The Audio Engineering Society has announced preliminary program highlights for the upcoming AES 2021 Audio Education Conference, taking place online, July 22 – 24 in U.S. Central Daylight Time. This year’s event will feature peer-reviewed paper presentations, workshops, daily plenary events and special guest presentations focused on the most effective audio education technologies and techniques, including a newly announced keynote by iZotope CEO and co-founder Mark Ethier. Event sponsors include Dolby, Focusrite, IMES (Iron Mountain Entertainment Services), the Recording Academy Producers and Engineers Wing, and Veva Sound, with additional support from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).
Once again, audio educators from around the world will converge for an immersive educational experience, showcasing top minds in the field as they offer insights to the intricacies of teaching audio in a variety of in-person, virtual and hybrid settings. Organizers for the conference include event co-chairs Bill Crabtree and Michael Flemming of MTSU; Papers Co-chairs Jan Berg and Jason Corey; with additional support from Jim Kaiser, Dr. Doyuen Ko, John Krivit and Mark Rubel.
Several featured presentations have also been announced:
Keynote by Mark Ethier
Ethier is the co-founder and CEO of iZotope, an industry-leading audio technology company based in Cambridge, MA, which develops intelligent audio technology that helps musicians, music producers, and audio post engineers focus on their craft rather than the tech behind it. As a musician first himself, Mark infuses a musician-focused sensibility into iZotope’s approach to building musical tools – bringing forward important elements of traditional studio equipment while innovating on new digital capabilities. Under his leadership, iZotope continues to explore the boundaries of digital signal processing, tapping into modern technologies like machine learning, deep learning, and music information retrieval (MIR). This commitment is born from Ethier’s background at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a dual major in both Computer Science and Music. Ethier is a member of the Boston Committee for the New York Chapter of The Recording Academy® and the Audio Engineering Society, and also serves on the Board of Directors of The Record Co., a non-profit music incubator whose mission is to promote the Boston music scene.
Workshop and Panel Discussion Highlights
Two topical events recently announced for the AES Audio Education Conference include the workshop “What the Masters Teach Us: Multitrack Recordings in Research and Education,” which will feature educators Toby Seay (Drexel University), Kirk McNally (University of Victoria), Amandine Pras (University of Lethbridge), Nyssim Lefford (Luleå University of Technology) and Paul Thompson (Leeds Beckett University). The panel discussion “Create a Career with Credit: Curricular Approaches to Credits and Metadata” will take on industry opportunities with panelists Deborah Fairchild (President, Veva Sound) and Casey Taylor (Veva Sound), with more to be announced.
Research Papers Presentations
Scientific research and development presentations will again hold a key role in this year’s AES Audio Education Conference. Featured research papers presentations include sessions “Introduction to Music Recording: A Syllabus with Course Design Details and Discussion,” “Ambisonics in an Art School Context, ”Female Audio Educators: Why All Audio Students Need Them,” ”Scaling Student Sessions – Syllabi Elements that Enable One Student’s Recording Session to Advance all Students’ Learning,” ”Acoustics Study in Audio Curricula, an Overview and Summary,” “A Method for Program-Level Academic Review and Revision in Audio Education” and “Achieving Educational and Program Outcomes through Instrument & Equipment Maintenance.”