Meeting notice archive

Meeting Recaps

n.b. Meeting reports and recordings exist for many past meetings. Audio recording of meetings is a relatively new thing, so those don't exist beyond maybe year 2000 or so. The archive is spotty, but if there is a meeting that you'd like more info on, and there isn't a distinct page on it, do inquire and it just might appear.

Direct Link to Meeting Year:
(2023)- (2022)- (2021)- (2020)- (2019)- (2018)- (2017)- (2016)-
Index of 2010 Through 2015 Meeting Reports 
1994 Through 2009 Meeting Reports 

2024 PNW AES Section Meetings

June 2024: An Evening with Adam Dorn, AKA Mocean Worker  The PNW Section capped its meeting-year with an evening with musician-producer-composer Adam Dorn, as interviewed by PNW Committeeperson Jim Rondinelli. Dorn gave wide ranging insights about working as a musician-producer-composer, as well as stories about his father, Joel Dorn, plus working with the likes of Marcus Miller, Hall Willner, and John Williams. About 24 AES members and 6 others attended on Zoom. In addition, the PNW Section held its annual business meeting/election. Read more...	Our presenter Adam Dorn AKA Mocean Worker.
May 2024: Studies from the Studio  Staying (somewhat) Sane in Insane Places The PNW Section was treated to a gem in our midst when Jim Rondinelli was interviewed for our May 2024 Section meeting. Currently the COO for Redmond WA based Immersion Networks, Rondinelli engineered and produced many classic albums from the 90s, and discussed in depth his work on albums by Matthew Sweet, Weezer, Everclear, The Tragically Hip, and Wilco. The evening included some memoir, personal philosophy, sage advice, recording tips, and insider stories of making albums in the 90s. About 26 persons attended the Zoom meeting (24 AES members and 2 non). PNW Committee member Micah Hayes organized and conducted the presentation. Read more...	Our presenter and PNW AES Committee member Jim Rondinelli.
April 2024: Recording the Boston Symphony Orchestra  PNW Section held its April 2024 meeting on Zoom, and was fortunate to have engineer/producer (and AES Fellow) Shawn Murphy and Boston Symphony Orchestra recording engineer Nick Squire describe in depth how they record the orchestra. Shawn previously presented to the PNW Section in 2010 on film score recording, and graciously agreed to arrange this presentation with Nick and the BSO. They spoke from their control room at Symphony Hall in Boston. Around 116 persons attended from around the globe, with about 46 being AES members. Read more...	Our presenters Nick Squire and Shawn Murphy.
March 2024: Quartz - Approaching the Problem of Audio/Visual sync  for procedural game systems The AES PNW Section's March-April meeting presented Max Hayes of Epic Games discussing sound for games, specifically the Quartz subsystem of the Unreal Engine. The hybrid meeting was held live at the Digipen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA) and on Zoom. PNW Chair Dan Mortensen began by announcing the next meeting (on the BSO with AES Fellow Shawn Murphy), The attendance count was 9+ AES members out of 24 on Zoom and 6 out of 24 onsite. Read more...	Max Hayes demonstrating the function of the Quartz editing software.
February 2024: The Sound of Nature Is All Around: Nature is Immersive!  The PNW Section held its February meeting on Zoom and featured automixer expert Dan Dugan in a different role - nature sound recordist. Speaking from his San Francisco headquarters, Dan spoke about his work in the Nature Sounds Society and with the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), recording the sounds of nature. Many examples were played, many in surround converted to binaural. Some 71 persons attended on Zoom, with the percentage of AES members unknown due to a ticketing glitch. Historically on average, 60% are members. Read more...	Our Presenter Dan Dugan in the wild recording nature.
January 2024: What Does "Accurate" Even Mean?  PNW Section met in hybrid style January 2024, both in-person at the Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA and on Zoom to hear noted audio researcher James D. (jj) Johnston discuss audio accuracy. About 16 persons attended live and 65 on Zoom, with 56 reporting being AES members. Read more...	Video frame of James D. (jj) Johnston discussing accuracy at the PNW Section, January 31, 2024.

