AES Historical Committee

Minutes of the Meeting at the 116th AES Convention, Berlin

2004 May 10

Attending: 15 people. Al Grundy, Alex Balster, George Brock-Nannestad, Willy Aubert, Louis Manno, Jerry Bruck, Ernst Voelker (acting chair), Erich Kamp, Cornelius Bradter, Klaus Hobohm, Erich Schleicher, Johannes Richter, Kunimaro Tanaka, Ted Sheldon (secretary).

1. Opening by the Chairman E. Voelker, chairman of the meeting in place of Jay McKnight, called the meeting to order at 12:35.

2. Greeting from Ernst Voelker E. Voelker greeted those attending on behalf of AES HC Chair Jay McKnight. He indicated that Vice-Chair Irv Joel had planned to attend, but could not do so owing to illness. All members present wished Joel good health and a speedy recovery.

3. Introduction of Members and Guests Members and others attending the meeting identified themselves. Also, a sign up list was distributed.

4. Report of the Chairman and Discussion The chair reviewed the activities that have been held and will take place at this conference. He thanked all members who had contributed to the success of the presentations and exhibits at this Berlin convention. He mentioned that nearly 100 years ago, attempts were being made to add a mechanical-disc sound track to early motion picture films at Babelsberg near Berlin. He noted that historical equipment and artifacts are on display here in the AES Historical Booth in the convention exhibit area that were used in these efforts. Further, Babelsberg film, television and audio historical demonstrations now being presented are drawing large audiences. These presentations will continue throughout the convention and a tour of Babelsberg will also be available for Historical Committee members and convention attendees.

5. Projects. During discussion that followed these remarks, discussion of the following projects and topics took place:

5.1 AES HC Communication. The need was presented for a status report giving the current status of AES HC projects. It was suggested that the status report should updated at least every six months. Also, members requested that AES HC meeting notes be sent to members. These active means of communication would be better than the passive methods now used via the website.

5.2 Dutch Broadcasting Museum. The Dutch Broadcasting Museum will move to another building next year. For now, the museum is operating on a reduced schedule.

5.3 Audio-Visual Time Line. W. Aubert is continuing his work on the audio-visual history time line, and encouraged members to contact him regarding contributions. He anticipates that a draft soon will be available. A question arose as to how members could contributed to the time line, and Aubert asked members to talk with him after the meeting or contact him by email. A short discussion of the intended content of the time line helped to clarify the direction it is taking.

5.4 Thiele-Krause Archive. This collection now is at Berlin University. A presentation at this convention from Klaus Hobohm and Cornelius Bradter of Berlin University in charge of the archive discussed the work to organize and make accessible the contents of the Thiele-Krause Archive among others sources.

5.5 Other Archives It was noted that other archives remain in private hands (those held by Schueller, Kupper, Hoffman and Manno were mentioned), and may become endangered through death or changing circumstances. The AES HC can help preserve the contents of these collections in many ways. This is an enormous task. Efforts need to be strengthened, and members must be very watchful to identify audio engineering collections and threats to their continued strength. It may be possible to cooperate with the AES Education Committee in these efforts, and a member of that committee indicated a willingness to work with the AES HC in this arena. It was suggested that AES HC Chair Jay McKnight contact the AES EC chair to explore areas of cooperation..

6. New Projects George Brock-Nannestad proposed a new project. He noted that Stephen F. Temmer proposed a review of patents having to do with audio developments, but he has died and no documentation exists to describe his progress. Brock-Nannestad noted the patents registered by in Britain and presented examples. He proposed to scan the abstracts of patents as they were published. Then it would be possible to scan the patents themselves. He needs someone to go through the AES Journal to look for content references to patents. It is anticipated that the AES HC chair will take the proposal under advisement and seek more detailed clarification from Brock-Nannestad.

7. There being no further business to conduct, E. Voelker encouraged members and interested persons to attend the AES HC presentations yet to come and to view the exhibits. He adjourned the meeting at 13:30.

