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This Month's Meeting
PreviewDoug has recently left Comfort Sound and has started up a new company, Live Wire Remote Recorders which is comprised of his forty-eight track mobile truck, and a portable twenty-four track digital system that fits into eight flight cases that can be flown anywhere around the world.
Doug's discussion on September 20th will outline the steps involved in a typical remote for television broadcast, covering everything from power and grounding to the sound check to the recording procedure. There will be a video illustrating recording in unusual situations and locations such as the Much Music train, the Middle East, Nigeria, and Whistler. There will be a demonstration of the portable twenty-four track digital system featuring multitrack playback to a picture of Heart at Whistler. There will also be tours of the mobile forty-eight track unit displaying a tape-lock session.
All in all, this meeting is going to cover a lot of ground, so if you have ever wondered how all those sounds make it from the stage to a recorder or to your living room, this seminar will give you some answers!
by Martin Fraser
Editorial
A new year begins for the Toronto AES Section. I feel honoured to be chairman of this very dynamic group. In order to gain some perspective on the past year, I have been reading Tom Shevlin's opening editorial from last season. Tom had remarked on the drastic changes seen in audio over the last twenty years.
In my opinion, the rate of this change appears to be on the knee of an exponential curve. Audio, video, motion pictures and the world of computers appear to be coalescing into the long promised world of multimedia. Sophisticated entertainments involving audio as an essential component are part of our lives and the lives of millions of others. Audio as a separate discipline, self-sufficient and stand alone is becoming a thing of the past.
This does not mean a diminution of the importance of audio, but rather, an increase in the importance of our discipline. As an example, take a few minutes to watch a television program or recorded movie with the audio muted. Likewise play your favourite computer game with the sound card shut down. In both cases, the effect is vastly diminished.
The complexity of the audio accompanying such entertainment has increased beyond anything we could have anticipated even ten years ago. Our very media literate society sets very high standards for the illusions presented in entertainment.
The complexity of modern mixes has become the baseline against which all recorded sound is measured. I can personally attest to the apparent crudity of editing and mixing in recorded music I once admired for its sophisticated execution.
Current standards are very high indeed. Those of us involved in the creation of recorded music today are operating at a very high level of sophistication, and are doing so from day to day.
The future promises new and brighter possibilities, the creation of soundscapes barely imaginable. This is perhaps the most exciting time to be involved with professional audio, and I am very much looking forward to the future.
Denis Tremblay
September 1994
Last Month's and Year's
Meeting ReviewThe Toronto Section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) closed off another successful year with the annual social at the CBC Broadcasting Centre on Tuesday, June 14th.
The 90 or so in attendance, who gave up the chance to see the Canucks lose in game seven of the Stanley Cup series, were treated to an entertaining and informative discussion by AES Eastern Region VicePresident, author, Professor of Music and Director of Music Engineering Programs at the University of Miami, Ken Pohlmann.
He began with the premise (all tongue-in-cheek) that Thomas Edison, with his invention of the phonograph, is basically responsible for the decline of the family unit and our whole social structure today and led up to his thoughts on the direction audio technology is taking.
Mr. Pohlmann concluded his talk with a discussion on the new MPEG technology, which has made possible the increasingly popular VideoCD. At the end of his presentation, he held up a 3 1/2" floppy disc, which he had downloaded from Internet, containing the complete code for video software decoding which will replace hardware Codecs in the future.
The activities of the local sections of the AES would not be possible without the generosity of the program presenters and the hard work of our Executive Committee Members, who bring a wide variety of presentations to our membership each year.
The Executive Committee of the Toronto Section includes: outgoing chairperson, Tom Shevlin, of TS Audio, this year's chairperson, Denis Tremblay of Sony Canada, Dan Mombourquette and Paul Reibling of AOI Pro Audio, Earl McCluskie of Audio
Design and Production, Glenn Specht of AMS/Neve Canada, Peter Cook of the CBC, Janine Walton of Reel Ideas, Colin Bernard of Sennheiser Canada, Devy Breda of Audiospec Inc., Jim Cox of Sheridan College, John Fourdraine of Xecon Technologies, Martin Fraser of Soundhouse, Leo Lobo of CJRT, Anne Reynolds of Magnetic Music, Patricia Carr of Soundcraft Canada and Lee White of Pringle Division.