2023 PNW AES Section Meetings

December 2023: Mastering Your Recording A Brief Overview of Mastering for Release and Tips for Optimizing Your Recording for Mastering  PNW Section's December meeting was all about mastering audio recordings for release and preparing audio for mastering, with a panel of PNW-area mixing and mastering engineers. The meeting was Zoom only as it was held in the mastering studios of Seattle's Resonant Mastering, and would not have been able to hold any number of local attendees. The panel consisted of Rachel Field, Ed Brooks and Annie Larkin of Resonant Mastering, independents Tom Hall and Chris Rahm, and Trevor Spencer of Way Out Studio. Some 103 people attended, with 46 citing AES membership. Read more...	December 2023 meeting panel at Seattle's Resonant Mastering. L/R, Rachel Field, Ed Brooks and Annie Larkin of Resonant Mastering; Tom Hall (ind.), Trevor Spencer (Way Out studio), and Chris Rahm (ind.)
November 2023: Get To Know Your Gear with Free Test Software  PNW Section held its November 2023 meeting on Zoom with Peterson Goodwyn of diyrecordingequipment.com demonstrating absolutely free software for testing audio gear. Since he was on the east coast USA, the meeting was Zoom but with PNW locals invited to a "viewing party" at the Seattle studios of Jack Straw Cultural Center and post-event no-host dinner. Suitable mics, cameras and speakers allowed participation by all. About 17 people came in person (7 AES members) and 47 on Zoom (33 AES members). Read more...	Our presenter, Peterson Goodwyn, demonstrating test software during the meeting.
October 2023: Microphone Techniques for Immersive Audio Capture  PNW Section held its October 2023 meeting at the Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond WA USA, with Paul Andrews and Matt Frazier of DPA Microphones speaking about techniques for immersive sound recording. About 23 persons attended in-person (est. 10 AES members) and about 44 via Zoom (est. 18 AES members). Read more...	PNW October 2023 meeting at Digipen with (L-R) Lawrence Schwedler (PNW), Greg Dixon (PNW), Paul Andrews (DPA), Christopher Spahr (DPA), Dan Mortensen (PNW). Not pictured, Matt Frazier (DPA).
September 2023: Mixing at High Dive and Other Topics of Note: A Day in The Life of a Club Audio Engineer  PNW Section started their 2023-24 season with a presentation on live club mixing by independent engineer, Benjamin DeVore. The meeting was held in-person and on Zoom (hybrid) at the High Dive, a club in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. About 10 persons came in-person (6 AES members) and 23 were on Zoom (17 AES members). Read more...	Our meeting presenter, Benjamin DeVore at the mixing console at the High Dive.
June 2023: Old Problems, New Solutions: Architectural Acoustics in Flux, Redux  PNW capped its season with its annual business meeting (elections), followed by a presentation on acoustic testing and materials by Ron Sauro of NWAA Labs of Elma, WA, USA. Read more...	Our presenter, Ron Sauro concluding his very interesting presentation for our June meeting.
May 2023: Interactive Audio and MetaSounds in Unreal Engine 5  PNW Section's May 2023 meeting presented Phil Popp from Epic Games, who gave an overview of the current state of Unreal Engine's Metasounds, how they work, and how sound designers and game developers can use Metasounds. In addition, Phil's talk covered some of the lower-level details of Metasounds for audio programmers. This meeting was a hybrid with the live gathering at DigiPen also available on Zoom. About 20 persons were at Digipen (6 AES members) and 37 (26 AES members) on Zoom. Read more...	20 people attended in person at DigiPen, with another 37 joining on Zoom.
April 2023: Grammy-Winning Engineer Shawn Everett Gives a Tour of his Recording Studio  The PNW Section presented a virtual interview and studio tour with Shawn Everett for its April 2023 meeting. Everett is a six-time Grammy winner known for his work with Adele, Alabama Shakes, Beck, Kacey Musgraves, The War on Drugs, The Killers, Julian Casablancas and many others. He comes from Canada, and now operates a Los Angeles-area facility. Around 20 AES members participated and another 20 non-members, via Zoom. Read more...	Dan Mortensen, Chair PNW AES introduces Micah Hayes and Shawn Everett at the beginning of our Zoom meeting.
March 2023: The First Horizon of Music Decentralized: Personal and Private Streaming Services with Roon  The PNW Section's March 2023 meeting was held via Zoom, and discussed how technology is evolving to allow legitimate personal music streaming, with proper credit, and not be in the control of a few major companies. About 26 AES members attended and 11 non-members. Leading the discussion were PNW mastering engineer Steve Turnidge as our host, Jam Galaxy founder Dianne Krouse, and former AES Executive Director Bob Moses. Read more...	Our Presenters for the evening, Steve Turnidge, Dianne Krouse, and Bob Moses.
February 2023: Minnesota Public Radio - The Broadcast Media Ops Tour  PNW Section was treated to a thorough inside look at the modern broadcasting entity that is Minnesota Public Radio for the February 2023 meeting. Guiding us were several key people in the MPR staff, including PNW expatriate Jess Berg, now Technical Supervisor for MPR News in St. Paul MN USA. About 35 persons attended the Zoom, 22 being AES members. Read more...	Our Presenters for the evening, Eamon, Coyne, Elizabeth Iverson, Erik Stromstad, Jess Berg, and Douglas Rowe.
January 2023: Mic Cuppers - Dealing With It!  PNW Section held a hybrid Zoom+live meeting January 30 centered on live sound and specifically dealing with cupping the vocal mic (holding one's hand around the element), a popular performance style. Many other techniques for live sound problems were also discussed. The in-person presentation was held in the Seattle warehouse of Carlson Audio, a major provider of live sound services. 52 attended from around the world, consisting of combined live and Zoom attendees; 29 were AES Members. Read more...	Presenters Christina Moon and Jesse Turner at the console demonstrate techniques for dealing with mic cuppers.

2022 PNW AES Section Meetings

December 2022: A Repair-centric Approach to Audio Gear Repair? Is there a shortage of technical expertise to meet demand?  PNW Section's December meeting was a Zoom with noted audio engineer/repair tech/educator Eddie Ciletti, joining from his base in Minnesota USA. Despite the title, a wide-ranging discussion of audio gear and repair topics occurred. A worldwide audience of about 41 AES members and 17 others attended. Read more...	Our presenter for the evening, Eddie Ciletti, Manhattan Sound Technicians Inc.
November 2022: What is "Bandwidth?" And Why Do I Care?  PNW Section met on Zoom Nov 17, for a presentation by AES Fellow James D. (jj) Johnston titled, What is "Bandwidth" and Why Do I Care? explaining often misunderstood concepts about digital audio relating to bandwidth. PNW vice-chair Bob Smith also presented supporting information and real-world measurements. About 39 AES members and 36 non-members attended, including a large contingent from the Audio Science Review online forum. PNW Chair Dan Mortensen presided. Read more...	Our presenter for the evening, James D. (jj) Johnston, AES Fellow, PNWAES Committee Member, Technical Advisor, and Chief Scientist at Immersion Networks.
October 2022: The Physics of Microphones: How They Work and How to Apply Them  PNW Section's October 2022 meeting was a Zoom presentation on microphone essentials based on the reality of physics. Presenter Steve Savanyu spoke from his studio in Ohio USA, giving a slide talk about how microphones work, their physical principles, and their practical usage. Some 56 attended the Zoom, with 41 being AES members. Read more...	Microphone maven Steven Savanyu demonstrates how to show vocalists how to cup a microphone and not completely ruin its pattern.
September 2022: The Crocodile Venues: A Guided Tour of The New Home of the Crocodile Cafe  The PNW Section's September meeting featured a tour of the new home of the famous Crocodile music club in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. Attendees were welcome to attend in person, or via Zoom. 16 persons attended in person and 20 via Zoom, with more than 17 total being AES members. The meeting was organized by PNW Committeeperson Jayney Wallick and Chair Dan Mortensen, who provided a portable video studio and his iPhone to do the live walking tour and connect with the Zoom attendees. Read more...	View from the driver's seat of the Showroom's SSL Live-series console.
August 2022: Women Who Worked at Woodstock 1969... In their own words!  PNW Section took a nostalgic trip back to 1969 with hours of personal reminiscences by a group of women who, though largely unsung, helped pull off the most famed music festival in history. A marathon 4+ hour Zoom session on August 20, 2022 combined two of the PNW Section's usual activities: a monthly Section meeting and the more casual weekly Tea Time Topics meetings. About 82 persons attended at various times, with an estimated 33 being AES members. Read more...	A capture of the Zoom Grid early in the meeting.
June 2022: A Very Close Look at the Sound Reinforcement and Recording Systems for Woodstock 1969  PNW Section held its annual business meeting and final Section meeting of the season June 22, electing the next officers and presenting an epic analysis of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair audio system. Around 94 attended the Zoom session (41 Members, 32 non, 21 no answer). Read more...	Clockwise from Upper Left, presenter Bill Hanley, moderator Dan Mortensen, presenter John Chester, John Kane (Author of "The Last Seat in the House" ), presenter Harold Cohen, and presenter Chris Langhart.
May 2022: Reality is Boring: Expressing Feelings and Movements through Impressionistic Foley  The PNW Section visited the wonderful world of sound effects for its May 2022 meeting, held on Zoom. Sony Interactive Senior Foley Artist Joanna Fang joined us, Zooming live from the Sony Interactive Foley stage in San Diego, with many of the props and sets used in producing her sound effects. About 34 persons attended (22 being AES members). Read more...	Our Presenter, Joanna Fang, demonstrates the Foley process live during the presentation.
April 2022: Home Studio Construction  For the PNW Section April 2022 meeting, composer/musician/engineer/producer Steve Kirk discussed the unique challenges of building his new recording studio in a residential environment. About 35 persons attended the Zoom meeting, about 19 being AES members. Read more...	Our presenters, Steve Kirk and Patrick Donicht, begin the Zoom session.
March 2022: How Seattle Pacific University Creates Streamable Online Concert Archives  The PNW Section ventured out with another hybrid meeting March 3, with Professor Micah Hayes presenting "How Seattle Pacific University Creates Streamable Online Concert Archives." SPU is a private university of about 3,600 students in Seattle, WA USA. People could attend in-person at SPU or participate on Zoom. Some 46 persons attended (34 on Zoom and 12 in-person at SPU, with 23 AES members). Read more...	Our Presenter, Micah Hayes, welcomes virtual and physical attendees to the facility.
February 2022: An Introduction to the Reaper DAW  PNW Section's February 2022 meeting was held on Zoom, and featured an introduction to the Reaper digital audio workstation program by Jam Phelps of Denk Studios, Durham NC USA. Reaper is commercial software with popular competitors, but is known for its low price, stability and full feature set. Read more...	Our Presenter, Jam Phelps, in the studio during the presentation.
January 2022: Masking - What is it, and when does it happen?  The Pacific Northwest Section of the AES held its January 2022 meeting on Zoom, presenting AES Fellow James D. (jj) Johnston speaking about the basics of auditory masking. About 55 AES members attended of 76 total. Read more...	Our Presenter, James D. (jj) Johnston, in front of an obviously happy place!