Minutes submitted by Ted Sholdon, Secretary AES Historical Committee

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Minutes of the AES Historical Committee Meeting at the 110th AES Convention,

2001-05-13, in Amsterdam

The AES Historical Committee (HC) meeting was called to order by Chair pro tem Alex Balster at 15:35 in the Historical Café (Room R) of the RAI Convention Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  Ted Sheldon, AESHC Vice Chair, served as secretary.

Alex Balster distributed the agenda for the meeting.

1  Welcome

Members in attendance were welcomed. Nineteen persons were in attendance, including Robert Beppato, Gualtiero Berlinghini, George Brock-Nannestad, Jerry Bruck, Luciano d’Aleo, Tim De Wolf, C. L. Doesbury, Albert Grundy, Gerard Hali, Louis Manno,  Andreas Meyer, R. David Read, Yoshizo Sohma, Herman van Laar, Arthur van Maurik, and Erhard Werner. They introduced themselves and gave short summaries of the their careers and interests in audio engineering.

2  Relevant Correspondence; messages from the HQ

Chair pro tem Balster indicated that communication between the AESHC and its European members was not working as well as could be hoped. He asked how the stream of information between the AESHC and its European and North American members could be improved.  Members agreed that there is a problem in this area.  It was agreed that a request be made for clear explanations about what is on the web site and the email reflector. And clear instructions be available telling members how these resources can be used.  Also, it was noted that there are language problems in Europe that do not exist in North America; these need to be recognized.  The structure for distributing AESHC information about its activities need to be much clearer.  AESHC needs to make the use of the web site and the reflector easy and intuitive.  This was agreed to by all.

3  Minutes of the Los Angeles meeting at the 109th AES Convention ( see http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/minutes/aeshc-minutes-109th-2000-09-24.html )

Approval of the minutes of the Los Angeles meeting was deferred in view of the fact that no one from the Los Angeles meeting was present, and it seemed inappropriate to approve the minutes without comments available from North American participants.

4  Core Items for the meeting.

4.1  Common software usage.  The suggestion was made that universal computer file formats for sound, text, pictures and video be adopted.  The chair said that this was clearly needed, and was an important part of the effort to clarify the methods for communicating information throughout the whole of the AESHC.  This desire is again communicated to the leadership of AESHC.  There was consensus on this issue among all in attendance.

4.2  Inventory of audio history projects.  It was noted that the need existed to make an inventory of audio history projects that are under way or should be initiated in Europe.  This inventory should also indicate the person who is conducting, or could conduct, such projects.

It was noted that the Phonographic Museum in The Netherlands is conducting interviews with persons prominent in the history of the Dutch recording industry.  This is an active project.  It may be possible to form a partnership between this project and the AESHC.

Furthermore, it was suggested that national oral history projects should be undertaken in the native language of the person being interviewed, with an English translation and/or summary complementing the audio recording of the interview.

4.3  Audio History Library.  Louis Manno discussed his work to create a privately supported audio history archive in New York City. He proposed in 1991 that an AES Historical Database be created.  This database would fill the need for a place for researchers to go to learn about the history of audio, as well as historical audio equipment and its uses.  He has begun a project, the Audio History Library, and is endeavoring to collect information (e.g., literature, manuals, etc.) for addition to the archive.  While this is a private project, he welcomes cooperation from the AESHC and its members.

4.4  History of the AES.  Albert Grundy (USA) indicated that he was working on an inclusive history of the AES, starting with the United States.  He recognized that other national bodies are working on this same topic within their countries.  The intent is for all these projects to come together as a comprehensive history of the AES.

4.5  Storage and access of historical materials.  When materials are generated digitally, storage and distribution are relatively easy. However, currently, the AESHC is conducting oral history interviews using 8 mm tape.  This medium is not appropriate as an archival medium. In the near future, these recordings will need to be transferred to more archivally stable media, requiring more time and effort.  Attention needs to be given now to using a more acceptable media for the oral history interviews, and plans need to be laid for the transfer of the 8 mm tapes to an archival medium.

