Paraphrasing the fictional heavy metal band, Spinal Tap, Harman Professional executive VP of sales and marketing, Michael MacDonald opened a packed AES press conference with a pleasing analogy:

“Questioned by a reporter about Spinal Tap’s shift from stadium venues to clubs and whether this was an indication of the band’s declining relevance, a band member remarked: ‘It’s not that we’re becoming less popular it’s that our audience is becoming more selective’.” To clarify, he explained: “While numbers may be a little down, the relevance of the convention remains strong.”

While its true that figures this year were in fact down slightly against 2007’s New York show, comparisons with the East Coast event are probably unfair. The 17,892 visitors present at the Moscone centre in San Francisco last month was actually up by 447 on the figure from 2006 and although exhibitor numbers had dropped by a negligible 13 to 407, in real terms, the show was as busy as ever.

“The 125th Convention reflects the overall optimism of our industry,” noted AES executive director Roger Furness. “Despite economic concern, we filled the North Hall of the Moscone Center with crowds that were both exuberant and highly motivated.”

His sentiments were echoed by incoming president Jim Anderson, who added: “Certainly everyone is concerned about the economy, but equipment was being bought, people were taking advantage of masterclasses, tutorials and other educational opportunities to improve their skills, and most importantly, networking was on overdrive. This was an extremely positive event.”

Exhibitors were in high spirits too, not least Paul Foschino, a senior manager at Sony Electronics: “The show seemed busy from day one, right on through to the end. Our booth was crowded with interested customers, dealers and press non-stop. It’s the best show to introduce a new technology or high-end product to the market.” Foschino’s opinion was shared by many manufacturers this year, which chose to take advantage of the event to do precisely that.

Sony took the opportunity to introduce five new system packages in the Sony UWP series of UHF synthesised wireless microphones. Foschino said that the company had “substantially advanced the series” with significant improvements designed to provide ease of operation, extremely stable audio reception and interference-free multi-channel operation. The Sony UWP Series is ideal for professional news gathering, AV and presentation production, entertainment, live event, HOW and corporate applications.

Audio Technica unveiled a pair of new microphones – the AT8022 X/Y stereo mic and the BP4025 X/Y stereo field recording mic. Both are stereo condenser mics, designed for broadcast, professional recording and for use with audio and video equipment. Each mic features an innovative coincident capsule configuration that allows for a smaller housing while producing a stereo image with the spatial impact and realism of a live sound field. Both mics also feature a compact, lightweight design, useful for applications such as camera-mounting. The AT8022 is designed for use with either consumer or professional gear, while the BP4025 is intended purely for professional use.

The Professional Monitor Company (PMC) showcased a range of high-precision monitor loudspeakers, including the IB2S three-way midfield cabinet, the MB2S medium-format cabinet and the so-called ‘ultimate-performance’ BB5 XBD-A large-scale reference monitoring system, which offers extended bass response from PMC's transmission-line design. Offering a wide array of electronics and cabinet variants, the BB5 XBD-A has been designed to provide seamless integration into a freestanding or soffit configuration without loss of performance.

Bricasti Design launched the Model 10 remote console, designed for use with its highly acclaimed Model 7 stereo reverb processor to allow adjustments to be made at the room’s ‘sweet spot’. The company has also enhanced Model 7 software to include two new soundstages, each of which was calculated off-line over the course of several months based on a specified acoustic model.

“Version 2.0 expands the user’s sonic options three-fold, and brings new levels to the depth of sound and wrap-around quality that M7 users have applauded,” said co-founder and system designer, Casey Dowdell.

Reverb specialist Lexicon debuted its latest reverb and effects processor – the surround sound enabled PCM96. Designed for the modern studio, the unit can function as a control-only insert or FireWire streaming audio plug-in within any Mac VST or Audio Units compatible software. The PCM96 Surround uses multimode filters at several spots in the audio flow to provide more exact shaping of the reverb. It also features a new Pitch algorithm and an ‘infinite’ switch that allows the reverb to run indefinitely.

