AES Student Blog

131st STUDENT RECORDING COMPETITION | THE INTERVIEWS

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:00:00 -0700

15/01/2012 | Interview with JA-ANN WANG (student at NYU, USA) - HONORABLE MENTION, Cat 4.

SDA: How long did you work on your competition entry? Was this your first entry?
JAW: I worked on the film for 2 full days during finals week at school because the director approached me less than a week before the deadline. This was the first original film I ever worked on.

SDA: Tell us about the production. Stories? Inspirations?
JAW: The director told me to watch Eraserhead by David Lynch for inspiration.

SDA: What initiated your passion for audio?
JAW: My iPod shuffled to the soundtrack for Finding Neverland. That was the first time I ever had any interest in sound. I then wanted to be a composer until I realized I was a terrible composer and switched to sound effects, design, etc.

SDA: And what is your funniest experience as an engineer so far?
JAW: Recording bed sheet rustle for ten sex scenes in a film.

SDA: Biggest mistake you made during a production?
JAW: Completely deleting the best full take.

SDA: Any favorite frequency?
JAW: Frequencies that make your heart beat faster without you even knowing it (about 10kHz).

SDA: Do you play any instruments?
JAW: Violin.

SDA: Any other hobbies?
JAW: Baking gourmet cupcakes.

SDA: What is the best part about the AES?
JAW: Skip Livsay showing us his Pro Tools sessions for No Country for Old Men.

SDA: Finally, where do you want to be in 10 years?
JAW: I want to own my own post-production studio working on indie films. I would love to work on some big feature films, too!

More invterviews coming up so stay stuned and get ready for the coming STUDENT RECORDING COMPETITION at AES 132nd - BUDAPEST.

Students Had Fun at 131!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:00:00 -0700

If you were smart, lucky or fortunate enough to be able to attend the 131^st Convention of the Audio Engineering Society October 20-23, 2011, you will no doubt attest that it was worth any amount to be there!

Students who made their way to the New York, along with 16,000 other fellow participants, took part in an amazing program of workshops, tutorials, technical programs, demonstrations and parties.

The world’s top audio professionals were available to student participants as mentors, recording competition judges, panelists, presenters or just to walk up to and speak with!

Students from all over the world crowded into the meeting rooms for the first and second meetings of the AES Student Delegate Assembly where outgoing North and Latin American Regions SDA Chair Philip Parenteau presided. A representative from each student chapter introduced his or her section and announced how many members had made the trip. Initiatives of the SDA were discussed and Don Puluse of the AES Educational Foundation spoke briefly about scholarships that were available for graduate study in the field of audio. Finally, the announcements of which entries would be finalists in the Student Recording Competition were made.

The four new categories of the Student Recording Competition made their US debut to an excellent response. Esteemed judges included mainstays Jim Anderson, Ulrike Schwarz, David Bowles, Mark Rubel, Ron Prent, Darcy Proper, Geoff Mitchell, Martha De Francisco and Richard King. New judges who joined us this year included Grammy winner Staff Sergeant Brandie Lane, Mika producer John Merchant and noted game audio designer Steven Harwood.

Sponsors who donated prizes included PMC, API, Avid, Auralex, Shure, Sennheiser, Melodyne/Music Marketing Canada, Merging Technologies, Schoeps Mikrofone GmbH, Solid State Logic, Sweetwater, Reaper and Extreme Isolation Headphones.

The judges recognized the following entries:

Traditional Acoustic (category 1)

• Jamie Tagg, (UMass - Lowell) SILVER

• Padraig Buttner-Schnirer , (McGill Schulich School of Music) GOLD

• Adam Grover, (The Hartt School: University of Hartford ) BRONZE

• Eric Xu, (Steinhardt School, NYU) BRONZE

Traditional Studio (category 2)

• Jeff Braun, (Middle Tennessee State University) GOLD

• Andrew Cass, (The Hartt School - University of Hartford) BRONZE

• Takino Masumi, (Tokyo University of the Arts) GOLD

Modern Studio (category 3)

• Hiromu Tanokura, (Tokyo University of Arts) SILVER

• Taylor Bray, (Middle Tennessee State University) SILVER

• Kevin Harper, (Ithaca College) SILVER

• Robert Hunt, (Institute of Audio research) HONORABLE MENTION

Visual Media (category 4)

• Tariq Burney, (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) SILVER

• Kevin Fallis, (Vancouver Film School) GOLD

• Ja-Ann Wang, (New York University) HONORABLE MENTION

• Sundiata Devore, (Institute of Audio Research) BRONZE

While the above entrants can feel good about the awards that they received, the true value of the Recording Competition will forever be the helpful criticisms and suggestions put forward by the judges. Because this is done in a public forum, all who show up will reap the benefit of the judges’ wisdom!