It was noted that oral history interviews were being conducted at this Amsterdam conference to continue the project before it becomes too late.  These interviews use the same methods as those in the United States.  It also was noted that language problems pertain to the making and editing of these recorded interviews.  It was noted that a more effective and informative record of individual experiences would be achieved when the native language of the subject is used.  It was the consensus that native language should be used for European interviews.

4.6  The AES/Japan 50th anniversary.  AES/Japan is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year in 2001.  Yoshizo Sohma discussed the making of the history of the AES/Japan, 1952-1998 and presented a draft of the document to T. Sheldon, in both printed and electronic form. Sohma indicated that the history is written in the Japanese language and needs to be translated into English as a next step.  Sheldon thanked Sohma and agreed to carry the impressive document to AESHC Chair Jay McKnight and begin the discussion regarding translation.   <>

4.7  A question was asked about comments made in earlier meetings (e. g., Munich, 1999) that some tapes from meetings had been lost in at AES office.  Is this true?  It was noted that AES Secretary Ron Streicher is in the best position to answer this question.

4.8  Robert Beppato announced that on the next day, May 14, at 11:00 am, a presentation will take place titled -Artifacts from the State Archives in Rome.-  Recordings have been transferred to digital format and will be played.

5. The meeting was adjourned at 16:30.

Respectfully submitted,

Ted Sheldon AESHC Vice Chair

Minutes of the AES Historical Committee Meeting at the 109th AES Convention, 2000-09-24, in Los Angeles

 

The AES Historical Committee (HC) meeting was called to order by Chair Jay McKnight at 13:10 in Room 301B of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

1. Introduction of attendees.

Persons in attendance introduced themselves, adding comment about their affiliation and interests: Peter Swarte (Netherlands), Louis Manno, John Woodgate (England), Paul McManus, Susan Schmidt Horning, Irina Aldoshina (Russia), Albert Grundy, Donald Plunkett, Yoshizo (Steve) Sohma (Japan), Jim Hunter, Rick Minne, M. David Read, John French, Chris Herles, A. Douglas Moncrieff, John K. Chester, Ted Sheldon, Irv Joel.

2. Amendments to and approval of the agenda.

The printed agenda was distributed.  McKnight asked for permission to alter the order of consideration of agenda items.  There was no objection.

3. Approval of previous report from AES 108th convention, Paris, France.

The minutes of the Historical Committee meeting from 2000 February in Paris were approved as distributed.

4. Project report

The -Project Report, 2000-09-19″ document was distributed and reviewed. [The complete report  is now available online at http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/projrepts/aeshcprojrept20000909.html .]

The -Historical Café-: This project is proposed for the 110th Convention (2001 May, in Amsterdam)  with a budget of 8,000 US$.  This proposal will be made to the AES Board of Governors.  Arrangements also may be made to visit a nearby museum.

Through the efforts of Art Shifrin and Irv Joel of the Historical Committee, an Ampex Model 200A stored at the AES headquarters was returned to its owner. The -library- of technical journals and books at AES headquarters has been donated to the Library of Congress. Histories of the AES.  The history of the Japan Chapter of AES has been written; now it is proposed to request 5,000 US$ to translate it into English.

The -When Vinyl Ruled- exhibition presented at this conventiont has been a big success.  Thanks go to Paul McManus, Irv Joel, David Baker, John Chester, Shelly Herman, Jim Webb, and others for the exhibition demonstrating recording technology from the 1950s – 1970s. Email reflectors. The Steering Committee email reflector is available for administrative matters. The AES website has a historical element including links to related sites.

Under the heading of -catalog for classifying the inventions and developments made in audio engineering-, Prof. Manfred Krause (Germany) and colleagues plan a database of the Heinz K. Thiele Archive.  A description of the archive, and a slide show of the proposal for this database was presented.

