Audio Engineering Society
Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working in audio content production. It also includes acousticians, audiologists, academics, and those in other disciplines related to audio. The AES is the only world-wide professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology.
The Society develops, reviews and publishes engineering standards for the audio and related media industries, and produces the AES Conventions, which are held twice a year alternating between Europe and the USA. The AES and individual regional or national "Sections" also hold AES Conferences on different topics during the year.
The AES publishes a peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (JAES).
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[edit] History
The idea of a society dedicated solely to audio engineering had been discussed for some time before the first meeting, but was first proposed in print in a letter by Frank E. Sherry, of Victoria, Texas, in the December 1947 issue of the magazine Audio Engineering. A New York engineer, C.J. LeBel, then published a letter in response the following month asking for interested persons to contact him.
What came to be the AES was formed at an organizational meeting at RCA Victor Studios in New York City on February 17, 1948. Its first membership meeting followed on March 11, drawing primarily from the area's broadcast and recording operations. The guest speaker at the first meeting was Harry F. Olson, a prominent engineer and scientist at RCA and author of Acoustical Engineering.
[edit] Membership
From its New York beginnings, the AES has grown worldwide and as of 31 October 2010 had 14215 members, 4306 of whom are classified as students. Members elect a Board of Governors and officers, who jointly set policy and procedures for the Society. The AES is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation headquartered in New York.
[edit] AES Technical Council
23 Technical Committees advise the AES Technical Council[1] on emerging trends and areas of interest in the audio engineering community. The Committee meetings, held at Conventions, are open to participation by members and non-members alike, and are the venue for planning workshops, seminars and conferences in specific technical areas.
[edit] AES Standards
The AES Standards Committee (AESSC), through a consensus system open to anyone materially affected by such standards, develops and publishes a number of standards on the subject of analog and digital audio recording, transmission, and/or reproduction. Notable standards include:
- AES3 (also commonly known as AES/EBU) for digital audio interconnection
- AES10 (also commonly known as MADI) for multichannel digital audio interconnection
- AES11 for digital audio synchronization
- AES42 for digitally interfaced microphones
- AES47 for sending AES3 digital audio data over Asynchronous Transfer Mode networks.
- AES48 on interconnections; grounding and EMC practices; and shields of connectors in audio equipment containing active circuitry.
- AES53 for assigning absolute times to the time markers provided by AES47.
AESSC also provides input to IEC for development and revision of international standards in audio engineering.
AES does not charge for participation in the standards process, but does charge non-members for online copies of published standards. Printed copies are available for a charge to both members and non-members.[2]
[edit] AES Gold Medal recipients
The AES Gold Medal is the Society's highest honor, and given in recognition of outstanding achievements, sustained over a period of years, in the field of Audio Engineering. The award was established in 1971; it was formerly known as the John H. Potts Memorial Award.[3]
[edit] Awardees in chronological order
[edit] Officers and Key Staff
- President: Jim Kaiser
- President-Elect: Jan Abildgaard Pedersen
- Past President: Diemer de Vries
- Treasurer: Garry Margolis
- Secretary: Bob Lee
- Vice President Eastern Region US & Canada: Robert Breen
- Vice President Central Region US & Canada: Frank Wells
- Vice President Western Region US & Canada: Sean Olive
- Vice President Latin America Region: Joel Brito
- Vice President Northern Region Europe: Ville Pulkki
- Vice President Central Region Europe: Bozena Kostek
- Vice President Southern Region Europe: Antonio Oliveira
- Vice President International Region: Kimio Hamasaki
- Governors: Jim Anderson, Peter Cook, David Josephson, Véronique Larcher, Bob Moses, David Murphy, *Bruce C. Olson, Agnieszka Roginska
- Executive Director: Roger Furness
- Webmaster: Steve Johnson
- Editor, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society: John Vanderkooy
- Chair, 124th AES Convention (held May 2008, Amsterdam): Peter Swarte
- Co-chairs, 125th AES Convention (held October 2008, San Francisco): John Strawn and Valerie Tyler
- Chair, 126th AES Convention (held May 2009, Munich): Martin Wöhr
- Chair, 127th AES Convention (held October 2009, New York): Agnieszka Roginska
- Chair, 128th AES Convention (held May 2010, London): Dr Joshua Reiss
- Co-chairs, 129th AES Convention (held November 2010, San Francisco): Valerie Tyler and Jim McTigue
- Chair, 130th AES Convention (held May 2011, London): Peter Mapp
[edit] British Section
The AES British section, which is the largest outside the US, issues a monthly newsletter and holds regular lectures, usually in London, with occasional visits to studios and other places of interest. Lectures, which are often on topics of topical interest to audio enthusiasts are usually recorded, with past lectures available to all as free MP3 downloads, sometimes with accompanying slides in PDF format.[5]
[edit] See also
- Acoustical Society of America
- Institute of Acoustics
- Academic Programs in Acoustics
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Institute of Radio Engineers
- Royal Academy of Engineering
- Society of Broadcast Engineers
- Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
- TEC Awards; sponsored annually by Mix Foundation and awarded during the Fall AES convention.
[edit] References
- ^ "AES Technical Council and Committees". http://www.aes.org/technical. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
- ^ "AES Standards". http://www.aes.org/standards. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
- ^ About the Audio Engineering Society. Award Guidelines
- ^ AES Awards winners
- ^ "Recent Meeting Reports". AES UK section. http://www.aes.org/sections/uk/meetings/past.html. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
