AES New York 2019
Historical Track Event Details
Wednesday, October 16, 9:15 am — 10:15 am (1E12)
Historical: H01 - Integrating History into the Modern Audio Curriculum
Chair:Scott Burgess, University of Colorado Denver - Denver, CO, USA
Panelists:
Gabe Herman, The University of Hartford, The Hartt School - Hartford, CT, USA
Susan Schmidt Horning, St. John's University
Jessica Thompson, Jessica Thompson Audio - Berkeley, CA, USA
Audio engineers know the value of an old microphone and understand the uses of classic equipment and techniques. However, many current audio students still need to be connected with the rich history of our craft. This panel of experienced educators will discuss how to incorporate history into the curriculum of audio schools. Several approaches to a stand-alone history class will be discussed, as well as methods of including history in survey courses. Among these are the use, maintenance, and repair of historical equipment; examination of documents relating to audio history; preservation and restoration of older recordings; and utilization of recording techniques from bygone days. Our ultimate goal is to inspire students to take this history to heart by incorporating it into their present-day careers.
Wednesday, October 16, 1:15 pm — 2:15 pm (1E09)
Audio Builders Workshop: AB02 - Custom Consoles / Power and Grounding
Chair:Owen Curtin, Audio Builders Workshop - Lexington, MA, USA; Bridge Sound and Stage - Cambridge, MA, USA
Presenters:
Eddie Ciletti, Manhattan Sound Technicians, Inc. - West Saint Paul, MN, USA
David Thibodeau, Analog Devices - Wilmington, MA, USA
After you win the auction, you will need to power up your new toy. Be careful not to release the magic smoke! Oh no, why is the noise floor louder than your lawnmower? Dave Thibodeau and Eddie Ciletti have restored more vintage gear then most of us have seen, and they will explain the ins and out of powering and grounding the projects on your bench.
Wednesday, October 16, 5:00 pm — 6:00 pm (1E21)
Historical: H02 - Building Success Through Your Team—Views from the First Woman Broadcast Engineer
Presenter:Pamela Gibson
Pamela Gibson was one of the first woman broadcast engineers. She will discuss how she built success through her team, including her experience being the first woman in broadcast engineering and how she got the job. Also, she will discuss her success at team building and attracting the best crew, who have moved on to become stars in their respective careers, and their unique ability to exceed their goals and propel her to exceed her limits. She will also touch on the subject of changing professions mid career, since it is never too late to start over and build another career.
Thursday, October 17, 9:00 am — 10:00 am (1E17)
Electronic Instrument Design & Application: EI01 - Drum Machines, Groove-Boxes, and Tempo-Based Electronic Instruments
Presenters:Michael Bierylo, Berklee College of Music - Brookline, MA, USA
Peter Brown, Roland Corporation US - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Dan Gill, Akai Professional - Cumberland, RI, USA
David Rossum, Rossum Electro-Music LLC - Santa Cruz, CA, USA; Universal Audio, Inc - Scotts Valley, CA USA
Early drum machines such and the Roland TR-808 and the Linn drum ushered in a new era in music production forming the bedrock of hit songs from the 1980s onward. These legendary instruments have helped define musical genres like Hip Hop and Dance music, and the influence of these designs can’t be underestimated. This session will examine the design philosophies behind these instruments and how they continue to be a vital part of the electronic instrument industry.
Thursday, October 17, 1:15 pm — 2:45 pm (1E08)
Historical: H03 - Rudy Van Gelder: A Legacy in Audio Engineering
Presenters:Richard Capeless, Deep Groove Mono - New York, NY, USA
Thomas Fine, Tom Fine Audio Services - Brewster, NY, USA
Ashley Kahn
Don Sickler, Second Floor Music - New York, NY, USA
Maureen Sickler, Second Floor Music - New York, NY, USA
Rudy Van Gelder, or “RVG” as most jazz fans know him, was responsible for laying to tape hundreds of classic jazz recordings spanning a period of over five decades, which were released on a variety of labels including Blue Note, Prestige, Savoy, Impulse, Verve, and CTI. His rise from obscurity to engineering fame centered on a unique approach to his work, about which he was famously secretive. Beginning in a makeshift living room recording studio in his parents’ Hackensack, New Jersey, home, Van Gelder would eventually build a one-of-a-kind cathedral-like studio in nearby Englewood Cliffs that is still in use today.