2021 PNW AES Section Meetings

December 2021: Sylvia Massy's Mind-Blowing Microphone Museum, Part 2  PNW Section had such a great time last year when Sylvia Massy showed the AES some of her microphone collection that we asked for more. Part 2 again featured engineer/producer Sylvia and partner Chris Johnson showing more of what is regarded as the largest mic collection in the world from their studio in Oregon. About 88 people attended, with 59 being AES members. Read more...	Sylvia Massy with a small portion of the incredible microphone collection at The Museum Studio.
November 2021: Portals: The Secret Weapon of AAA Game Audio Spatialization AND Attempting to achieve in-person AND online meetings  PNW Section held its first in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA, and simultaneously online in a special hybrid in-person/online meeting. Sound designer Ian Shores shared his knowledge of game audio spatialization, while PNW Members Dan Mortensen and Lawrence Schwedler assembled a system to allow Zoom participants to see, hear, and interact in real-time with attendees at the meeting in person. Approximately 14/34 were AES members on Zoom and 6/26 in-person. All in-person attendees were required to show proof of COVID vaccination or negative PCR test as per DigiPen and local regulations, and masks were mandatory. Read more...	Ian Shores of Highwire Games discusses game audio before a live and Zoom audience. Presenters were allowed to unmask and keep their distance.
October 2021: Analog Tape Playback without Wow and Flutter  PNW Section met via Zoom Oct 18 with a presentation by Jamie Howarth and John Chester of Plangent Processes on removing speed fluctuations on analog magnetic recordings using a proprietary method. Some 49 people (36 AES members) attended the Zoom. Read more...	PNW Section Zoom presentation on processing out wow and flutter by John Chester [L] and Jamie Howarth [R].
September 2021: 1st Annual PNW Audio Trivia Bonanza with Jess Berg  PNW Section began its 2021-22 season of meetings with another Zoom For Amusement Only, the 1st Annual PNW Audio Trivia Bonanza. Thanks to a gaming app, three rounds of 20 multiple choice audio questions were presented on the Zoom screen share. Read more...	One of the trivia questions as presented by the gaming application.
June 2021: Immersion Networks Mix³ The Cloud Based Spatial Audio Platform for Creators  PNW Section ended its meeting season June 16 with the Section Annual Business Meeting/elections and a presentation by Immersion Networks of its novel, cloud-based immersive sound mixing system. Some 34 AES members and 24 others attended the Zoom meeting. Read more...	Our Presenters for the evening, Jim Rondinelli (top left), Paul Hubert (top right), and James D. (jj) Johnston.
May 2021: Rational Acoustics: Smaart, History, Applications, Unusual Case Studies and The Role of Curiosity in Audio  PNW Section held its May 2021 meeting on Zoom and featured Jamie Anderson and Michael Lawrence of Rational Acoustics, whose Smaart dual-channel FFT audio analysis program is widely used in the sound industry. Rather than a tutorial on how to operate the program, Jamie gave a history of audio FFT use and Smaart through the years, Michael gave an essay on creativity in audio measurements, and several users gave curious case studies. Statistics indicated about 114 participants from around the globe, with about 71 being AES members. Read more...	Our presenters from Rational Acoustics, Jamie Anderson - Founder & CEO and Michael Lawrence - Application Support Specialist, Smaart SPL Product Manager.
April 2021: Recording Songs with Caspar Babypants  The PNW Section tried a little different Zoom for its April meeting, using the Zoom Webinar to host musician, producer and writer Caspar Babypants, also known as Chris Ballew. Chris may be best known from being a member of the rock trio, The Presidents of the United States of America, and now spoke about his career as a solo children's musician. About 50 persons attended from around the USA, although some had more than one person on a connection. Something more than 17 were AES members. Read more...	Caspar Babypants, AKA Chris Ballew describes his working process in his home studio and talks about how he works on many songs, some taking months or years to complete.
March 2021: Diversity & Inclusion within the AES PNW Section  The PNW Section explored a topic of concern to the AES, that of diversity and inclusion in the audio world. Local teacher/writer/musician/producer Dr. Angela Dane was the featured speaker, joined by bandmates Johnny Angel (Maria Garcia) and Ryan Lee. In addition, local engineer Lillian Blair was featured. About 46 people attended, with 31 being AES members. Read more...	Two of our Presenters, Ryan Lee (left) and Dr. Angela Dane (right).
February 2021: Motown: In the Studio Where It Happened!  The PNW Section's February 2021 Zoom meeting brought veteran engineer Bob Olhsson, talking about his years working at Motown in Detroit, MI USA in the 1960s. Olhsson spoke to about 149 participants (about 79 being AES members) from his current home in Nashville, TN, USA. As a surprise extra, he was joined by longtime friend and also past Motown engineer, John Windt. Read more...	Our Presenter, Bob Olhsson in his natural environment.
January 2021: Auditory Mechanisms for Spatial Hearing  The AES PNW Section presented a tutorial on the elements of human auditory mechanisms for spatial hearing for its January 2021 meeting on Zoom. AES Fellow and PNW Member James D. Johnston (jj) gave this lecture, and approximately 74 persons attended (about 41 were AES members) from around the world. Read more...	PNW AES Committee Member James D. (jj) Johnston kicks the year off with a great Zoom presentation.

