Wednesday, November 13, 2002, noon - 9pm

a day of Presentations and Product Exhibits

at the Wellesley Community Center

(To see some photos of the '02 EXPO, click here.)

REPORT: EXPO post facto

This year, there were more attendees than ever (250+). The exhibit hall and rooms hummed with conversation at every moment, without getting over-crowded. We hope that all of you who attended learned what you wanted to learn. If you still have questions, please contact us; as usual, we will obtain answers.

In the presentation hall, attendance quickly reached and remained at a lively 70 to 120 people. From all reports, the ten hours of presentations by various masters of their fields achieved the usual high standard. Attendees learned much and enjoyed the process. We owe many thanks to Yamaha, Digidesign, Tom Bates, David Moulton, Bob Ludwig, and Dr. Toby Mountain for their participation as presenters, and to all the manufacturers who so effectively exhibited for the day.

For a report on the evening panel discussion, about Our Changing Industry, click here. For a slide show that outlines most of its topics, click here.

Tom Bates CD's

As often happens at the Expos, many attendees were blown away by the international assortment of music engineered by one of our regular presenters, Tom Bates. Many people in the audience asked if they could get the CD's, none of which is available in this sometimes insular country. Tom has made a few calls overseas, and a quantity of disks is now en route, available at a special price -- $11 each, including freight --to anyone interested. To help you figure out which CD's to order, Tom has kindly written up a reminder about the music. See his message, posted to the left. If you'd like to obtain the CD's, please place your orders with us now. The CD's will only be available for a short time. A verbal order will do. No deposits are needed. Place your order like any other order with us, leaving us your credit cared number if that's how you normally pay.

NARAS membership

Many attendees were intrigued, too, by the coming of NARAS and its Recording Academy to New England. Many professionals in the region seem to think that circumstances may be right for organizing a chapter up here to serve engineers, producers, and musicians. More details will follow here as things develop. Meanwhile, Jon Marcus of NARAS, who was at the EXPO, advises that anyone who attended the EXPO who wishes to join NARAS can do so now for a discounted rate: $85 (vs. the usual $150/year). That membership will be effective until March 2004. Let us know if you are interested. We will pass the word for you to Jon.

BASICS

• 12th annual conference/exposition
• Wednesday, November 13, 2002, noon - 9pm
• at the Wellesley Community Center, 219 Washington St., Wellesley Hills, Route 16 at Route 9 (first building to the north)
• The Expo is free of charge, courtesy of the exhibitors and Parsons Audio.
• No reservations or RSVP's are needed, but some presentations are likely to fill up.
• directions. The Community Ctr. driveway is across from where the Route 9 West exit ramp meets Route 16. From most directions, easiest access to Route 9 West is via Rte. 128/95. Take 128/95's Exit 20B, Rte. 9 West. It's a few miles south of the Mass Pike. The Community Center's phone # is (781)235-4172. The PDF version of this invitation includes this map. We'll be glad to send you one -- click here. Or print this page.
• parking. There's plenty of parking around the building and the church next door.
• mass transit. The Wellesley Hills rail stop is a ten minute walk up Route 16.
  
• food & drink. The Community Center is located a block away from the heart of Wellesley Hills, where you can find food, snacks, and drinks at a variety of restaurants, cafes, takeouts, and stores. Attendees of the Expo's evening session will find free pizza and soft drinks available from 6pm, courtesy of AES/Boston and Parsons Audio.
• Need lodging? Lodging is available nearby, everything from country inns to generic hotels: The Wellesley Inn in Wellesley (colonial style, reasonably priced), a few miles up route 16; Newton Holiday Inn; Newton-Wellesley Marriott; Sheraton Needham; Sheraton Newton, etc. Ask us for recommendations.

At the Expo

• exhibits by leading manufacturers, with their product specialists, from noon until 6pm. Great opportunities to:
  • see equipment, including the latest and greatest, in a friendly and unhurried atmosphere
  • learn from manufacturers' product specialists
    
• listening/learning sessions, through the afternoon, until 6pm
  
  • learn from skilled users, who will make presentations based on their work
• evening presentation: a great one — see below
• The Expo is also a fine place, and rare opportunity, to meet and schmooze with your peers. Network with new acquaintances and old. The fun factor is high!

exhibits by leading manufacturers

with their product specialists

from noon until 6pm

This year, product specialists from more than fifty manufacturers showed their products and technologies, and discussed them with hundreds of attendees.

Expo exhibitors included the following. Click to link to company web sites.

Apogee Electronics

Avid

Aviom

Benchmark Media

Digidesign

Earthworks Audio Products

Eventide (at the Henderson Co. table)

Glyph Technologies

GRM Tools

Kurzweil

Lexicon

Meyer Sound

Millennia Media

Neumann

Redco Audio

SADiE

Schoeps

Sony

Summit Audio

Tascam

Voyager Sound

Wave Mechanics

Yamaha

also:

Audio Pros

representing Event, KRK, Metric Halo, Rode, Emagic, etc.