Always on the cutting edge of technology, Van Gelder used a plethora of state-of-the-art tools to create “the Van Gelder Sound,” a distinct and easily recognizable sonic fingerprint that helped define the sound of jazz on record during the classic analog era of the 1950s and 1960s. Van Gelder’s legacy is that of an individual who fully realized his dream to work in a creative capacity, and his story serves as inspiration for anyone striving to make their lifelong dreams a reality.
Sharing that story will be Michael Cuscuna, producer and founder of Mosaic Records, and Don Sickler, publisher and co-founder of Second Floor Music, who along with his wife Maureen, currently runs the Englewood Cliffs studio.
Thursday, October 17, 1:30 pm — 2:30 pm (1E21)
Recording & Production: RP09 - The Doppler Gang - A Panel of Pros Discuss the Pros and Cons of Pitch Change
Co-moderators:Anthony Agnello, Eventide Inc. - Little Ferry, NJ, USA
Richard Factor, Eventide Inc. - Little Ferry, NJ, USA
Panelists:
Alex Case, University of Massachusetts Lowell - Lowell, MA, USA
Bob Clearmountain, Mix This! - Pacific Palisades, CA, USA
George Massenburg, Schulich School of Music, McGill University - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Susan Rogers, Berklee College of Music - Boston, MA, USA
Tony Visconti, (David Bowie, T.Rex)
Pitch change processing is the basis for many tracking and mixing effects. Analog tape invited tape speed manipulation, and the effect became digitally available in the mid-70s. A broad set of pitch effects has evolved ever since, led in part by these panelists. Learn about their approaches and listen to the results, from obvious to subliminal, from logical to just plain wacky.
Thursday, October 17, 2:45 pm — 4:15 pm (1E08)
Historical: H04 - Spike Jones: Preposterous Precision
Chair:Mike Wisland, Utah Valley University - Orem, UT, USA
Panelists:
Arlen Card, Utah Valley University - Orem, UT, USA
Leslie Ann Jones, Recording Engineer and Producer, Director of Music Recording and Scoring, Skywalker Sound - San Rafael, CA, USA
Emily Taggart
Professor Mike Wisland will present Spike’s life including his childhood, early professional jobs, leading to the formation of his massively successful parody band, Spike Jones and his City Slickers. There will also be a video presentation by Emily Taggart on the bandboy of Spike’s and Leslie Ann Jones Spike’s daughter, who will also be present for a Q&A After the presentation.
Thursday, October 17, 4:00 pm — 5:30 pm (1E07)
Broadcast & Online Delivery: B09 - The Technical History of WNYC
Presenters:Andy Lanset, Director of Archives, New York Public Radio
Steve Shultis, Chief Technology Officer, New York Public Radio - New York, NY, USA
Jim Stagnitto, Director of Engineering, New York Public Radio
This year WNYC radio marked its 95th year on the air. The broadcaster's remarkable engineering story will be the focus of this presentation beginning with an auspicious launch by the Mayor of New York employing the exact same model Westinghouse transmitter as used by KDKA, Pittsburgh. Nearly a century later, WNYC is the flagship station for the nation's public radio networks as well as leading producer and distributor of audio content to listeners on multiple platforms.
This talk will cover the veteran broadcaster's pioneering history on both AM and FM, the evolution of its respective signal patterns and reach as well as WNYC's early work with shortwave, binaural broadcasting, early implementation of streaming and podcasting, and HD radio.
The stations engineering challenges post-9/11 and hurricane Sandy will also be discussed.
 | This session is presented in association with the AES Technical Committee on Broadcast and Online Delivery |
Thursday, October 17, 4:00 pm — 5:30 pm (1E21)
Recording & Production: RP11 - Pitch Shift FXpertise – Record and Mix Strategies for the Broad Range Pitch Effect Possibilities
Presenter:Alex Case, University of Massachusetts Lowell - Lowell, MA, USA
Pitch shift as an effect has been a part of sound recording from the very beginning of audio and continues to evolve briskly today. Recording at one speed but playing back at another has been the pitch shift modus operandi across all analog formats—cylinders, disks, and tape. Digital audio continued these time-domain techniques, exploiting sample rate differences between record and playback. The digital luxury of frequency-domain pitch shift, offering new effects possibilities, became an important part of the pop engineer’s tool kit in the late 90s.