Historical resources.  AES is publishing the memoirs of Semi Joseph Begun (to be available in 2000 November).  Also, historical data on 3M magnetic tapes is now available on the Historical Committee web site. Oral histories.  Irv Joel, John Eargle, and  Susan Schmidt Horning have conducted numerous video interviews at the 107th and 109th conventions. Thus far, 32 interviews have been completed as of the end of the 109th convention [and 10 more were done in the SF Bay Area during the next week thanks to Ross Snyder and Peter Hammar].  The list of interviewees on the HC web site will be updated soon.  Irv Joel asked for ideas about how to use the interviews.  Streaming video is still problematic if one does not have broadband service.  Also, the video interviews would have to be edited  – Who will do that?  What about an audio interview of the month?  Several examples of the video interviews recorded by Joel were played.  The need to make backup copies of the tapes was noted.  A discussion of how to make preservation copies occurred.   Irv Joel asked if this project was heading in the right direction?  It is.  What about working with the AES Education Committee to get the content of interviews into educational packages for K-12 schools?  Joel encouraged members to use the -Oral History Interview Recommendation Form- on the HC  web site to suggest individuals who should be interviewed. McKnight noted that -An Afternoon with Jack Mullin,- and -A Chronology of American Tape Recording- are available on video tape from AES. Al Grundy announced that he is working on a presentation for the New York convention in September 2001; the working title is -When Vinyl Ruled, the Second Pressing.- Chris Herles of the Museum Of Sound Recording announced that they have signed a contract to plan, design, and construct a museum and theme park called -SoundWave — the International Museum of Recorded Sound and Entertainment Center- on the waterfront in Camden, NJ. [Further details are now in JAES 48:12, 2000 December, p 1267.]

5. New projects.

 A -Historical Café- for the 109th Convention in Amsterdam in 2001 (A. Balster)

Alex Balster presented the plan for an -Historical Café- for the Amsterdam convention in 2001 May.  He indicated his pleasure at being able to see the exhibition of the committee here in Los Angeles. Plans call for the establishment of a planning committee.  They wanted to have an exhibit of hardware, but such is very expensive, so they plan to display a collection of photographs.

 Translation of -History of the AES Japan Chapter” (T. Yamamoto)

It is proposed to translate the recent history of the Japan Chapter. Plans will need to be made to find someone to do the translation.

6. New business

The current organization of the Historical Committee is based on regions.  Several officers have recently resigned.  It seems better to restructure the committee officers to parallel those of other AES Committees, namely, to have a chair and a vice chair.  Then have project chairs who serve for a specific time and purpose.  McKnight asked for comment.  The only comment made supported the proposed restructuring.

Currently, AESHC operates in accord with the directives of the AES Board of Governors.  They require guidelines for the operation of the committee.  Chair McKnight will rewrite the guidelines to accommodate the changes, and submit this to the Committee for review and approval.

7. Date of next meeting

Next meeting will be at the 110th convention in Amsterdam in 2001 May.

8. Adjournment.

The meeting was adjourned at 14:45.

First draft, Ted Sheldon, 2000-10-17

Second draft, J McKnight, 2001-01-25, corrected 2001-02-08

Minutes of the AES Historical Committee Meeting at the 108th AES Convention, 2000-02-21, in Paris

The meeting of the AES HC was held on 2000 February 21, in Paris between 10:00 and 12:30. European Chair Roberto Beppato was Chair for the meeting.

 

The following people were present: Mr H.A.O. Wilms, Mr Roberto Beppato, Mr Manfred Krause, Mr Donald Plunkett, Mr Daniel R. Von Recklinghausen, Mr Louis Manno, Mr Sean Davies, Mr John Woodgate, Mr James Kaiser, Mr Marshall Buck, Mr David Robinson, Mr Roy Pritts, Mr Luciano Daleo (technical staff of the Italian state recording media archives – Rome), Mr Lewis Cullborn? (signature not readable). Mr Grundy was in Paris but was absent for personal reasons; he arrived at 12:30.

1  Mr Manfred Krause started the meeting with a discussion of a memo from Robert Van der Hilst concerning AESHC convention facilities.