2020 PNW AES Section Meetings

November 2020: Mercury Living Presence - A Technical History  PNW Section hosted a November Zoom meeting with Tom Fine speaking about the classic Mercury Living Presence (MLP) recordings that his parents, Wilma Cozart Fine and C. Robert Fine, produced and engineered. Tom has consulted on the catalog since 2010 and remastered parts of it for digital and analog releases. Some 57 attended, more than 27 being AES members. Read more...	Presenter Tom Fine, of Tom Fine Audio Services.
October 2020: Metadata - Your Path to Proper Credits and Payment  Metadata (often called data about data) may refer to many things, but the October 2020 PNW Section meeting focused on data about audio recordings that is used for professional credit or payment. Jim Rondinelli (Immersion Networks) chaired a panel discussing this evening with Maureen Droney (Recording Academy P & E Wing), Dick Huey (Jaxsta), and Vickie Nauman (CrossBorder Works). 17 AES members and 31 total attended via Zoom. Read more...	Panelists (top row) Vickie Nauman, Jim Rondinelli (bottom Row) Maureen Droney, Dick Huey.
September 2020: Beyond the Flatscreen  September's PNW Section Zoom meeting was a behind-the-curtains look at how the 2020 AES International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality was pivoted to an actual virtual reality conference in the wake of the pandemic. Conference Co-Chairs Matt Klassen and Lawrence Schwedler spoke in virtual reality (viewable in 2-D) about some of the trials, tribulations, and successes. Read more...	Conference Virtual Lobby
August 2020: Sylvia Massy's Mind-Blowing Microphone Museum  August presented a special opportunity to see part of Sylvia Massy's Mind-Blowing Microphone Museum. Arguably the largest microphone collection in the world, Sylvia has added it to her studio, with parts on display, and parts actually in use for production. Sylvia is an award winning engineer, producer, educator, studio owner, museum owner, entrepreneur, and Radiant Being. Read more...	Sylvia showing a rare vintage RCA KU5 microphone from her collection.
June 2020: Tools & Techniques for Streaming Audio  The PNW Section held its 3rd and final virtual meeting of the season and its annual election June 17, on the Zoom Meeting platform. Featured speaker was prolific audio book author Bill Gibson, who spoke appropriately enough, on getting good sound when streaming media over the internet. About 49 persons attended from around the globe. Read more...	Our June Presenter, Bill Gibson, begins his session on Tools and Techniques for Streaming Audio.
May 2020: 3D Audio  The PNW Section's 2nd virtual meeting of the pandemic era featured Brian Schmidt of DigiPen and Brian Schmidt Studios, LLC, speaking about 3-D audio via Zoom. The human hearing aspects were discussed thoroughly, as well as the approaches to implementing 3-D audio. About 75 persons attended (25 AES members), several from outside of the Section and even other countries. Read more...	Presenter and PNWAES Committee Member Brian Schmidt begins his presentation on 3D Audio for the May virtual meeting.
April 2020: Mixing On Glass: Tablet Control of Digital Mixers  The PNW Section held its first virtual/online meeting of the pandemic era April 28, with Dan Mortensen of Dansound Inc. speaking about mixing for live sound with tablet devices. The Section settled on using the Zoom Video Communications platform, with security measures, provided by co-sponsor, the University of Washington School of Music. About 22 AES members and 16 non-members attended from around the world. Read more...	Behind the scenes view of presenter Dan Mortensen controlling the mothership as he walks the attendees through the nuts and bolts of "mixing on glass."
March 2020: Out of caution regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, PNWAES elected not to hold a section meeting this month to give us time to develop a path for future virtual meetings.
February 2020: Creating a New Loudspeaker Design  The PNW Section welcomed Gary Gesellchen of Vanatoo LLC for its February meeting on loudspeaker design. Vanatoo has carved out a place in the small, high-end powered speaker market. Gary, with his business partner Rick Kernen, previously presented to the PNW Section in 2013, with their experiences creating an audio company. About 37 people attended (17 were AES members) the meeting at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond WA. Read more...	PNW welcomed Gary Gesellchen (C) of Vanatoo at its February 2020 meeting. With him is PNW vice-chair Dana Olson (L) and Chair Greg Dixon (R) .
January 2020: Old Problems, New Solutions: Architectural Acoustics in Flux  The PNW Section began the new decade with a presentation by Ron Sauro of NWAA Labs on developments in architectural acoustics. Although some would say the field is mature, Ron's research shows many familiar acoustic formulas are not as accurate as thought. The meeting, held at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA, drew some 36 attendees (19 being AES members). Read more...	PNW AES Committee Member at large Rick Chinn, Presenter Ron Sauro of NWAA Labs and PNW Section Chair Greg Dixon.

