Following on from the successful joint event in 2007, that combined the Diploma Ceremony for the graduates of the "Sound Technician" exams with a Special AES Meeting, it was decided to confirm the new tradition for the 2009 exam graduates.
The combined event was held at the Kursaal in Bern and a record number of 44 "Sound Technician" diplomas were given out by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Education Committee, Messrs. Patrick Roe and Walo Hurzeler.
The Swiss pro audio community once again rewarded those graduates with the highest marks and thanks are due to Decibel (Allen & Heath), Dr. W.A. Gunther (Shure) and Bleuel (Sennheiser).
Keynote speakers in the past have dealt with the worlds of film and recording and the speaker for this event was consultant, Steve Dove, who talked about the opportunities and pitfalls of live sound in general and high-end touring in particular. Mr. Dove has enjoyed collaborations with many leading acts and
also included working with Clair Brothers as what might be termed 'overall system supervisor and coordinator' for major tours. The graduates were reminded that tour sound is about 90% human relations and 10% competence — with this 10% being extremely important! Personal organisation and welfare are also vital.
The ceremony was followed by the traditional apéro offered by the Education Committee and the Swiss AES, before going onto the second half of the event,
"An Evening with Steve Dove".
In his current position as consultant to Wheatstone, a company making digital systems for broadcast, Mr. Dove is very involved with the questions of Loudness
and this is almost the 'flavour of the month' subject at present in the broadcast community. Groups such as PLoud are hoping to arrive at putting some sanity into the loudness wars and in the USA, there is talk of government intervention if the industry does not put it's house in order.
Steve Dove used a Vorsis FM2000 broadcast processor to illustrate some of his points and to acquaint the less-informed members of the audience what 'loudness' really is. However, these were applicable in general sense and the principles are typical of most processing used in broadcast. An interesting comment was that it is 'only a matter of time before mastering houses start using the same techniques'.
The evening was concluded with an optional buffet dinner and further intensive discussions.
