AES Section Meeting Reports

Mariana Hutten; Toronto AES Section — May 26, 2020

Meeting Topic: "Audio Spectrum" Women and Non-Binary in Audio

Moderator Name: Mariana Hutten - MCHC Owner; Toronto AES Executive Committee in charge of Membership

Speaker Name: Allison Sokil (PhD) - Doctoral Candidate in Ethnomusicology, University of Toronto; Cass Beauvais - Audio Engineer, Songwriter; Robyn Raymond - Record Cutting Engineer, Lacquer Channel Mastering; Annelise Noronha - Producer, Engineer, Composer, Educator, Harris Institute, Jane Tattersall - Post-production, SIM Post Toronto, aka Tattersall Sound & Picture.

Other business or activities at the meeting: Toronto Chair Anthony Kuzub made introductions and provided a background of the AES including providing a link to the Toronto AES website. He acknowledged the members of the Executive Committee. He mentioned academic liaisons noting the AES compliments the curriculums of Recording Schools.

Meeting Location: Virtual; Online (Zoom Conference)

Summary

The Toronto AES hosted an online round table event with women and non-binary members of Toronto's audio professionals. It was an evening where the participants shared their experiences, their professional history, their mentors and allies.

Anthony introduced Mariana Hutten and provided her background. Ms. Hutten put this event together.

Tonight's event was recorded and will be posted on the Toronto AES YouTube channel.

Mariana began the evening by asking each of the speakers to introduce themselves and provide their background and current projects.

Then these questions were put forward to the panel:

How was it at the beginning for you?
Who were your Mentors and Allies in the business?
Do you have anything to relate regarding discrimination or being held back?
What are some of the actions we can take to make the industry more inclusive?
What are some statistics about inequality related to the industry?

The event was as much a lively discussion as it was simply answering questions.

At the end of the evening the webinar was open to Q&A via the online chat from attendees.

Questions included:
What is your favourite piece of gear/software?
Book recommendations?
Any recent records that blew you away?
Has anyone ever lost a job or been discredited for race or gender, and how did they overcome it?
How will the AES speak to the future re: inclusivity?

Anthony thanked, and mentioned, all the sponsors for this event.

Mariana thanked everyone for participating and attending.

Written By: K. Machat

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