2019 PNW AES Section Meetings

November 2019: How to Record an Abrams Tank  The PNW Section rumbled ahead with its November 2019 meeting, featuring game sound designer Stephen Brown explaining how to record an Abrams tank and more. About 38 attended (7 AES members) the presentation given at DigiPen in Redmond, WA. Read more...	Section Treasurer Lawrence Schwedler, Presenter Steven Brown, Section Chair Greg Dixon, and Section Committee Member David Schneider.
October 2019: Acoustics - the Black Magic of Architecture  The AES PNW Section held its October meeting in the South Lake Union offices of Stantec, to hear acoustician Katie Gray speak about architectural acoustics. Katie gave an overview of architectural acoustics, what kinds of things she does, how projects are conceived and managed, some case studies and a demonstration of office noise masking. About 30 people attended (17 AES members). Read more...	Our October Presenter, Acoustician Katie Gray of Stantec, with PNWAES Chair Greg Dixon.
September 2019: The Current State of Production Sound Recording  Opening its 2019-2020 season of meetings, the PNW Section welcomed Jon Tatooles of Sound Devices to speak about modern "Production Sound." Some 43 persons attended the meeting (18 AES Members), held at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. Jon is co-founder of Sound Devices LLC, a specialty audio electronics manufacturer based in Wisconsin. Read more...	PNWAES Committee Member Rick Chinn, Section Chair Greg Dixon, Member Dr. Mike Matesky, and Presenter Jon Tatooles with cake courtesy Dr Matesky & Opus 4 Studios.
July 2019: An Unhinged Evening with Sylvia Massy  The PNW Section held an unusual July meeting in order to present renowned engineer/producer, Sylvia Massy.  Sylvia has worked with the likes of Tool, System of a Down, Johnny Cash, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust, and Tom Petty. Billed as "An Unhinged Evening with Sylvia Massy," she spoke about concepts shown in her recent self-illustrated book, Recording Unhinged , encouraging unusual, offbeat, perhaps oddball ways to get music recorded. Over 95 persons attended (about 30 were AES members) at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. Read more...	Committee member Bill Gibson, Treasurer Lawrence Schwedler, Sylvia Massy, Secretary Gary Louie, and Vice Chair Dana Olson.
June 2019: Line Mixing for Musical Theatre  The PNW Section held its annual business meeting/election in June, and welcomed a presentation on theatrical sound "line mixing" by Northwest sound designer and musical mixer Lisa Finkral. 17 AES members out of 31 total persons attended the meeting, held at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. Read more...	PNW AES Vice Chair Elect Dana Olson, Theatre Sound Designer and presenter Lisa Finkral, and PNW AES Chair Elect Greg Dixon.
May 2019: DigiPen Audio Symposium 2019  On Saturday, May 11th, 2019, 9:30AM - 4:00PM, DigiPen hosted its seventh annual Audio Symposium, a yearly event hosted by the DigiPen Music & Sound Design department at DigiPen's Redmond campus. The event was cosponsored by the Game Audio Network Guild and the Audio Engineering Society Pacific Northwest Section. In lieu of a traditional section meeting, AESPNW encouraged members to take advantage of the opportunity. Roughly 10 AES members were among the attendees. Read more...	Sally Kellaway describes design challenges of creating audio experiences for virtual, augmented, or mixed reality.
April 2019: Hearing 099  For the April Section meeting, the AESPNW met in the Plato Auditorium at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. The meeting featured jj Johnston presenting an overview at the most basic level of the operation of human hearing, with 30 in attendance including 17 AES members. Everything in audio is intended for human hearing, therefore it's clearly helpful to understand just how hearing works. Read more...	PNWAES Section Vice Chair Steve Turnidge, Presenter and PNWAES Technical Advisor jj Johnston, Committee Member and Digipen Faculty Greg Dixon, and Section Chair Bob Moses.
March 2019: The Music of Destiny  The Section met at Digipen Institute of Technology for its March 2019 meeting, featuring three members of the music team for Bungie's very popular "Destiny" video game series. Skye Lewin (Music Director and Composer), Michael C. Salvatori (Composer), and Josh Mosser (Senior Music Mixer/Editor) discussed their inspiration, workflow, and the concept of creativity on a deadline when delivering symphonic soundtracks containing hundreds of minutes of original music, elaborately sound designed cinematic sequences, and dialog in umpteen languages. About 82 folks attended (17 AES members) the presentation in Digipen's Plato auditorium. Read more...	Steve Turnidge, PNWAES Vice Chair, Glen Lorbecki, PNWAES Committee, Michael C. Salvatori, Skye Lewin, and Josh Mosser with Bungie, Lawrence Schwedler, PNWAES Committee and DIGIPEN
February 2019: 2008 Recording Academy Studio Summit, Seattle, a Video Interview  PNW met on a snowy February evening to watch an old, but still relevant video interview of producer/engineer Bob Ezrin. Shoreline Community College graciously made their theater available for the 11 AES members and 4 guests. It was on May 1, 2008, when the PNW Chapter of the Recording Academy had a Studio Summit at what was EMP (now MoPop) in Seattle. The guests of honor were Bob Ezrin and Alan Parsons, interviewed by Glenn Lorbecki. The day was recorded in DVCAM, but the tapes never were captured - until now. Read more...	Bob Ezrin and Glen Lorbecki in conversation during a clip from the video.
January 2019: Immersive Audio Listening with the Recording Academy  In January 2019, the Recording Academy PNW Chapter was joined by the AES PNW Section to audition Grammy nominees for Best Immersive Audio Album. This was held on the Microsoft Redmond campus in their Studio B Dolby Atmos screening room. Naturally, AES members were not voting unless they were also Recording Academy members. 17 AES members attended, and around 33 Recording Academy folks, plus a dozen or so Microsoft employees. Read more...

