Location: Hybrid mee4ting, in person at Seattle Pacific University, Seattle WA, and online via Zoom
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Micah Hayes -Assistant Professor of Music Technology and the Director of Music Production at Seattle Pacific University
A common problem faced by organizations that present concerts where recordings are made for archival or other reasons is creating an organized and logical system for storing and then retrieving the program sometime in the future. Not only is there the problem of storing the physical media of the recordings, but also the problem of cataloging and granting access to the materials.
Many organizations record audio (and maybe video) of their concerts, only to find themselves storing the recordings on hard drives and computers, saving them for later. Some find themselves with boxes and closets full of hard drives, filled with concert recordings that need to be mixed before they can be publicly accessed. Some have other temporary methods of storing concert recordings. Whatever, it's an uncatalogued and inaccessible mess.
This presentation gives clear guidelines on avoiding this scenario by creating and maintaining an online music archive that faculty, students, staff, and the public can use to stream and download concert recordings. Seattle Pacific University uses Microsoft SharePoint — software that schools have available with most Microsoft education packages, (like Microsoft 365).
There will also be a tour of the SPU Music Recording facility.
Posted: Friday, February 18, 2022
Location: Zoom, from locations around Puget Sound, Seattle WA USA
Moderated by: Angela Dane
Speaker(s): Jam Phelps - Denk Studios
Reaper is a DAW program that is gaining popularity. It is full-functioned, and the cost to license it for use is both flexible and reasonable. There is a reasonable trial mode, with the program fully functional, so you can actually get work done with it while you try it out.
In this meeting, you will learn how to use Reaper from opening the program to completing mix projects, recording sessions, and producing with MIDI. We will also focus on Reaper's automation features. You will learn the basic functionality of Reaper for recording, adding plug-ins and virtual instruments, rendering multi tracks and finished projects, and other mixing features. This is for folks with some DAW knowledge and a basic understanding of audio. Angela Dane of the AESPNW Section Committee will moderate the meeting.
Feel free to send any questions in beforehand; you may also send stems to work with live to: denkstudioswgr (at) gmail
RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-introduction-to-the-reaper-daw-presented-by-jam-phelps-denk-studio...
Posted: Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Location: Cyberspace, via Zoom
Moderated by: Greg Dixon - Chair, AESPNW Section
Speaker(s): James D. (jj) Johnston - Immersion Networks
The Topic
Lately, there have been discussions about masking involving several topics, from "can I hear this instrument over that instrument," to "can I hear this at all." The answer to that lies in the phenomenon of masking, wherein the cochlear receptors, which have a total dynamic range circa 90dB, are actually 30dB receptors that are effectively gain-ranged. This means that a second signal that is very close in frequency to a stronger signal is most likely gone completely if it's 30dB down, and in some cases, gone at as little as 5.5dB or even 3.5dB lower than the masking signal.
In order for this talk to make sense easily, it would be a very, very good idea to go and listen to Hearing 099, presented in April 2019. Hearing 099 described the actual filtering that takes place in the cochlea, because in fact masking works within each cochlear filter bandwidth, so signal spectra must be taken completely into account when examining masking phenomena.
After discussion of the monaural situation, a discussion of the binaural situation will be included, pointing out the problem of Binaural Masking Level depression (which can drop the local spectrum masking level from -5.5 dB to -30dB, leading to the "Suzanne Vega Effect," and also pointing out the need for proper "panning" methods that allow unmasking for signals that would be otherwise inaudible.
James D. (jj) Johnston is Chief Scientist of Immersion Networks. He has a long and distinguished career in electrical engineering, audio science, and digital signal processing. His research and product invention spans hearing and psychoacoustics, perceptual encoding, and spatial audio methodologies.
He was one of the first investigators in the field of perceptual audio coding, one of the inventors and standardizers of MPEG 1/2 audio Layer 3 and MPEG-2 AAC. Most recently, he has been working in the area of auditory perception and ways to expand the limited sense of realism available in standard audio playback for both captured and synthetic performances.
Johnston worked for AT&T Bell Labs and its successor AT&T Labs Research for two and a half decades. He later worked at Microsoft and then Neural Audio and its successors before joining Immersion. He is an IEEE Fellow, an AES Fellow, a NJ Inventor of the Year, an AT&T Technical Medalist and Standards Awardee, and a co-recipient of the IEEE Donald Fink Paper Award. In 2006, he received the James L. Flanagan Signal Processing Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society, and presented the 2012 Heyser Lecture at the AES 133rd Convention: Audio, Radio, Acoustics and Signal Processing: the Way Forward. In 2021, along with two colleagues, Johnston was awarded the Industrial Innovation Award by the Signal Processing Society "for contributions to the standardization of audio coding technology."
