General attendance at AES conventions may have declined over the last several years, but David Bialik, Chairman of Broadcast and Streaming Sessions for the 133rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, says that interest in broadcast sessions has grown. “In the early 90s, I had only one or two sessions at each show, but the number of panel discussions has grown dramatically since then,” says Bialik.
“AES is the only destination that a broadcaster can come to learn about broadcast audio,” Bialik said. “There are no sales pitches or endorsements — every session is about technology and technique. We’re an educational society, and I make sure all the sessions conform to that mandate.
“We’re at the beginning of digital broadcasting, not the end. We’re very much taking into account the new medium of streaming. By the way, the record business is evolving just as much as the broadcast industry is. They’re recognizing the new mediums and working with them. The music business is definitely not dead!”
While some details remain open for now, the larger plan is in place.
“We’re still assembling panels for the October show, but I can tell you that John Storyk will be chairing a design session, and Dan Braverman of Radio Systems will chair a session dealing with audio network techniques for broadcast,” Bialik said. “The distribution of streamed audio is a critical area, and we’ll have a panel discussing IP in the mobile environment and how streaming relates to it.
“The title of another one of our sessions, “Living With The Calm Act” is self descriptive. Understanding codecs and how to make the best use of them will be topic of another session, and David Prentice will chair a session on Media Asset Management. Dave Wilson, of the Consumer Electronics Association, will be chairing a panel discussion on “Listener Fatigue and Retention."
“Redundant systems are useful, no doubt about it, but you’ve got to be able to fix problems when they arise. Jonathan Abrams will chair “Troubleshooting Software Issues,” and Telos’ Kirk Harnack will lead “Troubleshooting Hardware.”
Bialik will also play an active role within the show itself.
“I’m really interested in the decisions engineers have to make when they know that content will be played back on various media, and I’ll be chairing a session that deals with this topic,” Bialik said. “Karlheinz Brandenburg, the inventor of the mp3, Frank Foti, Bob Orban, Greg Ogonowski, and possibly several more prominent people who have dealt extensively with this issue will be on the panel.”
You can track plans for the 133rd AES Convention, which will be held in San Francisco, Oct. 26-29, 2012, by visiting the AES site.