2018 PNW AES Section Meetings

December 2018: Pacific Northwest Audio Society Annual Winter Social  The Pacific Northwest Section of AES occasionally takes a December break from our regular schedule of meetings. In 2018, the Pacific Northwest Audio Society graciously invited members of the PNWAES to join them for their Annual Winter Social, held at the Mercer Island Congregational Church on December 1, 2018. Several members of the section took them up on this generous offer and enjoyed an afternoon of food, socializing and listening to interesting audio systems, including a Fulton speaker system donated to the society by a friend of the builder, and PNWAES section committee member Dana Olson's mini speaker design. Read more...	1975 Fulton Premier Speaker System driven for the meeting by two monoblock amplifiers
November 2018: Jack Endino Guitar Recording Workshop  The PNW Section welcomed Jack Endino for its November meeting, where he expounded on a 2002 article in TapeOp magazine about problems regarding guitar tuning in recording situations. Nearly 70 people, including 16 AES members attended the presentation, held at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, WA. Jack Endino is a Seattle record producer, recording engineer, mixer, and musician with somewhere over 500 records to his credit, including bands like Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden. He earned his BSEE from the University of Washington in 1980, and was recording in earnest by 1986. Read more...	AES PNW Committee members Steve Malott, Rick Chinn, Greg Dixon, Vice Chair Steve Turnidge, Presenter Jack Endino and Section Chair Bob Moses
October 2018: Issues in Digital Production That Remain a Problem  For October, PNW Section held a joint meeting with the Signal Processing Society from the Seattle Section of the IEEE. James D. Johnston (jj) from Immersion Networks and Bob Smith from SoundSmith Labs spoke about digital audio production problems that seem to remain misused. The meeting was held October 3, 2018 at Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA, where around 36 attended (20 AES members/5 IEEE members). Read more...	October PNW meeting, held with the IEEE: L-R, Greg Dixon (PNW Committee; Digipen), Adam Loper (IEEE), Bob Moses (PNW Chair), Bob Smith (SoundSmith Labs), James D. Johnston (jj)(Immersion Networks)
September 2018: New Surround and Immersive Recordings  The PNW Section began its 2018-19 season of meetings with a demo/discussion of 3-D and immersive recordings by Ulrike Schwarz and Jim Anderson of Anderson Audio NY. Jim is a multi-Grammy winner, past AES President, and a faculty member of the NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Ulrike is a recipient of multiple European awards including the Diamant d'Opera, Diapason d'Or and Echo Klassik. Some 63 people (29 AES Members) came to the Microsoft Dolby Atmos theater on the Redmond Microsoft campus. Read more...	PNW September meeting with L-R Jim Anderson, Ulrike Schwarz, PNW chair Bob Moses, PNW vice-chair Steve Turnidge
June 2018: An Evening with Ron Jones  The PNW Section held its final meeting of the season on June 20, conducted its election, and welcomed composer Ron Jones for an evening of his thoughts on a wide range of topics. 23 AES members and 19 others attended the meeting, held at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, WA. For 37 years, Ron composed music for TV in Los Angeles, working on shows like Star Trek: Next Generation, American Dad, and Family Guy. In 2014 he relocated from L.A. to Stanwood, WA (an hour north of Seattle) and started Skymuse Studios. So far, he has composed over 40,000 registered works, and is still going strong after his move to Washington - last year his studio provided all of the audio for the feature film "Fight For Space" and Ron has a large jazz band he conducts, writes and arranges for, Jazz Forest. Read more...	Bob Moses, Chair elect PNW AES, Ron Jones Skymuse Studios, Steve Turnidge Vice-Chair elect PNW AES, Dan Mortensen Outgoing Chair PNW AES.
May 2018: Lies, Damn Lies and USB DAC Technical Measurements, or How to Manipulate Measurements for Fun and Profit  The May 2018 PNW Section meeting featured Bob Smith of Soundsmith Labs and AES PNW Section Technical Contributor, presenting a tutorial of some pitfalls of audio measurements on D to A converters. The meeting was held at Shoreline Community College, Shoreline WA, and was attended by 16 AES members and 14 non. In this tutorial Bob Smith illuminated the world of DAC measurements, demonstrating how reviewers can mislead or worse over the choices they make and the way they use and misuse measurement techniques. Read more...	Bob Smith, SoundSmith Studios and Technical Contributor for Pacific Northwest Section of the AES was our presenter for the May 2018 Meeting.
April 2018: When Timing Audio For Video Becomes Impossible, aka The Impossible Will Take A Little Longer  In April, the PNW section was hosted by Dr Michael Matesky at Opus 4 Studios for a fascinating look at a real world recording project. 22 attendees including 14 AES members gathered at Opus 4 for the meeting. Once a year, Costco holds a Manager's Conference in Seattle, WA. A segment of the conference program is a memorial to Costco employees who have passed away during the previous year. The memorial takes the form of video images of those who have passed, along with an audio track that underscores the video. The main stipulation from the client is that all the music must be performed by Costco employees. Dr. Michael Matesky and Grant Crawford of Costco walked us through the details with the chance to hear bits and pieces of the project along the way, including the intricate process of combining non-professional performers with a minimum number of takes, many of them working remotely. Read more...	AES PNW Section Chair Dan Mortensen with presenters Dr. Mike Matesky of Opus 4 Studios and Grant Crawford of Costco
March 2018: Seeing Voices: Using Light to Restore and Preserve Early Recorded Sound  For March 2018, the PNW Section joined with 3 groups at the University of Washington in Seattle to bring Dr. Carl Haber of Lawrence Berkeley Lab to speak about optical restoration of sound recordings. Initiated by the UW Physics Department for their outreach program, "Connecting the Dots," the AES PNW Section, the Bill Holm Center at the UW Burke Museum and the DXARTS program at the UW also co-sponsored. About 22 regular AES-PNW attendees (12 AES members) were in attendance, with over 210 registered. The lecture was given in Kane Hall on the UW Seattle campus. Read more...	Dr. Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Curator, Northwest Native Art at the Burke Museum, Prof. Shih-Chieh Hsu, UW Physics, Dr. Carl Haber, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Prof. Juan Pampin, UW DXARTS, Dan Mortensen, AES PNW Section Chair.
February 2018: Roland Cloud and Gig Performer, The Continuing Evolution of the Virtual Studio  The PNW Section met February 21, 2018 at the local, independent Guitar Store in Seattle for a look at the virtual studio offerings of the Roland Cloud service, and more on the virtual studio. PNW Chair Dan Mortensen opened the meeting, announced upcoming meetings, and had attendees give their brief self-introductions. About 36 (13 AES members) attended. The title of the meeting might have more accurately been "The Continuing Evolution of the Virtual Studio, Including: Roland Cloud, Gig Performer, and Rane turntables". Host, author/mastering engineer et al Steve Turnidge welcomed presenters Brandon Ryan and Scott Morgan of Roland, Colin Isler of Rane and turntablist Jamie Simmonds. David Jameson, author of the Gig Performer software, assisted in preparing the demos and answered questions. Read more...	(L-R): Colin Isler (Rane), DJ Jamie Simmonds, Brandon Ryan (Roland), Steve Turnidge (host), Scott Morgan (Roland).
January 2018: To Window or Not To Window - aye, there's the rub!  The PNW Section met in January 2018 to discuss windowing in FFTs. AES Fellow James D. (jj) Johnston reviewed the theory of FFT windowing while PNW Section Technical Advisor Bob Smith showed practical usage. About 60 attendees came, 26 of whom were AES members, and the meeting was held at the campus of DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond WA. Read more...	January presenters, Bob Smith and jj Johnston during their presentation on time windowing.

