The Audio Engineering Society is set to host its 57th International Conference on Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 8, 2015, in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at the renowned TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, with hotel accommodations across the street at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
With the participation of industry partner SMPTE – the Society of Motion and Television Engineers – and following on the heels of the highly-successful Sound for Picture program track at the recent AES137 International Convention in L.A., the 57th Conference is perfectly positioned to set yet another milestone for the AES. With a direct focus on the Future of Audio Entertainment Technology, this conference will explore the latest issues facing audio professionals today in regards to cinema, television, online content and more, and is being co-chaired by Brian McCarty and Dr. Sean Olive.
Sound production for multi-media has evolved over a much different route than the more unified approach taken by the producers of visual assets, and this approach has left a streamlined production path for motion pictures but a complex and expensive production path for sound. Several dramatic changes are occurring in cinema exhibition, with “immersive sound” being the new buzzword. While Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) looks to be the next step in home entertainment, consumers are increasing their use of personal media devices, with headphones and portable audio looking to be a major segment of the entertainment technology future. This first-ever Future of Audio Entertainment Technology Conference brings together the best researchers, acousticians, and engineers to address the current and future audio needs of the cinema, television, and Internet (online) mediums.
Also of note at the AES 57th Conference is the SMPTE report entitled B-Chain Frequency and Temporal Response Analysis of Theatres and Dubbing Stages in regards to current standards and practices regarding B-chain electroacoustic response and calibration. The paper was produced with extensive participation from AES members and will serve as a foundation for further necessary advancements in audio technology in the Sound for Picture arena.
Topics covered at the AES 57th International Conference include:
- - Acoustical design and performance of the modern motion picture theater
- - Testing and alignment practices for cinemas
- - Dialog intelligibility
- - Playback of film as well as live event broadcasts in a cinema
- - Immersive sound and psychoacoustics
- - Reproduction of immersive sound in home theater applications
- - Reproduction of multi-channel audio using lesser numbers of speaker locations
- - Speech intelligibility and microphone design
- - Production sound immersive audio recording
- - Loudness control and OSHA/European Standards
- - Lossless coding of immersive sound for low bandwidth channels
- - Immersive sound using headphone technologies
- Loudspeaker performance from all-in-one television receivers and sound bars
Thirty-year veteran Hollywood sound engineer Brian McCarty, co-chair of the conference, said, “AES expertise has been responsible for major improvements in live sound, streamlining of game audio production, and advancements in music production. The AES has called this conference to bring together the traditional production communities of cinema and television with the ‘new media’ audio distribution channels to address current and future audio needs.”
AES Past president and 57th conference co-chair Dr. Sean Olive stated, "This is the first international conference of its kind focused solely on audio applications, technology and research related to sound in cinema, television and multi-media. It's exciting to be hosting this event in the entertainment capital of the world, where many audio-visual content creators, scientists and engineers live and are able to participate in this historic event."
“SMPTE has been involved heavily in examining and exploring ways in which standards work can help to enhance the production, delivery and presentation of audio for moving images,” said Barbara Lange, SMPTE executive director. “We partnered with the AES at the AES137 International Convention to deliver compelling sessions addressing the future of audio engineering in both the cinema and television sectors. The Conference gives us another chance to work closely with the AES to offer industry members a fresh look at critical issues and advances in the realm of audio and visual entertainment technology.”