From this are born a seemingly endless set of pitch-based outcomes. But what are we to make of the aesthetic possibilities? How do we organize its creative potential? Alex U. Case auditions a curated set iconic examples of pitch shifting effects in pop music and analyses them through multiple lenses—music, signal processing and psychoacoustics—to define the full range of the effect, giving it structure, and empowering you to develop your own strategies for the use of Pitch FX in your next project.
Thursday, October 17, 4:30 pm — 5:30 pm (1E15+16)
Special Event: AR01 - Long Term Preservation of Audio Assets
Moderator:Jessica Thompson, Jessica Thompson Audio - Berkeley, CA, USA
Panelists:
Jeff Balding, NARAS P&E Wing
Rob Friedrich, Library of Congress
Jamie Howarth, Plangent Processes - Nantucket, MA, USA
Bob Koszela, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services - Boyers, PA, USA
Pat Kraus, UMG
Cheryl Pawelski, Omnivore Records
Toby Seay, Drexel University - Philadelphia, PA, USA
Throughout the history of the recorded music industry, masters have burned, been lost in floods, been mislabeled and misfiled, neglected, forgotten, even systematically destroyed to salvage the raw materials. This panel is an opportunity to learn from the past and move the conversation forward, addressing current challenges with long term preservation of audio assets. Beyond rehashing well-established best practices, panelists will discuss barriers to preservation including technical hurdles, cost, long term storage, deteriorating media, maintaining legacy playback equipment, legalities, and the very simple fact that we cannot and will not save everything.
Thursday, October 17, 4:30 pm — 5:30 pm (1E13)
Acoustics & Psychoacoustic: AP04 - Circles of Confusion
Chair:Thomas Lund, Genelec Oy - Iisalmi, Finland
Panelists:
Sean Olive, Harman International - Northridge, CA, USA
Susan Rogers, Berklee College of Music - Boston, MA, USA
Circles of confusion in pro audio are replacing technical limitations with cognitive limitations. Without proper anchoring of spectral balance and level, drifting over time is foreseeable in self-referenced systems, thereby putting legacy recordings at the risk of sounding dated for no good reason.
The panel will discuss monitoring requirements that stand the test of time, recent studies on active sensing, between listener variation and “slow listening”; and a possible revision of ITU-R BS.1116. The topics are addressed from a more practical perspective in Friday’s AP06 session.
Thursday, October 17, 5:30 pm — 7:00 pm (Off-Site 1)
Technical Tour: H05 - Limited Engagement Screening, Tom Dowd and the Language of Music
Venue: Dolby Theater, 1350 Avenue of the Americas
(corner 6th Ave. & W 55th St.)
Enter on W. 55th St. @1350 W. 55th St.
Filmmaker Mark Moormann premiered this independently produced feature-length documentary at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, with its international premiere at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. It has screened at film festivals, theaters, and television screens around the world to widespread critical acclaim.
A long-time engineer and producer for Atlantic Records, Tom Dowd was responsible for some of the most important R&B, rock, and jazz records ever made. In his own words, Tom relates how he went from working on the Manhattan Project, while still high school age, to recording some of the greatest music ever made over the last half of the 20th Century.
In the course of the film we see interviews with Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Al Schmitt, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Les Paul, Phil Ramone, Joe Bonamassa, and many more of Tom’s musical collaborators.
After the film screening, we will be honored to have Tom’s daughter Dana Dowd share memories and answer questions.
Seating is limited and by advance ticket only.
NOTE: No food or drink (including water) is allowed in the Dolby Theater, so come hydrated and fed.
Doors will open shortly after 5, the program will start promptly at 5:30. Movie at 5:35pm, Q&A will follow at 7:05; event ends at 8:00 sharp.
Presented by the AES Historical Track in conjunction with Language of Music Films LLC and Dana Dowd
Friday, October 18, 10:15 am — 11:15 am (1E11)
Archiving & Restoration: AR02 - Cache Rules Everything Around Me: Archiving and Preserving Hip-Hop in a Digital Age
Chair:R. Sommer McCoy, The Mixtape Museum/Columbia University - New York, NY, USA; Hip-Hop Hacks - The Brooklyn Academy of Music
Panelists:
Rocky Bucano, Universal Hip-Hop Museum
Manny Faces, The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy - Newark, NJ, USA
Syreeta Gates
DJ Rich Nice
DJ Dirty Harry, FUBU Radio - New York, NY, USA
The early recordings of hip-hop’s beginnings are in danger of deterioration. The genesis of hip hop began roughly 46 years ago and was largely captured on the celebrated medium of the time, the compact cassette. Cassettes captured hip-hop’s early sounds at live performances and park jams. Decades later, many of these one-of-a-kind recordings live in unstable environments exposed to elements that can erase their existence.
