The 118th AES convention May 28-31 in Barcelona, Spain, will have a new emphasis on live sound technology and techniques. Comments from the convention’s co-chair Eloi Batlle and AES Executive Director Roger Furness underscore the new direction.
Roger Furness: One thing that will be different from previous conventions is the arrangement we’ve made for the technical session devoted to live sound. It will feature workshops, tutorials, seminars and demos about live sound that will be pooled in one room equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
The program will cover all relevant questions on live sound from mixing to monitoring, microphones, and public address systems. Thanks to this new approach, visitors and exhibitors will find everything that is to learn about live sound at one single spot in the congress centre and we avoid overlapping between sessions about the same topic.
Furthermore, the 2005 convention will continue the innovation of offering the highly successful exhibitor seminars from the industry, plus tutorial seminars as introductions to the latest developments in pro audio. These events have very quickly become essential ingredients of the show.
Eloi Batlle: Live sound will be one of the focus themes of the Barcelona event. Spain is by nature a country with a long season and many opportunities for, in particular, open-air musical events. Also, there are a high number of concert halls, theatres, opera houses, theme parks and so on. All of them need strong support by professional audio equipment. Both the exhibition as well as the technical program will reflect this unique situation with topics such as theatre sound design, live sound reinforcement, and professional audio for music DJs.
Furness: Live sound has taken an important position in the pro audio market and is therefore very interesting for our exhibitors and attendees. However, besides live sound, the traditionally important topics in AES Conventions such as broadcasting, recording, surround sound and microphone technology will be highlighted. We expect a high number of visitors from radio and TV stations – and this variety is mirrored in the program too.
For more information, visit www.aes.org.
