left to right: Antonio J. de Oliveira, Suden Pamir, Michael Williams
The Turkish Student Section of the Audio Engineering Society organized a meeting and seminar on April 26, 2008 in Istanbul. The event was hosted by Galatasaray ITM, an academy focusing on audio and communication technologies, as many of the Turkish student members of the AES are enrolled there as students. About 40 AES members participated in the event. Due to space limitations, non-AES members were not admitted.
In the first half of what turned out to be a 10-hour marathon, Mr. Antonio J. De Oliveira (Vice President, AES Southern Region, Europe) talked in great detail about analog and digital interface formats, dynamics in analog and digital systems, interfacing different systems and various methods of measurement. Mr Oliveira offered several useful tips that could save the day by solving common problems encountered in typical studio or live performance situations.
Later during the day, Mr. Michael Williams took the floor to talk about multichannel recording and mixing. His unique approach to microphone placement, capturing live performances and room ambiences in a multichannel format instantly sparked debates among participants about how these techniques could be applied to more consumer-oriented platforms like games, movies, etc. Mr. Williams' advice on the right attitude for a sound engineer (which he summarized as "hearing with your eyes and seeing with your ears") was embraced by the participants as "words to live by". At the end of the seminar, many participants expressed a sense of "realignment in their perspective" in the sense that Mr. Williams reminded them to focus on presenting the music itself, as opposed to focusing on production techniques and processes.
Lest the concept of "7.0 audio" remain as a purely theoretical seminar topic, Mr. Williams proposed to arrange a listening session on the next day, which was welcomed by the participants. A 7.0 listening environment was set up in a cozy room at Galatasaray ITM and several participants had the opportunity to immerse themselves in a true multichannel listening experience (note that Mr. Williams explicitly avoids using ".1" terminology, insisting that each of the seven channels are represented by full-range speaker systems). The sound was absolutely stunning, totally immersing the audience in the heart of the performance. The feeling was that of "being there" with the ambience captured so perfectly that the listeners felt their stereo systems would never sound as glorious to them as they once did.
Overall, the meeting was a huge success in enlightening as well as motivating the participants. Many thanks to Mr. Oliveira and Mr. Williams.