For those perhaps not up for the competition, Dr. Ian Corbett and David Greenspan of the AES Education Committee put on three hours of Student Recording Critiques where students, in a non-competitive setting, were able to listen to comments from experts. Thanks to Maurice Patist of PMC who made this and other great events possible by hosting it in his demo room and for providing not one but two wonderful PMC playback systems!

Students and recent graduates were able to find great career advice at the session called: Speed Counseling with Experts-Mentoring Answers for your Career. This event was organized by Kirk Imamura of SPARS (Society of Professional Recording Services) who brought together an amazing group of 22 respected industry pros in six different career tracks including record production, mastering, post, sound for film, gaming and live sound. Niko Bloas, Leslie Mona-Mathis and Randy Merrill were just three of the pros who spoke to the 88 individual attendees.

For those looking for a sampling of academic audio programs or to find opportunities in the professional world, the Career and Education Fair had its strongest participation ever with universities displaying information about their audio programs and companies speaking with students about jobs available.

While the exhibition hall gave students access to over 300 companies showing new products and offering a perspective on trends in the industry, the SDA offered its own booth just outside the main doors where student and education activities from sections around the globe were chronicled. Student chapters were invited to share pictures and written descriptions of regional events including the Central Region Audio Student Summit (CRASS) held in St. Louis, The Central European Student Summit held in Poland and the Boston Area Definitive Audio Student Summit (BADASS) held in Boston. The SDA booth also served as a great meeting place for students where information like results of the Recording Competition was posted.

Because all students love a good party, the opportunity to meet and socialize with other audio students was provided at the Student Social that was hosted downtown at NYU. Students hob-nobbed, ate some awesome New York pizza and made friends they’ll see at conventions to come!

On the final afternoon at the second meeting of the SDA, awards were presented, prizes were given, photographs taken, outgoing SDA Chair Philip Parenteau was officially commended for his outstanding service and an election was held for a new SDA officer. Colin Pfund of the University of Hartford squeeked out a narrow victory over another worthy candidate to become the new SDA Vice Chair for North & Latin American Regions. Congratulations Colin!

So, what was your favorite part of the 131^st AES Convention? Did you get to see Alex Case’s lectures on Delay and Comb Filtering? Did you meet the inventor of the MP3 Karl-Heinz Brandenburg? Did you get your photo snapped with rock star Ben Folds (I did!) Did you witness Recording Competition judge Jim Anderson hear things that you thought no one could hear? Did you make the connections to pros and to other students that will change your life? I want to know so please share your AES stories with the community and we’ll see you at the next convention.

John Krivit

Chair, Education Committee

Audio Engineering Society

Who wants to study Music Production & Recording for a year in Norway?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:00:00 -0700

Since 1994, the University of Stavanger Department of Music and Dance has offered a one-year graduate program in Music Production and Recording. The 60 ECTS credit program emphasizes the recording of music performance in acoustic spaces and provides practical opportunities for advanced students to enhance their audio education and experience. The program encourages students to work with a variety of music genre and can function as a viable alternative to a traditional, music recording internship.

The fulltime program of study is designed to supplement 3-4 years of higher education (bachelor’s degree) in music or a relevant field. Applicants must document previous education and related experience, including music proficiency. The program is limited to a maximum of ten qualified participants per year. International students, including ERASMUS exchange students, are welcome and encouraged to apply. All instruction is in English, and this has allowed the department to host students from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America, as well as those from Scandinavia.

Music Production and Recording at UiS provides students with opportunities to expand their musical and technical knowledge. As participants have different backgrounds, elements of the program can be modified to allow for specialization based on individual student’s personal interests. As practical exercises are emphasized, all students have generous amounts of individual studio time.

The program is completed in one academic year, beginning in mid-August and ending in mid-June. Instruction is given throughout the two-semester year, with much of the second semester focusing on practical music production and research projects. MPR students are required to complete a variety of live and studio productions and present a combination of papers and projects in music production/recording and critical listening for final evaluation.

The program includes group lectures, individual and small group instruction, study tours, and group projects. Cooperative projects frequently involve the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the NuMusic Festival, the Siddis Brass Festival, the Mai-Jazz International Jazz Festival, the Shell Music Prize Competition, the Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival, Nordic Music Week, and other professional music events.

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound shares the same campus as the MPR program and often provides unique research and work-study opportunities for students interested in audio archiving, restoration, and digitization.

Several acoustic environments for music recording are available for projects. The Lille Konsertsal (Small Concert Hall) was originally used by the Norwegian Broadcasting Company for recording the Stavanger Radio Symphony Orchestra. A smaller auditorium is available for solo and small ensemble recordings. A church simulation hall houses an 8-voice pipe organ and is used for performances requiring exceptionally “live” acoustics.