The Committee is constantly trying to serve the needs of the membership, particularly in the tricky area of balancing the presentation of theoretical developments versus practical applications.
Facility tours are always a big hit and last year was no exception. We began the year with tour of the fascinating Princess of Wales Theatre in September and a trip behind the scenes of "Miss Saigon"; there was a tour in November of White Radio in Burlington, the long awaited tour of the CBC Broadcasting Centre in December, and the tour of the Yorkville Sound plant in January.
The year's product presentations, normally the mainstay of our programs, included a presentation on digital consoles by AMS/Neve in May once again hosted by the CBC. In April we were treated to a demonstration of a wide range of MIDI and digital audio software and hardware by the crew at Saved by Technology and a discussion on the new information super highway and the impact it will have on audio. In March, Ron Sauro from Renkus Heinz and John Radul of SF Marketing gave the membership an excellent demonstration of the audio simulation and auralization CAD Programs: EASE, EASE Jr. and EARS.
By far, the highlight of the year for the Toronto Section was GroundView, the day-long Noise In Audio workshop held in the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio in February. GroundView included presentations and discussions by a panel of experts including Mohan Barman of Aercoustics, Tom Paige of Vibron, Dr's Stanley Lipshitz and John Vanderkooy of the University of Waterloo, Neil Muncy of Neil Muncy and Associates, Phil Giddings of Engineering Harmonics, and John Windt of Windt Audio on Electric, Acoustic and Digital Noise and how to operate your facility quietly and safely.
One of the best aspects of my experience with the Toronto Section has been the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the industry, not only in Committee meetings and the international conventions, but also at the local section meetings, where I think sometimes that the coffee breaks and the apres- presentation discussions make for some of the best industry communication around!
Tom Shevlin, P.Eng.
Past Chairperson
AES Toronto Section
What's NewGary joined Sony in September 1985, and has held previous positions in both sales and product management and has had extensive experience in both broadcasting and the professional audio markets.
He has been active in the AES Toronto Section equally as long, co-chairing the original AES Overview in 1985, and acting as Sponsor Chairman for Overview II in 1990.
John Quanz, Marketing Manager, Broadcast Products, Sony of Canada Ltd., announced the appointment of Jeff Ibbotson as Pro Audio Product Manager.
Prior to joining Sony in January 1991, Jeff had a varied career in the Professional audio field, both in the marketing area and as a free-lance recording engineer.
The Canadian Acoustical Association is holding a session of papers on audio engineering topics that includes papers on sound systems, studio design and digital processing. There are also sessions on architectural acoustics, noise control, hearing and speech topics. The CAA meeting will be held October 19 and 20 in the Citadel Inn in Ottawa.
For further information, contact Mr John S Bradley at 613/993-9747 or fax 613/954-1485.
Donald J Plunkett, the Executive Director of the Audio Engineering Society, plans to retire. Plunkett has served as the society's first and only executive director since 1974.
The society has asked Plunkett to remain as executive director through 1994, and to serve in the new position of convention manager for the society temporarily "to ease this period of transition".
Plunkett is a charter member of the AES, and served as secretary from 1970 to 1974, executive vice president in 1958, and president in 1959. He was made a fellow of the society in 1963, received the AES Bronze Medal in 1966, and was elected an honorary member in 1977. He has chaired numerous committees over the years, and currently chairs the AES Historical Committee.
A search committee has been formed to interview prospective candidates for the executive director position.
ClassifiedElectronics Design Engineer Wanted
Baranti is a contract R& D firm which designs and manufactures video, audio and commercial electronic products for US and Canadian companies. Candidates must have an Engineering degree with strength in high-speed digital design, small signal analogue design. Experience in DSP, or software in C/Assembly would be a definite asset. Interesting and challenging projects, lots of responsibility, nice people too!
please forward resumes to:
B. Papoff
BARANTI GROUP INC
2650 John Street, Unit 22
Markham, Ontario L3R 2W6
or fax 905/479-0149
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Copyright 1994, Audio Engineering Society Toronto
Section BulletinArticles may be used with the Author's Permission. Contact the Bulletin Editor: earlm@hookup.net
Editor: Earl McCluskie Assistant Editor: Anne Reynolds Layout Editor: Lee White
The Bulletin is prepared in print by Lee White, and on Horizons and the Internet by Earl McCluskie.
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