PACKED EXHIBITS FLOOR AND CROWDED TECHNICAL SESSIONS
AT 115TH AES CONVENTION SIGNAL UPSWING IN AUDIO BUSINESS
New York, Oct. 23, 2003--A packed exhibition floor drew more than
15,000 visitors during the four days of the AES 115th Convention in New
York, where audio professionals came out in droves to see the latest
audio technology. Also crowded were the technical sessions, which
included the extremely well received debut of exhibitor and tutorial
seminars.
"We've had a tremendous response from the exhibitors regarding the
health of the convention," says Roger Furness AES executive director.
"Of the more than 15,000 attendees visiting the show floor, most were
industry pros who either are the decision makers within companies, or
influence the decision making process."
The Convention kicked off with a keynote address by legendary producer,
Arif Mardin, who warned that too much reliance on technology in the
production stages of audio might cover up the lack of talent an artist
has. Mardin maintains that enhancing an artist's voice is acceptable, as
long as the talent shines through live. The standing room only Opening
Ceremonies were foretelling of the crowds that were to come over the
next three days.
The extensive convention program of technical sessions, workshops,
special events and technical tours included "Surround Live!," the first
ever, comprehensive event devoted exclusively to the creation,
production and reproduction of live performance audio in multi-channel
surround. The one day workshop was sold out a week before the show
opened and garnered enthusiastic response from its attendees.
The AES Standards Committee and Technical Council both achieved success
in their respective events. The Standards Committee featured a
demonstration on the show floor of AES47, which specifies a means for a
digital audio input-output interfacing transmission of digital audio
over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). The demonstration, which took
place on the show floor was conducted by NineTiles, DCS Limited and
Audix Broadcast.
The Technical Council's Heyser Lecture drew a large crowd of fans of
Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil's current best-selling book, The Age of
Spiritual Machines, When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence has been
published in nine languages and achieved the #1 best selling book on
Amazon.com in the categories of "Science" and "Artificial Intelligence."
Looking ahead, the 116th AES Convention will convene in Berlin, May 8-11,
and the AES has several conferences in the planning stages for the
year ahead. For the latest information on events and activities of the
AES please visit www.aes.org.
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