2017 PNW AES Section Meetings

December 2017: Distributed and Balanced Mode Transducers  The PNW Section of the AES held the final meeting of 2017 on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at the facilities of Tectonic Audio Labs in Woodinville, Washington, where we met for a tour and presentation on bending wave technology as used in audio transducer and system designs. There were roughly 35 attendees, of whom 19 were AES members. The evening began with a brief description of the development of the technology of Distributed Mode Loudspeakers, which began with research intended to find ways to reduce the noise in the cockpits of combat jet aircraft in the UK. Read more...	PNW AES Chair Dan Mortensen, Committee at Large Member Rick Chinn, Presenter Tim Whitwell, Presenter Marcelo Vercelli, Dave Firestone.
November 2017: Ambisonics and the ATK @ DXARTS  The PNW Section met on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at Raitt Hall on UW's campus for a presentation by Joseph Anderson called "Ambisonics and the Ambisonic Toolkit (ATK)," hosted by University of Washington's DXARTS (Center for Digital Arts & Experimental Media). There were 60 attendees, including 24 AES members. Joseph Anderson began by discussing some required readings for anyone interested in learning more about the theory and mathematics behind ambisonic sound techniques. Anderson describes ambisonics using the following terms: holographic, heriphonic, rational, convenient, isotropic, "scene based," and hierarchical. Read more...	AES Committee Member Greg Dixon, Professor Joseph Anderson, Juan Pampin, Director, DXARTS, PNW AES Section Chair Dan Mortensen, and AES Executive Director Bob Moses.
October 2017: The Brain-Music Interface The Encephalophone  The PNW Section Oct 2017 meeting was about the Encephalophone, a "thought control" musical device. The meeting was held at Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. There were 48 attendees including 20 AES members. Meeting organizer Stephen DeVore introduced guest speaker, Dr. Thomas A.S. Deuel. Dr. Deuel is a musician/sound artist, neurologist, and neuroscientist. He has been a University of Washington Acting Assistant Professor at the UW School of Music's DXARTS (Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media). He is also Staff Physician/Neurophysiologist for Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA. He has received several awards and grants for his work, and has given several invited talks on the Encephalophone. Read more...	Dr. Thomas A. S. Deuel and PNW AES Section Chair Dan Mortensen.
September 2017: A Pictorial History of the Columbia Records 30th Street Studio  The PNW Section kicked off its 2017-18 season of activities with a presentation by PNW Chair Dan Mortensen on the history of famed Columbia Records' 30th street studio in NYC. 14 members and 10 guests attended the meeting held at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. Gathering the story of the studio and honoring its people and music has been a pet project of Dan's for some 9 years. Read more...	Pacific Northwest Section Chair and tonight's presenter Dan Mortensen begins his presentation.
June 2017: 3-D Sound for Video Games  PNW's season-ending meeting was held at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond WA, with Lawrence Schwedler, Digipen's Program Director of Music & Sound Design, speaking on 3-D Sound for Video Games. About 41 attended (20 were AES Members). AES Executive Director Bob Moses also joined us for the meeting. Schwedler is the Program Director of Music & Sound Design for DigiPen, a school focusing on the arts and technologies driving modern entertainment and beyond. Starting with some references for background info, he described mono, stereo, binaural and surround sound. He also spoke on the history and development of game sound... Read more...	Presenters Ian Shores and Lawrence Schwedler with AES Pacific Northwest Section chair Dan Mortensen.
May 2017: The Harry Partch Instrumentarium  The PNW Section took a detour in May to experience some of the most unique musical instruments in the world - the Harry Partch Instrumentarium at the University of Washington, Seattle. The host was Charles Corey, the curator of the collection. The meeting was held in the UW Meany Studio Theater where a subset of the instruments was being prepared for a series of concerts. 30 people attended, 11 were AES members. Read more...	Presenter Charles Corey is greeted by PNW AES Section Chair Dan Mortensen as preparations for the meeting are under way.
April 2017: Theatre Sound Design  The PNW Section turned its attention to sound and media design for performance for the April 2017 meeting, hosting award winning local designer Brendan Patrick Hogan for an interesting presentation on the nature and details of designing sound and media for live performance. 23 persons (10 AES members) attended the meeting in room 818 of the Shoreline Community College Music Building. Read more...	Hogan begins his lecture with a comprehensive description of the work of the theatrical sound designer.
March 2017: Impedance...Because Resistance is Futile!  The PNW Section's March 2017 meeting explored the concept of impedance in its audio forms. 57 persons (25 AES members), including the AES Western Region VP Leslie Gaston-Bird, met at Dr. Mike Matesky's beautiful Opus 4 Studios in Bothell, WA. A panel of local experts spoke, including Steve Macatee (retired from Rane), Colin Isler (still working for the Rane Division of InMusic Brands Inc.), Dana Olson (retired from Boeing, Physio Control & Cypress Semiconductors) and Mark Rogers (semi-retired from The Greenbusch Group consulting engineers). Read more...	Presenter Steve Macatee begins our evening with a review of the nature of resistance, reactance and impedance.
February 2017: The Science of Turntablism  For those that still know and embrace the turntable, the PNW Section February 2017 meeting showed the advanced science and technology behind what's known as turntablism. World-touring turntablist Jamie Simmonds showed the art form, while former Rane employees Steve Macatee and Steve Turnidge provided additional technical details. 11 AES Members and 14 non-members attended the presentation held at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, WA. Read more...	Steve Turnidge, Jamie Simmonds and Steve Macatee, our presenters for the evening.
January 2017: I Have to Mix it in Here? or Affordable Acoustic Measurements and How to Apply Them.  For January 2017 the PNW Section had two of their own talk about and demonstrate how to make poor acoustic mixing spaces better. Since most of us are forced to use mixing rooms never designed as such, this meeting showed simple, low-cost methods to figure out what to do and then treat that. James "jj" Johnston (retired) and Bob Smith (almost retired) spoke to an audience of 62 (27 AES members) at Shoreline Community College Music room 818. Read more...	January presenters, Bob Smith and jj Johnston with AES PNW Section chair Dan Mortensen.

