Meeting Topic: Fourth Annual Central Region Audio Student Summit
Moderator Name: Gary Gottlieb
Speaker Name: Numerous, listed in report
Meeting Location: Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri
The Fourth Annual Central Region Audio Student Summit took place at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri March 26 — 28 hosted by the Webster University AES student section and co-hosted by the Kansas City Kansas Community College student section along with the St. Louis Regional professional section. Coinciding with Webster's Audio Production program's 20th anniversary, it was a non-stop celebration and wildly successful. The Summit brought together over 400 students from nine states, as far away as Texas and Minnesota, to learn together and mingle with their future peers.
Presenters and panelists from both educational institutions and the private sector combined to share their knowledge, expertise, experience, and more than a few anecdotes with the students. The feeling of camaraderie and cooperation was strong throughout the event.
Presenters and others who came to help, (even if some of them weren't on a panel), include George Massenburg, Andrew Derbak, Barry Hufker, Barry Marshall, Bill Schulenburg, Bob Horner, Carlos Bedoya, Chip Self, Chris Mara, Christopher Plummer, CJ Lewis, Danny Leake, Darrell Mark McClanahan, Dave Matchak, Dave Mendez, David Burdick, Devon Cooke, Doug Ordon, Fadi Hayek, Frank Oglethorpe, Gary Chester, Geoff Gerber, Greg Groeper, Ian Corbett, Ian Verdugo, J Franze, James McKinney, Jeff Elbel, Jeffrey Tackett, Jim Kaiser, Joe Blasingame, John Krivit, John Peckham, Jonathan Novick, Ken Platz, Konrad Strauss, Kris Markman, Kyle Vande Slunt, Larry Baden, Lee Buckalew, Leslie Mona-Mathus, Lew Frisch, Luke Smith, Mark Rubel, Mary Edwards, Matt Brown, Matt Emick, Maurice Patist, Mike Prado, Neal Schmitt, Paul Hennerich, Paul Stamler, Rusty Wandall, Sarah Van Ballegooijen, Scott Esterson, Shaun Wall, Stephen Hodde, Stephen Ward, Steve Cearley, Teri Grossheim, Tom Harding, Tony San Fillipo, and Tori Meyer
Sponsors made the event possible. Some, like Shure, AEA, Audio Precision and others donated gifts for raffles and prizes for the Mixing Competition, others, like PMC, Prism and Genelec supplied equipment to ensure that every room sounded great, while others took inexpensive ads in the Summit program or had booths. Sponsors for the event included AEA, AES, AES St. Louis, Audio Precision, Audio Technica, Cengage, Elsevier, Emanon Records, Essential Sound Productions, Euphonix, Genelec, Gotham Audio, Grammy U, Ironman Sound, Logic Systems, LS Electronics & Services, PMC, Prism Sound, Sennheiser, Shure, Sonnox, Sony Playstation, SPARS, SSL, Sweetwater, Universal Audio, Webster University and Women's Audio Mission
One of the annual highlights was the Mixing Competition. Luke Arens of Webster University took home a Shure KSM32 as First Prize this year, Jeremy Dudman of Middle Tennessee State University won Second Prize, a Shure SM7B, and Jin Tae Ko of Webster University received a Stereo Positioner from AEA for Third Prize. Thanks to this year's judges, Leslie Mona-Mathus, Tom Harding and Mark Rubel.
Other notable panels and presentations included George Massenburg's Keynote presentation, Sunday Morning Storytime, Superstition in Audio, Women in Audio, Late Night Analog, Vintage Gear Addicts, both Platinum Panels, and of course the Retro Lounge assembled by Lew Frisch of Gotham Audio, that ran throughout the weekend.
Students and professional all agreed that it was an educational and entertaining experience, and all are planning to return next year, April 1 — April 3 for the Fifth Annual Audio Student Summit.