Bay Roads Marketing

representing Sony, t.c. electronics, HHB, Hafler, Genex, Philips, Dynaudio, etc.
The Henderson Company

representing Genelec, Denon, Drawmer, Eventide, Soundfield, Brauner, Furman, QSC, etc.

New England Technical Associates

representing EAW, Sennheiser, Crest, Aphex, Joe meek, etc.

On the Road Marketing

representing Mackie, Audio-technica, PreSonus, Symetrix, Raxxess, Auralex, etc.

Richard Dean Assoicates

representing Shure, Tascam, etc.

Soul Tech Marketing

representing Waves, BIAS, Serato, etc.

presentations: listening/learning sessions

schedule

12 noon — Yamaha's Martin Dombey presented a history of digital consoles and associated DSP. Yamaha has built 14 generations of digital consoles, from the DMP7 to today's PM-1D and DM2000. The presentation will describe that remarkable evolution, and will give a good look at the latest consoles. Yamaha will also be exhibiting in the exhibit hall.

1pm — Digidesign's Andrew Harris, Brian Doser, and Luc Bourgeois described the state of the company's products. The presentation will highlight the latest, including products that will be arriving in the next few months. There will be a thorough overview, a segment on the networking of DAWs, including integration with Avid systems. And there will be a presentation of Pro Tools 6.0, highlighting its OS X feature set. Digidesign will also exhibit its products in the Hoffman Room.

2pm — Tom Bates. Tom delivered a fascinating show & tell such as we have come to expect of him at our Expos. This years's focus was multi-cultural. Tom has been recording in many parts of the world (Nepal, Tibet, Belarus, China, Portugal, Native American, etc.), finding an enthusiastic welcome for western-style recording techniques. Come hear, and learn! (For a brief bio of Tom, click here.)

3pm — David Moulton, on the "Golden Ears" evaluation work that he has been doing for Ibiquity. Ibiquity will shortly bring digital radio to the world (visit http://www.ibiquity.com). In his presentation, Dave played examples of what is coming. Some people claim that we will soon be listening to FM-quality AM broadcasts, and near-CD quality FM broadcasts. Is that true, or is the truth more like: "If you didn't like MP3, you may hate this!"? Will it be a brave new world? What are the audible differences among different formats, from MP3 to SACD? From resolution to resolution, how does the quality of the listening experience vary? (For a brief bio of Dave, click here.)

4pm — Bob Ludwig. Bob gave an expanded version of his recent presentation at AES, on Mixing & Mastering in Surround Sound. Included was be a photo tour of Gateway Mastering, Bob's world-class CD- and DVD-mastering facility in Portland, Maine. Among his projects this past year have been numerous Grammy winners, as usual; also the Rolling Stones recent multi-CD re-issue and Bruce Springsteen's latest. (For a brief bio of Bob, click here.)

5:30pm — the Recording Academy's New England initiative. NARAS (the Grammy folks) described their current initiative to organize New England's recording, production, and musician communities, toward several good purposes. Jon Marcus of NARAS and Jonathan Wyner of M Works did the presenting. Elements of the initiative include:

1. Professional education outreach.
2. GRAMMY In The Schools (career education program for high school students)
3. Networking/entertainment events
4. Recording Academy membership
4. MusiCares (an aid program for professionals)

6pm — food & social hour for evening attendees. Free pizza, soft drinks, and cookies, courtesy of Parsons Audio, AES/Boston, and the Expo exhibitors.

7pm - 9pm—The Evening Presentation

Discussion: Our Changing Industry

Questions and issues for our four panelists: Tom Bates, Bob Ludwig, David Moulton, and Dr. Toby Mountain. For their affiliations and credits, please see below. As usual, our evening event also served as the November meeting of the Boston Chapter of AES.

This was a discussion of issues that loom large these days, with a panel of four professionals who are much involved in them, at many levels. Ours is an entrepreneurial world. We are at a technological crossroads. The discussion focused on our changing profession and industry.

For a report on the evening panel discussion, click here. For a slide show that outlines many of its topics, click here.

the panelists:

• Tom Bates — engineer and producer, 8-time Grammy winner, long-time audio chief at Saturday Night Live, Live at the Met, etc. Tom is always an engaging and informative presenter. Few people are as knowledgeable as he about audio engineering and production, and fewer still have his gift for communicating what he has learned.
• Bob Ludwig — of Gateway Mastering & DVD (Portland, ME). Well established as one of the world's leading mastering engineers, Bob masters numerous Grammy-winning projects every year. He has received numerous awards, including eleven TEC awards for "Best Mastering Engineer". Visit http://www.gatewaymastering.com.
• David Moulton — noted author (Total Recording textbook) and columnist (Recording magazine, etc.), Grammy-nominated engineer, creator of the Golden Ears CD Series, loudspeaker designer, acoustic consultant, composer, and principal of Moulton Laboratories. Visit http://www.moultonlabs.com.
• Dr. Toby Mountain — founder and chief mastering engineer at Northeastern Digital Recording (Southboro, MA), New England's first digital mastering facility. Credits include gold and platinum CD's, Grammy nominees, and many other projects for artists within New England, and beyond. Visit http://www.northeasterndigital.com.