2016 PNW AES Section Meetings

December 2016: What's All This Dante Stuff, Anyway? or Audio Networking Using Dante  The PNW Section held a (rare!) December meeting on Dante audio network technology. PNW Committeeperson Steve Macatee, a former longtime Rane employee and a current SynAudCon instructor, conducted this introduction to Dante. While many audio networking technologies have come and gone, they tend to evolve at the speed of IT technology. Dante (Digital Audio Network Through Ethernet) from Audinate in Australia is currently a big player and has sparked a lot of interest. Their USA office is near Portland, OR. Dante has shown that it can handle uncompressed deterministic (guaranteed packet delivery/timing) digital audio neatly over ordinary Ethernet networks, and has the software tools for easy deployment and simple end user control and management. Read more...	Steve Macatee demonstrates the ease of using DANTE to connect multiple computers and devices on the fly.
November 2016: Drums, Life, and Everything in Between: Understanding the Drum Kit on a Fundamental Level  PNW Section's November 2016 meeting was held at Robert Lang Studios in Shoreline, WA, and featured a deep examination of the modern drum kit. Local experts enlisted were Dave Delozier (Assistant Manager/Lead Drum Tech, Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR) Seattle), Don Gunn (recording engineer/drummer), Steve Smith (Seattle Drum School founder, instructor, recording engineer) and Seth Tomlinson (Acoustician, the Greenbusch Group, Seattle). The event was co-produced by the AES PNW and the Robert Lang Academy Student Sections, directed by PNW Chair Dan Mortensen and Committeeperson Marlie Pesek, who is also Director of the Robert Lang Academy. Read more...	Section Chair Dan Mortensen introduces our distinguished panel of drum experts as they prepare to show us how it's done.
October 2016: The Evolution of a Home Loudspeaker Design  The PNW Section October 2016 meeting had Dana Olson describe the design process behind his DIY loudspeakers that won top prize at the 2016 Pacific Northwest Audio Society DIY (Do It Yourself) Speaker Competition. Dana is a semi-retired aeronautical engineer and member of the AES PNW Section Committee. 14 AES members and 15 non-members attended the meeting at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, WA. read more...	Section Chair Dan Mortensen with Section Member Dana Olson and his prize winning speakers.
September 2016: Modern Medical Ultrasound Technology  The PNW Section inaugurated their 2016-17 meeting season with a presentation on medical ultrasound technology by Dr. Jens Quistgaard of Mirabilis Medical, Inc of Bothell, WA. Jens described what medical ultrasound is, how it is implemented, and compared diagnostic imaging with therapeutic uses including destroying tumors with several thousand watts/cm*2. He pointed out the same physical behavior of ultrasound waves to audible sound we are familiar with. read more...	Dr. Jens U. Quistgaard of Mirabilis Medical Inc with Section Chair Dan Mortensen.
July-August 2016: Aside from a planning meeting of the officers and the Committee, we generally go on hiatus for the summer months.
June 2016: Development of a Low Cost Programmable Microphone Preamp Gain Control IC for Pro Audio Applications  The PNW Section held its season closing and Annual Business Meeting June 29, 2016, and hosted Gary Hebert, CTO of THAT Corp, who spoke about his company's development of a lower cost digital gain control IC for microphone preamps. About 23 AES members and 8 non-members attended the meeting, held at Shoreline Community College (SCC) in Shoreline, WA. This meeting included the elections for section officers and committee members for the coming year. THAT Corporation has been manufacturing programmable gain control ICs for microphone preamplifiers since 2009. While these have been adopted in a wide variety of professional audio products, they were often too costly to be included into many higher volume and high channel count designs. THAT's CTO Gary Hebert described performance requirements for these ICs in the professional audio environment and the circuit topology changes and performance tradeoffs made during the development of a new low-cost gain control IC. read more...	Bob Moses, Executive Director AES, René Jaeger, Committee member, Gary Hebert, Presenter, Christopher Deckard, PNWAES Chair.
May 2016: Spatial Audio and its Applications  Dr. Ivan Tashev, the architect behind the audio technologies of many Microsoft products (and PNW Committee member) spoke on Spatial Audio at the May 2016 meeting of the PNW Section. With the recent release of the MS HoloLens augmented reality device, it was timely to now learn how sounds can be manipulated to appear in 3D space. The meeting took place at Microsoft Research's building on one of MS's major campuses in Redmond, WA. Around 58 attendees (26 or so members) were at the meeting, including AES Executive Director Bob Moses. read more...	Section Vice Chair Steve Turnidge, presenter Ivan Tashev, Chair Chris Deckard, AES Exec. Director Bob Moses, committee member Rick Chinn
April 2016: Radio Frequency Coordination for Live Events  The PNW Section's April meeting featured John Coulter (often known as JC) of the Seattle Center Sound Department, who spoke about wireless audio radio frequency coordination - managing your frequencies, scanning your RF environment and analyzing it, and coping with the ever increasing complexity of less bandwidth and more competition. The meeting involved members of the Art Institute of Seattle's Audio Club and Student AES Section. 13 AES members and 8 nonmembers attended. JC began by noting the tremendous growth in use of wireless audio in shows at Seattle Center in recent years, resulting in him being designated Wireless Frequency Coordinator for Seattle Center. read more...	Committee member Dan Mortensen, AIS Student section member Skyler Bendell, presenter John Coulter, and Section Chair Chris Deckard.
March 2016: The Decibel, Revisited  The PNW Section presented its March meeting on "The decibel revisited", a review and tutorial, for both beginners and those of us who think we understand. Our presenter was Mark Rogers, PE, and current AES PNW Section Committee member. Mark is Director of the AV Department at the Greenbusch Group, a Seattle engineering consulting firm. He is a designer of audio/visual systems, including sound reinforcement, audio reproduction, video projection and displays, videoconferencing and audioconferencing, and related control systems. Typical projects include corporate boardrooms, convention centers, universities and hospitals. He has been designing and installing AV for over 45 years, and also teaches classes and seminars on AV technology. He is a registered Professional Engineer (Washington and Idaho) and earned his BSEE at the University of Idaho. He is a past Vice Chair and Committee member of the PNW AES Section and has presented several topics to the section. read more...	Presenter Mark Rogers and Pacific Northwest Section Chair Chris Deckard
February 2016: Reference? What Are You Referring To?  The February meeting of the Pacific Northwest Section of the Audio Engineering Society was hosted by Dr. Michael Matesky at his Bothell, Washington facility, Opus 4 Studios. There were roughly 40 attendees of whom 14 were members of AES. Musicians, audiophiles, and audio engineers often refer to a "reference recording". Exactly what are they referring to, where does it come from, and how is it used? Is there such a thing as a standard reference? How does a reference recording relate to the new recording? This meeting grew out of Dr. Matesky's interest in exploring the way many live and recording engineers and artists use the term "reference recording". Dr. Matesky led us in deconstructing the notion of a reference recording, beginning with a look at the meaning of the term, and extending into a question about the very notion of what an appropriate "reference" might be for the recordist. read more...	View from the control room as Dr. Michael Matesky, owner of Opus 4 Studios, reflects on the meaning of the term "Reference".
January 2016: Sample Rate Conversion: A Saturday Afternoon Discussion  The PNW Section kicked off 2016 with a Saturday afternoon session about sampling rate conversion (SRC). AES/IEEE Fellow James D. (jj) Johnston gave a tutorial on sampling, how sampling creates and controls the whole process, what a SRC does, how it works, and what it should and should not do. Bob Smith, of the AES PNW committee and an acoustic scientist at Physio-Control, then gave a presentation about SRC testing, with results showing aliasing and step response of different filters. Snack breaks were held about every hour. The meeting was held at a new, as-yet-to-be-named audio research company in Redmond, WA. 41 people attended, about 18 being AES members. Full A/V documentation will be available as well as the Powerpoint decks of the entire meeting. read more...	Presenters and PNW Committee Members Bob Smith and jj Johnston with PNW Section Chair Christopher Deckard