2  Mr H. A. O. Wilms wheeled in a Studer tape recorder A37 dating back about 45 years, still mint conditions and operational. Mr Wilms mentioned that Mr Peter Bollen, one of the members of the AES HC died on 2000 February 16, leaving one of the largest private collection of  microphones on the premises of the PAC Eela company. Everybody hopes that this collection will end up in a Dutch museum for broadcasting.

3  Mr Roy Pritts suggested to plan well in advance the AES HC meeting in Los Angeles, and decide whether some written documents and a presentation should be prepared for publication/distribution. This includes interviews with personalities in the audio field, and also the presentation of vintage audio pro gear.

4  Mr Manfred Krause suggested to use a list of standard questions for the interviews. Mr John Woodgate noted that these interviews are with major personalities and it is very difficult to get them to unwind and feel at ease. It is very important that the person who performs the interview be aware of the professional life of the person being interviewed. Otherwise an important chapter may be completely forgotten or may have been erased from the mind of the inventor. We solicit other members of the AESHC to comment on this idea.

5  Mr Plunkett reminded the audience of the AES HC that in some interview a person in good faith may attribute to himself a patent which was given in reality to somebody else. The AES should look for ways to protect itself from legal action. Mr Roy Pritts informed us that a “model release type contract” will be necessary from Mr Joel in USA. The Chair thinks that every member of the AES HC should have a copy, and will ask that it be posted directly.

6  Mr Joel in a previous e-mail stated that whom to interview and when must be based on the importance of the contributions of this person to the audio professional community. Who makes this decision? [Mr Joel has replied by email: “I don’t find this statement in my email, but in any case that is not what I intended to say. If anyone is willing to conduct an interview with a person whom they feel should be recorded, then hopefully under our guidance the interview will be done and welcome. I don’t have any sure-fire way of predicting how well an interview will come out, but I am sure that doing the interview is the best practice.”]

7  Manfred Krause proposed to ask the manufacturers of audio equipment to let us know what kind of archives they have and which part of these archives might possibly be available to AES HC (pictures of prototypes and production model, patent applications, patents granted, production processes relevant to special results for the products).

8  The Chair commented that he does not know how many manufacturers keep a record of what they manufacturer over the decades and if they have these archives in a form that one day it could be easily transferred to the AES archives.

9  We have to investigate this at local level possibly with a person who still works for these manufacturers, or who retired within living memory, to get first hand information.

10  Roy Pritts proposed to use the service of student members to collect or make pictures of the various artifacts in museum, radio stations, private collectors or manufacturers. One problem could be that students will have great difficulty to separate artifacts of great significance from standard objects. In some places like the Vatican Museum and RAI Broadcasting Museum in Turin, the manager will not allow students to approach the items on the shelves. Persons must be selected to accompany the student in these visits and to help them to select the material.

11  Mr Woodgate suggested that AES send a sample letter to all of the AES HC members stating that they are doing the research on behalf of the AES. This letter will be required from the HC and used as a template to approach the several organisations in different countries.

12  Mr Louis Manno mentioned that he thought that the Ampex collection had found a place in a museum in New York. We must get the complete address of this museum and a list of all objects in the collection.

13  There was general agreement that much archival material is being lost forever due to the closures and mergers taking place in the industry. This is due to the very high cost of maintaining a museum these days. Apart from companies being loth to invest funds in a museum of their own, they are reluctant to contribute to the upkeep of centralized museums serving the whole industry. Mr Woodgate mentioned that UNESCO under its umbrella should take care of this problem, before they are forever condemned to the scrap yard. This is a good idea. Support from UNESCO, if available (and it certainly won’t be if no one asks), would be used to support either existing or new museums.

    The Chair suggested that UNESCO might be encouraged to create a transit camp for audio artifacts, but that he believes that Unesco has other priorities, and who could or should manage and finance this transit camp is not yet on the AES horizon. Mr Woodgate doesn’t think a transit camp is necessary and thus it doesn’t need managing.