The Stavanger Concert House is often used for recording the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. Professional recording studios are linked to the various spaces, allowing students to compare acoustic environments along with analogue and digital production methods and technology. A new Stavanger Concert House with two halls will open in 2012, and the MPR students will be among the first to work in these performance spaces.

The MPR program’s latest studio is equipped for multi-channel surround recording, mixing, and mastering. The studio is based around a Yamaha DM2000 v.2 mixing console, a variety of popular digital audio workstation software, and a Genelec monitoring system. An additional control room is used for pre-production, editing, premastering, format transfer, and duplication. A variety of portable equipment is available for remote recording, as students frequently record in other regional venues.

MPR students are encouraged to participate in excursions to professional audio conventions within Norway and the rest of Europe, including the annual Audio Engineering Society conventions and the Nordic Sound Symposium. The MPR program is a member of the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services, and students have earlier benefited from travel grants from SPARS. In addition to visiting studios in the Stavanger area, students have travelled to Abbey Road in London and to the Norwegian Broadcasting Company studios, Lindberg Lyd, Rainbow Studio, Propeller Studio, NoTAM, and others in Oslo.

A year at the University of Stavanger will expand your knowledge of music production and recording, broaden your horizons, and change your life! The annual deadline for applications is December 15th, and all are encouraged to apply promptly. The program’s online application is active starting October 1st and is found at www.uis.no/music

Other undergraduate and graduate programs offered by the University of Stavanger’s Department of Music and Dance include classical and jazz performance, chamber music, arranging and composition, conducting, and dance. For more information about our project partners, as well as the University of Stavanger and Norway in general, please browse these websites:

If you have any questions, please contact the program’s director, Mark.Drews@uis.no.

Welcoming Women

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:00:00 -0700

"We are fast approaching 2012 and still, women make up only 27% of the technology or engineering fields, and 40% of those drop out after two years". Those unfortunate statistics are cited by New York University Professor Agnieszka Roginska who adds that "these numbers haven’t changed from when they were first reported 30 years ago.”

The Society of Women In TeCHnology (SWITCH) hosted a well-attended mixer at the 131st AES Convention to celebrate its inaugural year as a student run club for women technology students at NYU, both graduate and undergraduate. SWITCH empowers women to succeed in technology related fields, be it academic or professional, with an emphasis on music technology and the industry and arts professions. SWITCH is made up of engineers, scientists, artists, musicians, educators and music industry professionals who strive to inspire and learn from one and other. Through SWITCH, women are given an opportunity to network, collaborate, and share ideas.

For more information on SWITCH, contact Jeanne Montalvo at nyuswitch@gmail.com.

SWITCH can also be found on Facebook and Twitter!

CAREER OPPORTUNITY: Account Manager "Event Services" for iProbe

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:00:00 -0700

Account Manager "Event Services" for iProbe Multilingual Solutions, Inc

Job description:

iProbe Multilingual Solutions, Inc is hiring a Sales Professional to join to our NYC Event Services division. We help organizations execute multi-language events by enabling presenters to communicate with their audience in any language. We supply language interpretation equipment, record and transcribe meetings and set up indoor event banners to support the marketing efforts of our clients.

Ideal candidate: a polished live sound professional with an aptitude for sales and great phone manners or a college graduate with a sales background, an interest in live events and savvy enough in physics to pursue a career in pro audio.

What are SI Systems: The Simultaneous Interpretation Systems (SI Systems) we have available for rental & sales are an often overlooked but important aspect of live sound (audio visual). Without specialized audio equipment for language distribution, communications among the members of United Nations would less effective or straight out impossible. The use of SI Systems makes it possible for foreign companies to present their stock offerings to US investors, it enables American non-profit organizations to provide educational programs to Spanish speaking audiences and it enhances training opportunities for English speaking professional to participate in overseas workshops. You will work closely with the owner of the company to identify, qualify and develop new B2B business opportunities through cold calling and networking with AV companies, event planners, consulates and the UN missions. The job estimates 80% inside sales and 20% field visits.

The position requires a good work ethic and flexibility to satisfy on demand client needs. We are looking for someone who is a self-starter and interested in furthering their technical knowledge of pro-audio as used in a multi-language environment. As part of a small team you will get the opportunity to quickly progress.

Applicants must be US citizens or green card holders.

Application instructions:

1) Send your resume and cover note with salary requirements to Julie (paste into email body – please no attachments) to: setbon(at)iprobesolutions.com

2) In the email subject line please type: AES + Sales + “your city, state"