THE OFFICIAL From the editors of Pro Sound News & Pro Audio Review day1 friday edition ServingA ESthe 137th AeS ConventionDA • october ILY 9-12, 2014 los angeles convention center, los angeles, ca +BREAKING NEWS PERFECT Download the official AES Mobile app for the latest news and information from AES. MATCH: Revitalized AES, Revitalized LA By Clive Young It’s been 12 years since the Audio Engineering Society Convention last was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Much as the surrounding area has changed MPEG-H 3D Legendary producer/engineer/musician Alan Parsons used his keynote address with the development of the yesterday as a call to arms for sound professionals—and audio technology Downtown area, so has pro audio. companies—to demand the bar be raised for commercial consumption of As a result, the 137th AES Con- Audio Ready music. For full coverage of the 137th AES Convention Opening Ceremony, see the vention opens its doors today to keynote story on page 3 and the awards story on page 42. for Launch new generations of engineers, stu- dents and exhibitors from all over By Steve Harvey the world who have never experi- MPEG-H 3D Audio is about Olive Caps AES Presidential enced in Los Angeles the excite- to hit the market, reported ment of visiting the one conven- Schuyler Quackenbush of tion that focuses solely on sound. Audio Research Labs during Year With LA Return “I couldn’t be more happy a tutorial on the opening day By Strother Bullins, Educated in piano performance that we’re back in the revitalized of the AES Convention. The Editor, Pro Audio Review then sound sciences at McGill Uni- Downtown LA area, truly one of newest MPEG standard, offer- With experience as a musician, versity, Olive cultivated his career the entertainment centers of the ing high-efficiency coding and academic (at McGill Universi- by first learning the art and science world,” said Robert Moses, AES media delivery, will be pub- ty), and pro audio manufacturer of the audio recording process. executive director. “Audio pro- lished in early 2015, he said. (Director of Acoustic Research “Over the past 25 years, I’ve made fessionals from all market sectors MPEG-H includes data at Harman International), Audio music, recorded music, and am now including live, post and record- compression and rendering Engineering Society President focused on reproducing audio,” ing are all heavily concentrated that allows the delivery of Sean Olive’s history well he explains. “In recent years in southern California, and their immersive sound formats— prepared him to lead the I focused on the percep- presence here is underlined by the channel- and object-based, as society of audio technol- tion and measurement of explosive pre-registration numbers well as Higher Order Ambi- ogy professionals into audio—a more scientific, that we’ve seen.” sonics—into the home theater this year’s 137th Conven- rigorous approach to how Clearly there was a pent-up but, perhaps more important- tion in Los Angeles. we record, evaluate and demand for the return—11,806 mpeg-h on page 46 Sean Olive olive on page 46 perfect match on page 46 +S ESSION TO MULL +K EN CaillaT: THE +G ENELEC UNVEILS on the | inside ImpaCT OF FCC Raw TRUTH ABOUT 8351 SMART ACTIVE WIRELESS RULING PAGE 3 ‘RUMOURS’ PAGE 4 MONITOR PAGE 20 DAY 1 friday edition | the AES DAILY 3 Parsons Challenges Audio Pros to Raise the Bar By Clive Young carry another device when smartphones could Early on in legendary producer/engineer/musi- provide listeners with High Resolution Audio cian Alan Parsons’ career, he was involved in options—if the phones offered them. recording albums like the Beatles’ Abbey Road A string of statistics sharing the bitrates of and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon— various streaming services like Spotify, Pan- intricately constructed works that are con- dora, iTunes Radio, Sirius XM and more fol- sidered “must” listening experiences. He con- lowed, illustrating how far such companies tinued exploring that approach with his own have to go, even with their premium offer- music, creating a string of hits with The Alan ings, before they’ll reach minimum CD-quality Parsons Project. So perhaps it was only fitting audio. Parsons asked why spoken-word con- that when Parsons took the stage at the AES tent like Howard Stern’s satellite radio show Opening Ceremonies on Thursday, he used his Attendees packed the Alan Parsons’ keynote was afforded the same bitrate as a philharmon- address yesterday during the AES Opening Keynote Address as a call to arms for sound ic orchestra performance, suggesting that Sirius Ceremonies. professionals—and audio technology compa- XM should offer at least one HRA channel. nies—to demand the bar be raised for commer- that with the shift away from CDs and towards Closing his comments, Parsons pointed to cial consumption of music. streaming and downloads, that even