A REPORT on the evening discussion

(For a slide show that outlines many of the discussion's topics, click here.)

• The audience was 95% male.
• 90% engineer or produce music.
• 90% are musicians, amateur or professional.
• 30% felt confident about their future income in the business. 65% reported more substantial worries.
• 30% believed that in future they would be working more with picture (15% actually editing it).
• 90% expected to work more in surround, with DVD, and using the Internet. 15% work with DVD now.
• 50% expected music videos to become a more important way to distribute music.
• 50% regularly listen to MP3, 10% to SACD and DVD-A, and 50% to surround systems. 50% own home theaters.
  
  

First topic for the panelists was today’s audio consumer. David Moulton suggested that consumers are quite passive about formats. He reported concern that surround systems are too complex—in their installation and operation—for many consumers. The key to marketplace success for surround, he says, will be automotive. The auto platform is now where most music listening occurs—a change from the days when living room or table radio listening were more dominant. It is a fairly ideal venue for surround. Car systems are turnkey systems; the consumer won’t have to know much in order to use it successfully. Car manufacturers are now working hard to develop these systems.

Tom Bates observed that home listening isn’t competitive these days. People—especially kids—have too much else at home: cable TV, Net, movie rentals, games, etc. At home, the movie industry is driving the surround train. How can we in the audio industry become competitive? SACD and DVD-A sound great, he said. We need to get it out.

Bob Ludwig reported that more and more artists are interested in producing a package that includes video. They’re especially thrilled with surround. If it weren’t for budget issues, music artistry could quickly become a collaborative art, combining other media with audio. It is good that desktop video is with us; the costs of producing video are becoming lower.

Toby Mountain asked, rhetorically, whether home video consumers will be willing to sit in their home theaters and listen to music. Probably not, he answered, since there are so many other choices in home entertainment. He said he’d like to see more grass roots effort made with young people, to show them how and why to listen to music. Beyond that, he said, maybe we must add something to the music, to make it more appealing to consumers. Music releases should perhaps integrate more with the Internet. Music-on-demand at home—especially in home theaters—might be a good idea.

The panel turned to the question of where the 16/44 CD is headed. Toby ventured that the CD will stick around, as the LP has. For 10 or 15 years or more, perhaps. Bob added that SACD has a good shot at succeeding. Record companies love it for its four levels of security. That, and the fact that no SACD reference recorders exist, make it impossible to make pirated copies. He credited ABKCO Records with helping the SACD market to take off, via the recent Rolling Stones release, which can be played either as an SACD or a conventional CD. ABKCO ate the extra cost inherent in SACD production, and drove the market price of SACD’s down to $18.95. The presence of SACD on the disk intrigued many consumers, he said. He pointed out that some fairly inexpensive players are now able to play SACD, regular CD, and DVD Video. DVD-A has a good shot, too, he said. If car DVD players turn out to be universal players, they will help both formats. Sonically, both are excellent, he said. For production and mastering these days, PCM has many more tools available, but he is confident that will come around. That said, however, he believes that the most of the future of music distribution lies in some form of downloading via the Net.

All panelists agreed that the downloading revolution won’t end any time soon. Several believe it best is for purveyors of recorded music to give it away on the Net, via MP3 or similar, then to sell higher-class versions of the same music via disk or micro-licensed download. One scenario, set forth by David Moulton, would involve watermarking each piece of music, then requiring consumers to pay a small fee to rights owners each time the music is transmitted. The ability to do that is here now, he said.

There was much discussion of the high-rez/low-rez dichotomy. David ventured that there is not a general perception in the consuming public that MP3 sucks. He lamented that the record industry hasn’t made anything of that issue in its marketing to the public. He says that labels should tell consumers: “What you’re making a free copy of is really low quality. You can have it! But if you want the really good stuff, you should go to SACD (or DVD-A). You’ve gotta pay for that, but it’s worth it, as opposed to downloading that really trashy garbage!” Let the low-rez market be what it is, he says. It’s a great way to get material out there, for free. But for the good stuff, again, go to SACD or similar. Tell the consumer this: “Once you hear it, you will believe.”

Toby observed that the technology isn’t what will lead us; rather it will be the media, the message, especially re popular music. To make any of these formats take off with the masses, he said, artistry is needed. Mark Parsons added that while we tend to focus on technology; we of course owe our livings to whatever it is in the human spirit that music and other audio sources tap. That is a focus that we share with both artists and consumers.

If you are new to the Expo...

Several hundred people attend the Expo each year. Some of their remarks about it:

• "The Expo's atmosphere is welcoming, the people friendly, the hype minimal, the exhibits comprehensive, and the presentations excellent."
• "...Parsons Audio really gives back to the audio community."
• " ...Parsons Audio's commitment to imparting knowledge in a field of increasing complexity is a Godsend to us. They are more than a dealer of high end professional audio equipment; they are an integral part of the Pro Audio community."
• "...The Expo is stunningly superb, celebrated in our community, allowing for professional growth and rewarding interaction with our colleagues."

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