14  Mr Louis Manno mentioned that in Nashville there is now an audio history museum with a restoration section that is extremely active. The Chair remarked that the details of this museum should be put on the AES page together with other addresses of other museums.

15  Mr Woodgate made a suggestion about a paper session of the AES HC at the next meeting in Europe about subjects which may be of historical interest.

16  The Chair mentioned that the technical member of the Vatican Radio Mr Florenzo Petitta (the Vice-President of the Italian Section) would be available to show a video of the inauguration day of the Vatican radio showing. Mr Guglielmo Marconi, the Pope, Monsig. Franceschini, the general manager of the radio standing in front of a Reiss marble/carbon microphone for the speech marking the beginning of the Vatican Radio. Two film units in OB van by Westrex USA can be seen on San Peter Square fitted with long horns on the roof for PA purposes.

17 Mr Daleo from the management of the Italian State Archives for Media (Edison cilinders, discs, etc) said he would be interested to present a CD Rom with many historical artifacts of this very important museum in Rome dating back 130 years.

18  One of the members suggested that some members of the AES HC should contact companies to check if they have artifacts or documentation they are willing to discard. Probably the problem here is where do you put these items once you get them: in the Chair’s opinion museums have not shown much interested in more artifacts. What they really need are a few more wings to add to existing ones, so they can show what they already have in the cellars.

19  Roy Pritts presented a list of points that he was going to present to the BOG. Some items were noted, other added or modified, and Roy will inform us about the results.

20  Mr Davies mentioned some museums in England, and surely every member would like to have their addresses:

Film Technology Film Museum Moving Image BKSTS (British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society) Museum

Mr Woodgate or Mr Davies were asked to provide complete addresses, phone, fax and e-mail, opening days and hours, to Mr Manfred Krause.

21  Mr Manfred Krause informed the members of the AES HC that the Technical University of Berlin is developing an interactive web site on which details of several devices can be seen, operated and probably listened to at the TU-Berlin. This will be used to teach sound engineers how to use these devices (mixers, limiters, etc) without being there physically. This could be very interesting also for AESHC to get members acquainted with old devices that people have no idea how to operate, and this could be a way to show them on a PC screen without touching them.

22  Mr Davies mentioned that old equipment is even more fascinating when it works, as the performance is not that bad if you remember it was achieved 80…100 years ago. Unfortunately it is very difficult to get young people interested in the maintenance of these devices, because they have more interest in computers.

23  The Chair remarked that his experience sitting in front of a gramophone with horn that was 6 meter long and over 2 meters in diameter at the mouth was very moving. He did not hear the noise from the 1920 record, he only heard Caruso’s voice (Nimbus record in UK).

24  Mr Donald Plunkett invited the AES HC members to put pressure on the BOG to reissue the Journal centennial number (Vol 25 Nr 10/11, 1977 Oct/Nov), including bringing that history up to date. We have no idea how this can be done or if we have to wait for the 150th year for this immense task.

25  Mr David Robinson mentioned that the Board of Governors has approved converting all AES journals, pre-prints, etc into electronic form, and that the estimated cost will be 250 000 US$. (This does not include the anthologies since they are themselves reprints of articles so will be available as individual papers etc).

26  Mr Marshall Buck (AES Treasurer) said a few but important words for the AESHC members: before you commit money for a project, you must submit a budget — no budget no money. Please be specific about the project for which you require a budget.

ACTION ITEMS

Decide with Mr Robert Van der Hilst if we should put this report on the reflector Send a copy of this report to all participants in the Paris meeting, on their own e-mail; get all names right Create a program for the meeting in Los Angeles Decide if at the next conference papers should presented and ask opinion of the AESHC members about this project Decide how long the AESHC meeting it LA should be (2 hours, or half a day, depending on the program developed on both sides of the Atlantic) Require the name of a contact person to organize the AESHC meeting in a better way

Roberto Beppato, AESHC European Chair

Manfred Krause, AESHC European Secrecary

FOURTH DRAFT, jm 2000-08-08