AES 2009
October 18, 2009
I love New York City and this years AES was the perfect opportunity to travel to the East Coast. Most everyone agreed that the show this year was scaled back compared to previous years due in part to the dismal economy. Manufacturers and vendors had less money to ship and support their exhibits and record producers and engineers complained that they could not afford the airfare and hotel accommodations. Those who made the trip were happy to attend and their attitude was upbeat but curious about how these factors would affect the show.
I arrived on Friday just in time to check into the hotel and walk over to a gathering at Avatar Studios. In The Mix was sponsored the Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy, SPARS and APRS. It took me a half an hour to get into the studio from the reception area as I struck up conversations with friends mostly from New York that I haven’t’ seen in a while. Food and drink were available and the only snag was the temperature in the studio. With two hundred or so in attendance, the back of the room was heating up and the air conditioner was working overtime. Maureen Droney from the Recording Academy said a few words and introduced outgoing SPARS President Leslie Ann Jones, a favorite of mine. Following them was Rupert Neve who was honored with the APRS Sound Fellowship Award. Rupert started his acceptance speech recapping his start in the business in the 1950’s. Laced with technical aspects of building recording consoles and after speaking for twenty minutes or so he was up to 1952 and you could feel the crowd thinking, he only has fifty-seven more years to go. Now don’t get me wrong, I respect Rupert’s contributions to recorded history but it was getting difficult to hang in there with the heat and the party atmosphere. But then… when you thought he was going to be another hour, he skipped forty years and wrapped it up!
Saturday I walked the floor of the show and took it all in. There were a few things that caught my eyes and ears. Plug-ins from Sound Toys, the incredible and expensive speakers from Alan Sides, and bookshelf speakers from Trident. Everyone it seems has developed a new ribbon microphone and is chasing Royer Labs. That evening API celebrated forty years in the business with a party at the Roseland Ballroom, one of the bigger events in the last few years.
On Sunday it was an honor to participate on the Platinum Producers Panel. Titled Career Making Recordings, I was in good company with Sylvia Massy (Tool, Johnny Cash), Dave Reitas (Madonna, Celine Dion), Bruce Swedien (Duke Ellington, Michael Jackson), Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T-Rex) and moderator Paul Verna ( Billboard Magazine, Editor of Mix Magazine). I was especially thrilled to meet Bruce, a legend full of great stories from the Sixties. He recounted his time in Chicago recording at Universal Studios with Duke Ellington and putting “his touch” on the record.
Monday was spent with some of the best producers and engineers I know, members of the Steering Committee with Producers and Engineers Wing of The Recording Academy. Together we do our best to chart the path for the future of our business. Hard work but well worth the time we spend together.
Interspersed throughout the week were meetings with artists I’m thinking about working with and projects I’ve completed. All in all, I was pretty happy with how much I accomplished and look forward to my next excursion to New York.