high-quali- where he felt the call for better commercial audio Against the backdrop of a convention used ty listening gear won’t make a difference. has to go: “With all the streaming and download to introduce products for creating sonically “mp3: How did we allow that to happen?” services available, I’d like to see us go back to perfect recordings, Parsons noted that today, he asked—a comment that was greeted with owning music, and back to loudspeakers. Back consumers—his wife and daughters, for exam- cheers and knowing laughter from the packed to hi-fi.” ples—are often hearing those recordings via tiny house. Parsons noted that while he has hopes laptop speakers or headphones that are service- for Neil Young’s upcoming PONO HRA play- able at best. His biggest concern, however, is er, that ultimately it is asking consumers to Avid Everywhere Momentum Session to Mull Impact of FCC Builds BOOTH 1301 Avid’s Avid Everywhere is Wireless Ruling building worldwide momentum through widespread adoption of the modular Avid By Steve Harvey of what is known as the duplex gap that will be Pro Tools | S6 control surface. Hundreds of On Friday, Oct. 10 at the AES Convention, available to licensed operators. post-production facilities and music studios executives from Lectrosonics, Radio Active According to Mark Brunner, Shure’s senior around the globe are now using the S6 to Designs, Sennheiser and Shure will present director of global brand management, the pro- accelerate their productivity, maximize their “RF Spectrum Update: How Much Loss and fessional wireless mic community can respond creativity, work more flexibly under increas- When?” (Room 406 AB, 2 p.m.), including to these new proposals, which would almost ingly tight deadlines, and overcome signifi- strategies for wireless microphone manufactur- exclusively benefit TVBD usage, by applying cant budget constraints. ers and users in the U.S. going forward. for a Part 74 license (users must routinely use Pro Tools | S6 is part of the Avid Artist On September 30, the Federal Communica- 50 or more RF mics to qualify). “We’d hope Suite of creative tools for audio production, tions Commission (FCC) released a Notice that many of the serious providers are gearing powered by the Avid MediaCentral Plat- of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing up and preparing to file applications for licens- form. The S6 provides a powerful solution amendments to its rules regarding unlicensed es to protect their operations,” says Brunner. for mixing the world’s top films, TV shows, wireless operations in the 600 MHz band, and Brunner is also encouraging licensed users and music projects. a second NPRM intended to promote wireless to register every event utilizing wireless mics “Since Pro Tools | S6 was released a microphone spectrum access as users are transi- in the databases established to provide protec- year ago, Avid has received more than 500 tioned out of the 600 MHz band. The NPRMs tion from interference by TVBDs, even though orders,” said Tim Carroll, vice president of are a side-effect of the FCC’s Incentive Auc- consumer devices have yet to come to market. Worldwide Audio, Sales and Professional tion, planned for 2015, which encourages TV Without that critical data, the FCC is likely Services at Avid. “This high rate of adoption stations nationwide to sell off unwanted fre- to remain ignorant of the level of wireless mic underscores how media organizations and quency spectrum to the large carriers for use usage nationwide on a daily basis, he says. independent professionals around the world by consumer television band devices (TVBDs) “We want to make sure that we are in a are embracing Avid Everywhere. We are and other purposes. In the process, wireless mic position to provide counterpoint to some of proud to continue serving as the technology users will lose any protected spectrum in the the proposals on items that were discussed at force behind the most creative and successful 600 MHz band, other than a very narrow slice length back in the last decade,” says Brunner. audio professionals.” 4 the AES DAILY | DAY 1 friday edition New Nuvo Mic Steve’s Broadcast Picks By Steve Harvey Marks a This AES Convention sees the launch of the new Media Networking Alliance (MNA), formed to promote adoption and support adopters of the AES67 AoIP Half-Century of AEA interoperability standard, and already comprising 20 professional audio and broadcast technology companies. The inaugural meeting hosted by the MNA BOOTH 1431 Audio Engineering Associates is celebrat- steering committee members—including representatives from Axia Audio, ing 50 years in professional audio by launching its next Bosch Communications Systems, Lawo Group, QSC Audio and Yamaha—is microphone in the Nuvo series, the N8, as well as its on- in Room 304 AB at 5 p.m., and is preceded by a panel discussion (Room 409 line microphone museum.