Mr. Johnston received the BSEE and MSEE degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA in 1975 and 1976 respectively.
To RSVP
Posted: Friday, December 31, 2021
Location: Seattle WA, USA -- via ZOOM
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Sylvia Massy - https://www.sylviamassy.com/
About our event: Part 1 of Sylvia's mic collection was seen in 2020
THIS EVENT IS FREE, OPEN TO ALL, AND AES MEMBERSHIP IS NOT REQUIRED.
Register at the AES PNW Section Eventbrite page RSVP here
We had such a good time last year with Sylvia Massy showing some of the most compelling, interesting, and extremely rare mics in her collection, we asked for more! In addition to owning the largest microphone collection in the world, Sylvia maintains the world's largest library of original microphone documentation and supporting materials. She keeps over 1000 unique vintage microphone models in her studio and that's only a portion of her entire collection, which contains several historically significant and unusual microphones that simply don't exist anywhere else.
Join the AES PNW Section for this special encore presentation. This is a unique opportunity to see and learn about some extremely fascinating and rare microphones, from one-of-a-kind prototypes to industry-changing breakthroughs — Marconi-Reisz carbons to original Telefunkens, Neumann Gefells to Amelia Earhart's Western Electric, from the Rauland Duo 1247 to the MGM Church, and pretty much everything in between. You might use microphones every day in your job, but you've never seen anything like this!
She's the unpredictable producer and engineer renowned for her work with Tool, System of a Down, Johnny Cash and Prince. She's received over 25 gold and platinum records including awards for her work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust and Tom Petty. She's also an accomplished fine artist, a published columnist, in-demand educator, and relentless entrepreneur. But to her many friends, she's just Sylvia, the Radiant Being. Sylvia's recent book, Recording Unhinged, dares you to abandon safe record-making, to get out from behind the windshield, stick your head out the sunroof, and put the pedal to the metal! Sylvia Massy and her cohort of celebrity music industry producers, engineers, and recording stars discard fixed notions about how music should be recorded. They explore techniques that fall outside the norm and yield emotionally powerful, incredibly personal, gutwrenching, and even scary recordings.
THIS IS A ZOOM MEETING!
RSVP REQUIRED RSVP here
6PM PST (UTC -8)
Posted: Friday, November 26, 2021
Location: Digipen Intitute of Technology, Redmond WA USA & online via Zoom
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Ian Shores, Highwire Games, Dan Mortensen & Lawrence Schwedler, AES PNW Section
Join us for our first in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic at DigiPen Redmond, or online in a special hybrid in-person/online meeting of the AES PNW Section.
Sound designer Ian Shores will share his knowledge of game audio spatialization while we try to equalize the local with the remote using in-person video, audio, and the internet via Zoom.
N.B. If you plan to attend in person, you must be vaccinated or tested, and you must wear a mask while on the DigiPen Premises. This is in accord with current DigiPen Policy. More details can be found at the AESPNW Website.
In three-dimensional video games, audio spatialization is a key factor for driving immersion and player feedback. In this newest wave of virtual reality audio, the ostentatious audio designer speaks of techniques like ambisonics and HRTF filters. No doubt they are powerful techniques, but perhaps they receive too much credit. Realistic audio spatialization is a complex and holistic experience, and many techniques must be employed to create true spatial fidelity. ‹ AAA is an informal classification used for games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, which typically have higher development and marketing budgets than other tiers of games. ›
One such set of techniques-transmission and portalling, i.e., how sound travels between spaces-is often overlooked, but not for good reason. Some AAA audio teams have quietly employed this technique for much longer than many may realize, and recent advancements in game audio middleware have made the tools and techniques available to a wider group of audio designers.
This talk will cover several common techniques for defining spatial audio transmission in games, explaining relatively basic concepts such as occlusion and reverb zones, as well as more advanced techniques like portals and diffraction, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of each technique. Besides the theoretical, there will be practical examples of complex transmission and portalling demonstrated using Unreal Engine 4 and Wwise.
First, all in-person attendees and participants must show proof of full vaccination, per Digipen's rules, and masks are required to be worn throughout the time in the building. No one will be admitted who does not agree to abide by these rules. Refreshments, which are normally part of our meetings, will be served if allowed at that time. Online participants can do as they please.
