ the same equipment now found in private artist-, producer- or engineer-owned studios.

This metamorphosis—and the ways in which commercial facility owners, engineers and producers are adapting to meet new challenges—are sure to be primary topics at the 115th AES.

Information on exhibiting at the 115th AES Convention can be found at aes.org/events/115/.