Ashley commenced the meeting with a swing of the CRAS AES gavel. She extended a warm welcome to attendees, many of whom represent the current crop of CRAS initiates. Ashley announced that AES normally convenes every Monday at 7:30 PM and reminded everyone that she will not be present for next week's meeting and that Tyler "Seven" Miller (CRAS AES Vice-President) will be hosting the meeting in her absence. Ashley then proceeded with introductions by going around the room and asking every student their name, current cycle, and their favorite digital audio workstation. While most students voiced a preference for Pro Tools, many sided with Ableton, FL Studio, Mixcraft, and even Adobe Audition.
With everyone properly acquainted, Ashley formally introduced AES. She encouraged students to become a part of the AES community and outlined the details involving AES membership. Student membership is $50 for their first year. Each subsequent year brings a $25 increase, capping off at $125 after four years of membership. Ashley promoted the benefits of membership, citing access to industry news, educational content, networking, and job opportunities.
With the membership overview completed, Ashley familiarized students with the current officeholders for the CRAS student section of AES: Ashley Stys - President, Gregory Bonini - Secretary, James Shaw - Vice-Secretary, Spencer Halpin and Les Danglar - Techs. She then continued by providing an overview of upcoming events, including an audience with CRAS Grad Drew Guy on June 13th, a visit from Peter Swann of Useful Arts on June 16th, a Spatial Facility Tour with CRAS Director of Education, Robert Brock on June 23rd, and two Mic Builds happening on July 28th and July 30th, and mentioned Austin Ribbon Mics, a company in the business of manufacturing guitar pedals and DIY mic kits, about a potential clinic with them should students present interest in the event. She also reminded everyone of the school's plan to return to fully onsite classes beginning August 15th.
Ashley then moved on to industry news. Warm Audio has just released their WA-CX12 and WA-47F microphones, each a faithful recreation of the AKG C12 and Neumann U 47FET respectively. Both products are eligible for a generous 40% discount through CRAS.
With that, the floor opened to students seeking to share projects, gear, and upcoming sessions. A couple of the AES sub-groups, such as the FL Studio and Sound Design groups, are advertised. Spencer Halpin, our tech, proves his resourcefulness by sharing a diaper bag he uses to neatly store his equipment. With no further volunteers, Ashley proceeds to play a video from Frank Ocean producer Malay. Malay gives a demonstration of the detailed process he uses to create Lo-Fi textures, a process that entails several plugins and hardware synthesizers. The meeting came to a close with Ashley hosting a Kahoot (an online quizzing service) covering the MIDI portion of Cycle 1's CT100 curriculum. After a spirited competition, the meeting officially ends and students disperse to network amongst themselves.
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