One of the great things about the last year and a half has been our Section's ability to reach out to people all over the world and have them be part of the meetings and respond positively and appreciatively. We want to sustain that mutual positivity. This meeting will be an exploration of how to do that.
Our goal is to give online participants equal participation to those in the room, and let those in the room see and hear all that's going on in the meeting, including what remote attendees have to contribute.
Co-Presenter and Committee member Dan Mortensen has been actively exploring the possibilities of online interaction through his weekly Tea Time Topics mini-meetings that actually have turned out to be pretty maxi-, in that they allow people with like interests from all over the world to really dig into a topic to the depth that people who are really into it (like us, with audio) want to spend on it. This has evolved to the meetings routinely lasting 3.5 to 4 hours, with the record being over 6 hours (yesterday, as this is written, with Matthew Lutthans showing his mastering studio tools, tricks, and techniques). The achievable level of engagement is incredible, with people always wanting to make one more comment and then someone else wants to respond to that, and then one more again.
Dan also presented our first on-line meeting about mixing concerts on iPads using a mixing console with no physical controls, which showed us how strong the online meetings could be, and we are looking forward to see what he comes up with to make this hybrid meeting work. (He wrote this part, as he's eager to see what he comes up with, too.)
He has been consulting with Lawrence, Gary Louie, Rick Chinn, and Gordon McGregor about it and he hopes he's learned something that he can implement.
For his part, Lawrence Schwedler has also been trying to maximize the online experience for his students at DigiPen, and as the Co-Chair of the first-ever Virtual (attendance via avatars) Conference about Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality (AVAR) in 2020 and the next AVAR in 2022.
They will briefly talk about putting this together and eagerly listen to your thoughts about how it worked/didn't work for you, and how it could be better.
Directions to the DigiPen Campus, the Eventbrite link for online Zoom link, presenter's bios, and more at the AESPNW website: https://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/
Other Business: Save the date: December 7th, 2021. Time TBD Sylvia Massy's Mind-Blowing Microphone Museum, PART 2 ZOOM only. https://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/ for details once everything is set.
Posted: Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Location: Virtual meeting via Zoom, Redmond WA, USA (virtual only)
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Jamie Howarth, John Chester, Plangent Processes
Every analog magnetic recording starts with a motor dragging a rusty strip of plastic over rollers and guides, across scraping metal parts. Unfortunately, every inconsistency in the speed of the tape as it traces this obstacle course distorts the music being recorded. The transport's various imperfections create an ever-changing matrix of speed variations, slow or fast, subtle or severe.
At worst, this results in the familiar warps and warbles known as 'wow" and "flutter." It can even (as in the famous case of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue") cause a perceptible tuning change over time.
Even the very best analog recordings - wherein the obvious wow and flutter are fairly well under control — are nevertheless affected by varying and shifting patterns of high frequency flutter, causing random beat frequencies to be introduced which seriously interfere with the natural harmonic structure of the musical material.
Until recently, there was no way to eliminate these defects and to regain the neutrality and transparency originally in the mix at the console output. With Plangent's unique combination of a wideband low-noise repro capture system and forward-thinking DSP it is possible to correct these artifacts.
The Plangent Process Playback System is a hybrid hardware/software package combining state of the art contemporary analog electronics coupled with unique digital signal processing.
It begins with an ultra-wideband low-distortion custom reproduce head and subsequent associated hand-wired preamp, followed by proprietary DSP that provides total speed stabilization and wow and flutter correction. This unique combination of integrated hardware and post-processing provides the archival mastering and preservation community a level of playback quality never before possible.
Join Jamie Howarth, President of Plangent Processes, and John Chester, Chief Transfer Engineer, as they take us through the invention and process of Plangent, with many examples of how it works.
They will show us an actual tape on an actual tape machine (remember those?) and show us the Plangent hardware capturing audio and bias. They will describe a simple case of the digital post-processing doing its thing, but some details are proprietary and won't be discussed.
The difference between the unprocessed music and a Plangent-processed version of the same music can be quite dramatic, and we'll hear examples of each.
The presentation is on Zoom (free registration through Eventbrite required to get the Zoom link; see URL), and non-Members are always welcome.
