John Gatski is the Publisher & Executive Editor of Pro Audio Review.
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is holding its annual conference and expo Oct. 5 - 8 in New York. Although PAR’s product preview for AES is in the October issue, I wanted to focus on the show’s attributes well in advance of its start.
AES remains the preeminent trade show for high-end recording and postproduction in the U.S., and many new products are introduced at the show. In fact, our PAR Excellence Awards, introduced in 1996, were created to recognize the significant new gear and software introduced at the U.S. AES convention.
But AES is so much more than high-end recording. The exhibitor list also includes live sound, installation/contracting, broadcast production equipment manufacturers and software developers. If you look down the list, you see manufacturers from live sound (Meyer Sound, JBL, Lab.gruppen, APB Dynasonics), contracting (dbx, Rane) and broadcast (Zaxcom, Sound Devices, Calrec).
And, of course, as digital technology has become the major driver, many companies make products that cross over to all the markets. There are so many products that function quite well in studio, live, broadcast, and even an installation environment without any modification.
In recent years, as the recording market has changed from high-end standalone to professional home studios, AES has done a good job in attracting manufacturers at the forefront of that market, as well. Audio software companies are now a big driver in serious pro home studios, and you see them regularly introduce new products at AES.
The sessions and workshops offered by AES also reflect the diversity of pro audio. Scheduled sessions include such subjects as signal processing, multichannel recording and lossless coding. Other sessions and seminars cover mastering, live sound and broadcasting.
All in all, if you work with any aspect of quality audio, the AES show should be on your list of must-attend events this fall. As a bonus, New York is a great town to spend your weekend evenings. And, if you get a chance, come by and see the folks at PAR. We will be at the NewBay Media booth, #911.
LIVE FROM SALT LAKE
I am sure you have noticed our big cover piece on the audio system at Temple Square’s Conference Center for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is amazing to me how sophisticated and integrated these events have become. The choir’s performances utilize audio gear and techniques encompassing live, installation and broadcast categories. And they even took the show out on the road using a myriad of high-end system components. My hat is off to these folks for their dedication to quality. Every piece of gear was carefully selected for its performance parameters — regardless of cost.
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
I want to recommend a product for pro audio use that comes from within a company’s consumer products division. The Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 noise-canceling headphone (at $110 street) is a good monitoring tool for noisy environments. The sealed-back headphone is small and comfortable and utilizes switchable noise reduction technology that does not hurt the ears.
The NR does a reasonable job of maintaining the essence of the audio. As with most headphones featuring noise canceling, the sound is changed a bit when turning on the NC switch (the midrange gets more emphasis), but the overall noise is diminished considerably. These are great headphones for setting levels in noisy live shows, etc. Also they sound pretty good with the NC deactivated, with decent top-end and a touch of mid-bass emphasis. The cord could be the weak link, with its thin consumergrade gauge, but it will do the job for just a little money otherwise.
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