In an effort to rescue, preserve, and restore these original recordings, initiatives like The Mixtape Museum are organizing for solutions. In addition, we are witnessing an unprecedented effort to archive hip-hop in museums, cultural heritage institutions, and libraries, and an expanded presence in the burgeoning field of hip-hop scholarship.
This panel examines:
• The cultural, artistic, and historical significance of hip-hop’s early cassette-based recordings (mixtapes, bootleg recordings, “demo” versions, etc.) and the importance of preserving them.
• The technical and engineering challenges unique to hip-hop. Where and how do current technologies play a role?
• Who can implement the technologies needed to preserve, archive, and distribute hip-hop? How can DJs, artists, collectors, archivists, librarians, producers, engineers, and technologists collaborate on these efforts
• The current unprecedented effort to archive hip-hop in private collections, museums, cultural heritage institutions, and libraries. What are the pros and cons of academic institutions vs. community-driving preservation?
Friday, October 18, 11:00 am — 12:00 pm (1E21)
Recording & Production: RP14 - For the Record: Engineering Prince
Moderator:Leslie Ann Jones, Recording Engineer and Producer, Director of Music Recording and Scoring, Skywalker Sound - San Rafael, CA, USA
Panelists:
Lisa Chamblee
Sylvia Massy, Unhinged Industries - Ashland
Peggy McCreary
Susan Rogers, Berklee College of Music - Boston, MA, USA
Women's Audio Mission (WAM) is proud to present a special panel discussion with a group of top engineers who worked closely with the legendary artist Prince. Come hear Sylvia Massy, Susan Rogers, Peggy McCreary, and Lisa Chamblee recount their experiences of working with the prolific star on albums like Purple Rain, Diamonds and Pearls, Fury, 3121, and D.M.S.R., as well as other tales of Paisley Park. Panel will be moderated by the Grammy-winning engineer, Leslie Ann Jones.
| This session is presented in association with the AES Technical Committee on Recording Technology and Practices |
Friday, October 18, 11:15 am — 12:15 pm (1E10)
Historical: H07 - Compression Driver DNA: The Origin and Seeds of Progress
Presenters:Thomas Dunker
Bjørn Kolbrek, Celestion - Ipswich, UK
The successful commercialization of sound films in 1926 by Western Electric and Vitaphone marked the start of large scale high quality sound reproduction. Central in the success of the Vitaphone was the Western Electric 555 compression driver, the grandmother of modern compression drivers, developed by the Bell Labs. We will take a closer look at the technology inside this remarkable driver through never-before-published reports, including unimplemented proposed improvements.
Further Bell Labs development into high-power wide-range drivers resulted in the second generation of compression drivers, in the form of the Western Electric 594A. This driver marks the start of modern compression driver design and is worthy of some detailed discussion.
Friday, October 18, 1:45 pm — 2:45 pm (1E13)
Audio Builders Workshop: AB04 - Reviving Classic and Esoteric Tech
Chair:Chris Kincaid, Audio Builders Workshop - Louisville, KY, USA; IUPUI - Indianapolis, IN, USA
Presenters:
Mike Buffington
Stephen Masucci
Mike Buffington and Stephen Masucci are working to keep historical instruments relevant and on the airwaves. They will discuss the techniques, tools, and methods used to bring back instruments made by G. Jenny, C. Musser, L. Theremin, and others, and create new instruments inspired by classics!
Friday, October 18, 2:45 pm — 3:45 pm (1E11)
Archiving & Restoration: AR04 - Restoring Hank Williams
Presenters:Michael Graves, Osiris Studio - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Cheryl Pawelski, Omnivore Records
Jett Williams
Kelly Zumwalt
To the delight of critics and fans alike, 2013 saw the discovery and release of previously unknown Hank Williams recordings. The "Garden Spot Programs, 1950" album was comprised of four 15-minute radio shows and shed new light on Williams’ recording career. It also demonstrated just how good a set of old transcription discs can sound when properly transferred, restored, and mastered. The release ended up winning the Best Historical GRAMMY in 2014. Now, the same team involved with "The Garden Spot Programs, 1950" are revisiting Williams’ "Health & Happiness" shows and the "Mother’s Best" recordings. Meet the team behind these historic projects; Hank Williams estate representatives Jett Williams and Kelly Zumwalt, Producer Cheryl Pawelski, and mastering engineer/audio restoration specialist Michael Graves.