Posted: Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Location: Seattle Metro, WA, USA
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Paul Hubert, James D. (jj) Johnston, Jim Rondinelli - Immersion Networks
Immersion Networks, the spatial audio innovators, are launching a cloud platform that allows anyone to upload tracks and mix them in a three-dimensional environment. Remarkably intuitive and affordable, mix3 by Immersion Networks (mixcubed.com; pronounced "mixcubed") is the first 3D audio mixing platform available to everyone—podcasters, content creators, producers, artists, and engineers--that lets them transform files into lush, intimate, headphone-ready mixes. These mixes can be appreciated without special hardware and distributed through streaming services.
The result of years of development, the Immersion Networks Mixtool was originally intended for a high powered studio workstation, but the realization that people weren't going into high powered studios anymore led to making a more decentralized offering. Immersion realized that by moving processing into the cloud, their tool would be accessible to a lot more people at a much lower cost. Not quite as driven by people not going into the studio, it was more about maximizing the impact of the tools with lower costs for all.
In use, Mixcubed is a cloud-based spatial audio mixer, taking mono (or stereo) stems, uploading them to the cloud and processing them there, while providing a simplified user interface in a browser window. Based on moving icons representing your tracks around a workspace with the listener in the center, computation takes place in the cloud, returning a stereo spatialized headphone mix. When the mix placement is complete (including relative levels, both direct and indirect in the virtual space), pressing the render button renders and returns a high quality (96/24) stereo file that is compatible with all players and distribution services. Although the target listener uses headphones, the resulting mixes work remarkably well on loudspeakers.
Mixcubed will be a subscription offering, with additional features (such as motion automation) delivered regularly.
The results are revolutionary.
See for yourself! Headphones recommended.
Other Business: Annual Section Business Meeting and Elections See: https://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/bio2021.htm for more information.
Posted: Sunday, May 23, 2021
Rational Acoustics logo
Location: Seattle Metro area, Seattle, Washington, USA
Moderated by: Dan Mortensen
Speaker(s): Michael Lawrence & Jamie Anderson - Rational Acoustics
Smaart is an FFT-based audio analysis program. The name stands for System Measurement Acoustic Analysis Real-time Tool. Smaart can be used in many ways to examine sound systems in detail in order to diagnose and solve problems, and to confirm proper setup and operation. It can also be used to characterize the performance of and diagnose problems with the components of those sound systems, as well as components of the system's acoustic output itself and the space containing the sound. In many ways, the program's capabilities are only limited by the user's imagination, and this meeting will explore these capabilities and more.
Starting off with a brief history of FFT audio analysis, we'll look at how it got translated into audio use, and how Smaart came to be and to evolve into what it is today. Rational Acoustics' President Jamie Anderson, who has been present and active in much of the history of FFT audio analysis, will share some of that history with us.
Jamie and Michael Lawrence, Rational Acoustics' Application Support Specialist and Smaart SPL Product Manager, will guide us through some of the ways Smaart is used to assist in evaluating sound, both conventional and unconventional. This includes the idea of "sandbox engineering," which is using your available tools to design experiments that allow you to answer your own questions rather than waiting for someone else to answer them for you.
Our own Bob Smith will be on hand to share his experiences and usages of Smaart. Other attendees' experiences and usage stories will be welcomed.
This Zoom meeting is free to all, and free tickets are available at the Eventbrite link below. We require that all present use their real names in Zoom, mute your microphone and turn off your video during the presentation except when asking questions, and that each attendee gets tickets through Eventbrite (no account needed, no ticket sharing) so we can know how many people are going to attend. Our Zoom account has a finite capacity.
Other Business: Election notice: The following persons are nominated: Chair - Greg Dixon, Vice-Chair - Bob Smith, Secretary - Gary Louie, Treasurer - Lawrence Schwedler Section Committee: Jess Berg, Micah Hayes, James D. (JJ) Johnston, Dr. Michael Matesky, Dan Mortensen The actual election takes place at the June 2021 Meeting.
Posted: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Location: Seattle WA metro area (Zoom meeting)
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Bellew) - Babypantsmusic.com
Seattle-based artist Caspar Babypants has released 18 albums of clever, catchy, and irresistible music for children since 2009. The mastermind behind Caspar Babypants is Chris Ballew, who first gained national notoriety in the '90s with the group The Presidents of the United States of America. Ballew records and produces the Caspar Babypants albums at his studio where he works and occasionally collaborates with other musicians. Across his catalog of recordings he has created a unique high-fidelity sound with both acoustic and electronic instruments that remains remarkably consistent across all of his albums. At this meeting, participants will get a chance to learn from Ballew about his approach to recording albums and get an inside look at the artist at work in his studio. We encourage families, children, and people of all ages to attend this online meeting. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and talk with Ballew about his musical legacy.