Focusrite had two very significant announcements to make, the first of which was well received by Pro Tools users and concerned the company’s celebrated Liquid Mix product – now available on the HD3 platform. With the same eq and compression emulations as the original Liquid Mix, Liquid Mix HD equips users with more than 60 emulations for use during recording and mixing, employing the proprietary dynamic convolution technology. Each Liquid Mix HD plug-in has one compressor and eq emulation, which can be selected from a vast variety of high-quality vintage emulators or modern classics. Focusrite also unveiled the Saffire PRO 40, what it calls “the best sounding interface in its class, attentively designed with today’s project studio in mind”.

While no product launches took place at the Digidesign booth, a sneak preview of the developer’s Pro Tools 8 audio production software ensured a constant stream of visitors this year. The new version offers an updated user interface, over 70 plug-ins and virtual instruments, fully integrated MIDI and score editors and an expanded array of editing features. The new Pro Tools 8 software will be available for Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools LE, and Pro Tools M-Powered. For professionals, additions include new Elastic Pitch function for transposing music in real time, ten inserts per channel, enhanced controller integration with Digidesign and M-Audio control surfaces, ICON integration enhancements that dramatically increase speed and efficiency and HD QuickTime support for Mac OSX. A new Satellite Link option has also been added to Pro Tools HD 8 to allow users to control up to five Pro Tools HD systems.

This year’s keynote speech was given by celebrated recording industry figure Chris Stone, founder of Record Plant Recording Studios. His speech – entitled The Artist owns the Industry – examined trends and opportunities in the modern music recording industry. Stone theorised that the music industry is alive and well, but the problem is that only a select group of savvy people are aware of how to take advantage of it with a contemporary music business model.

Stone discussed the monumental effect that the internet has had on the industry and the DIY culture that has developed among artists. As artists retain an ever-increasing amount of control and ownership of their music, the roles of major record labels and high-end recording facilities are shrinking, while those of technology vendors and online music stores are growing. This, he noted, is having a very tangible and positive effect on the audio technology production and retail industries.

The 125th AES technical programme boasted a vast array of educational events. Among the highlights was Thursday’s workshop entitled Engineering Mistakes We Have Made in Audio. Chaired by Peter Eastty of UK-based Oxford Digital with panellists Robert Bristow-Johnson of Audio Imagination and Jim McTigue of Impulsive Audio, six leading audio product developers shared enlightening and at times amusing lessons they have learned from actual mistakes they have made in the product development arena.

John Vanderkooy of the University of Waterloo, Ontario gave a superb masterclass on basic acoustics and understanding the loudspeaker. The basic propagation of sound waves in air for both plane and spherical waves was applied to the operation of a simple, sealed-box loudspeaker and topics such as the acoustic impedance, compact source operation and diffraction were covered. Live demonstrations were given with a simple loudspeaker, and a microphone and measuring computer used to illustrate the basic radiation principle of a typical electrodynamic driver mounted in a sealed box.

Among the multitude of paper sessions this year was Detecting Changes in Audio Signals by Digital Differencing by Bill Waslo of Liberty Instruments. Waslo presented a software application which has been developed to provide an accessible method, based on signal subtraction, to determine whether or not an audio signal has been perceptibly changed by components or processes through which it has passed. The objectives of the software, its capabilities, effectiveness and the algorithms involved were discussed.

As the expo drew to a close on the fifth day, the verdicts of organisers and management indicated that the show had been a resounding success. Convention co-chair John Strawn concluded: “All our Committee Chairs noted the professionalism and enthusiasm evidenced by event participants and attendees alike. From an SRO audience for opening day ceremonies and Chris Stone’s keynote address to packed houses for most of our broadcast, platinum, educational and special events, the 125th convention will stand as a water mark against which future conventions will be measured.”
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