Friday, October 18, 4:30 pm — 5:30 pm (1E11)
Archiving & Restoration: AR06 - You Mean You Wanted Those Tracks?!: Challenges of Preserving Multitrack Recordings
Chair:Jeff Willens, New York Public Library - New York, NY, USA
Panelists:
Bryan Hoffa, Library of Congress - NAVCC - Culpeper, VA, USA
Kelly Pribble, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services - Moonachie, New Jersey, USA
Whether on analog tape, digital tape, or born digital media, multitrack recordings make up an increasingly large percentage of archival content in need of preservation. How are various institutions dealing with the problem of multitracks? Do they see a difference between analog and born-digital sources? Do they require alternative workflows? This panel will cover practical and technical considerations of multitrack preservation, including tape degradation, the need for backups, metadata storage, and file-level tagging, as well as the need to develop industry-wide best practices for archiving multitrack recordings.
Presented in collaboration with ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections)
Saturday, October 19, 9:00 am — 12:00 pm (South Concourse B)
Audio Builders Workshop: AB05 - DIY Build Clinic: Starting Your Next Build Today with Audio Builders Workshop
Co-chairs:Owen Curtin, Audio Builders Workshop - Lexington, MA, USA; Bridge Sound and Stage - Cambridge, MA, USA
Chris Kincaid, Audio Builders Workshop - Louisville, KY, USA; IUPUI - Indianapolis, IN, USA
Panelists:
Peterson Goodwyn, DIY Recording Equipment - Philadephia, PA, USA
Brewster LaMacchia, Clockworks Signal Processing LLC - Andover, MA, USA
Matthew McGlynn, MicParts.com - Sebastopol, CA, USA; Roswell Pro Audio
Sign up for this exclusive opportunity to build your very own gear from DIY Recording Equipment, MicrophoneParts.com, and Audio Builders Workshop module under the supervision of the designers, Peterson Goodwyn, Matthew McGlynn, and Brewster LaMacchia. This 3 hour session requires preregistration and a purchase of the kit. This build clinic is open to everyone, even beginners so if you’ve been on the fence to build this device or just get into DIY audio now is the perfect opportunity! Leave with a working tool that you can use in your own production. More information for signup can be found at Audio Builders Workshop signup
Saturday, October 19, 9:00 am — 10:00 am (1E21)
Archiving & Restoration: AR07 - Archiving the 90s!
Moderator:Jason Bitner, Traffic Entertainment Group - Somerville, MA, USA
Panelists:
Kaylie Ackerman, Harvard University - Cambridge, MA, USA
Eddie Ciletti, Manhattan Sound Technicians, Inc. - West Saint Paul, MN, USA
Kelly Pribble, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services - Moonachie, New Jersey, USA
Catherine Vericolli, Fivethirteen Recording - Tempe, AZ, USA; Useful Industries - Nashville, TN, USA
Archival practice often spotlights the challenges of working with magnetic tape and grooved media. This panel shifts focus to the formats used frequently in 1990s recording production: ADAT, DA-88 and DA-89, DTRS, 1630. Loads of great records were made on these formats, frequently in project studios with smaller budgets. Sadly, they are some of the most at-risk formats, both because the carriers are awful and the because playback machines in working order are hard to find and maintain. The fact that most of the studios using these formats were smaller project studios with minimal budgets only heightens the urgency of preserving this content. Panelists will talk about playback and preservation of these formats, specific considerations in capturing audio, timecode and other data, sourcing and maintaining playback machines, and curating releases from this content.
Saturday, October 19, 10:00 am — 11:00 am (1E21)
Archiving & Restoration: AR08 - Finding Funding: How to Connect Audio Archival Collections, Vendors, and Funders
Moderator:John Krivit, Professional Audio Design - Hanover, MA, USA; Emerson College - Boston, MA, USA
Panelists:
Joy Banks, CLIR
Steve Rosenthal, MARS (MagicShop Archive and Restoration Studios) - Brooklyn, NY, USA
Gerald Seligman
Derek Spencer, GRAMMY Museum
Representatives from major funding organizations will offer an inside look at the grant writing and review process for archival audio projects. Panelists will discuss how to prepare to write a grant, what kinds of projects are likely to get funded, red flags or other obstacles that can derail a grant application, alternatives to grant funding. The takeaway will be a better understanding of how to connect collections, funders, and vendors.