WHO? Caspar Babypants is also known as Chris Ballew. Chris is the three time Grammy nominated songwriter and lead singer for the four times platinum Seattle based rock and roll band The Presidents of the United States of America.
WHAT? Caspar Babypants makes high quality, thoughtful, simple, acoustic sing along songs for parents and kids 0 to 6 years old to enjoy together. In addition he writes children's books with his wife Kate Endle. Kate illustrates the books and creates the cover art for the Caspar Babypants albums.
WHEN? Caspar began writing songs for kids in the summer of 2008 and put out his debut record in 2009. The 18th album "HAPPY HEART!" came out on 11/13/20. There are also a bunch of books written by Caspar and illustrated by his wife Kate Endle. "My Woodland Wish" and "Bunny Rabbit In The Sunlight" were published in 2011 and a third book called "Augie to Zebra" came out in 2012. There are two new books titles "Penguin On A Scooter" and "Ocean Motions" both of which came out in 2018.
WHY? Caspar says: "Having young children is a joyous and unforgettable experience. However, the home of new parents can also be a stressful, sleepless and nervous environment. That is why I make music that is a positive, helping component in the home and car where young families spend a lot of time together. I want to help parents sing to and with their children and provide a shared happy musical experience for the whole family. I specifically want to make music for newborn to 5 year old kids because I admire their associative, inventive imaginations and as an adult I nurture that same creativity and state on mind in myself." Caspar is also involved with several non-profits that focus on parent education and outreach to neglected and abused kids and homeless families.
WHERE? Caspar Babypants lives in West Seattle and Vashon Island by the beach and in the woods where the songs are.
Other Business: June Election Notice. If you're interested/willing to participate in the operation and activities of your Section, you can do so by serving on the Section Committee. If this interests you, please contact any Section officer or committee member for further details.
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2021
Location: Redmond WA, USA Via Zoom
Moderated by: Greg Dixon
Speaker(s): Dr. Angela Dane, Atrocity Drums; Maria Garcia, multi instrumentalist & producer, Ryan Lee, multi instrumentalist and live sound engineer; Lillian Blair, Staff Engineer @ Vera Project
Note: the meeting time is Pacific Time, UTC -8.
AES PNW Section | March Meeting Notice
Diversity & Inclusion within the AES PNW Section
Presented by
Dr. Angela Dane
Teacher, Writer, Musician, Producer
and the
AES PNW Section
ZOOM MEETING 6:00PM PST (UTC -8)
Wednesday, 10 March, 2021
At the 133rd AES Convention (San Francisco, 2012), Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato participated in the "Women of Professional Concert Sound" panel; SoundGirls was then established to provide women working in professional audio a community to come to for support and advice, and for empowerment and inspiration.
Dr. Angela Dane, our presenter, thinks the PNW Section could provide similar mentorship programs, perhaps in conjunction with the Audio Production Certificate program at UW, of which she is currently a student. As of now, there are zero women or people of color as instructors in the program.
Dr. Dane created the Facebook group Womxn & Audio (Seattle), to connect women and non-binary engineers and audiophiles and to learn from others' wisdom and experience without fear of intimidation or inherent bias. It began as a small group of 5 and quickly grew to 200. They have invited legendary engineers like Susan Rogers to speak to their group as well as holding masterclasses on the basics of audio, mixing, and mastering.
Professionals in the field, like Latin Grammy nominee Maria Elisa Ayerbe, have given demos of their mixing techniques and methods. On January 14th, Leslie Gaston-Bird, author of Women in Audio was interviewed by our group to discuss her research as well as the lack of representation of women of color in the field. Seattle is no exception in this regard. The group is extremely productive and encouraging, clearly responding to a demonstrated need within the community.
Dr. Dane's band, Atrocity Girl, built their own DIY studio at home, due to unfortunate incidents with male engineers in Seattle studios, including one who threatened their bassist, another who hit on their guitarist, and another who sent inappropriate Facebook messages and another commented — the moment the band walked in — "women are always wasting time talking." This immediately made everyone feel insecure and guarded. These four instances occurred in 2020, weeks apart, as they attempted to find a fit for their all-girl band to record their debut album.
Message from the AES Diversity and Inclusion Committee Co-Chairs: Mary Mazurek and Cecilia Wu
This is a Zoom meeting, and your RSVP is required to attend.
The RSVP link and the presenter's bio sketches can be found at the AES PNW Section website: https://www.aes.org/sections/pnw
Posted: Monday, March 1, 2021
