135th Audio Engineering Society Convention Hits A Five-Year High

	Attendees flock to the 135th Audio Engineering Society Convention on the opening day of exhibits, Friday, October 18, 2013. Photos courtesy of Audio Engineering Society. 2013

The 135th Audio Engineering Society Convention which ran October 17 - 20, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, was the place to be for anyone in the audio industry. The exhibit floor, panels, and technical sessions were packed all four days, and as AES celebrated its 65th anniversary, a five-year-high number of 18,453 registrants were tallied.

At show close, AES reported a 16% increase in registration since the last time the convention was in New York two years ago, and a staggering 71% increase over last year's San Francisco event, which unfortunately was plagued by smaller attendance due to Hurricane Sandy.

Convention committee chair Jim Anderson and his team created the most ambitious and comprehensive schedule of workshops, panels, and technical programs in AES convention history; AES135 will be remembered by those in attendance as an exciting and enlightening experience, and one of the most heavily attended conventions in years. From the opening keynote address on Thursday by Josh McDermott from MIT; and the Heyser Lecture by legendary producer, technologist and multi-Grammy Award winner George Massenburg; to Friday's lunchtime keynote by multi-Grammy Award winner Jimmy Jam; the Project Studio Expo and Knowledge Center; the "Sound For Picture" Deadliest Catch workshop; the Grammy SoundTables event honoring the late Phil Ramone; presentations by engineer and Jay-Z collaborator Young Guru; and more, AES135 hit it out of the park for attendees and exhibitors alike.

"I can't express how thrilled I am with our convention this year," stated Bob Moses, executive director of the AES. "Our organizing committee really outdid themselves, with over 250 presentations from an astounding 682 leading researchers and practitioners in the field, many of them standing-room only. The convention floor was absolutely packed, and the only complaint I heard was that we ran out of convention programs on the second day because so many people showed up. We took some risks with this show in an attempt to bring in lots of new blood and to maintain our position on the proverbial cutting edge, and the fact that it was such a fantastic success gives us confidence to ratchet it up a few more notches in Los Angeles next year. Actually, why wait for October 2014? - we'll be back in Berlin in April, and much of what made this show so great will be leveraged to breathe new life into our European convention."

No matter what sector of the industry -- recording and production, broadcast and streaming, game audio, live sound, networked audio, sound for picture, post production, or system integration - the company says AES135 had it all. The convention received support from over 20 industry sponsors and partners including: Audio Precision, Cerwin-Vega, CharterOak, Focusrite/Novation, Gibson, Hal Leonard, Harman/Soundcraft, iZotope, KRK, NewBay Media, Onkyo, SAE Institute, Sennheiser, Sound On Sound, Sound and Picture, Stanton, Tascam, and THAT Corporation. Additionally several organizations lent their support, including APRS, ASCAP, DTV Audio Group, International Music Festival Conference, Manhattan Producer's Alliance, The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing and SPARS, as well as leading audio retailers GC Pro and Sweetwater.

The convention garnered praise from exhibitors and attendees alike. Piers Plaskitt, CEO, Solid State Logic, Inc., stated, "We went into the 2013 AES with high expectations, a new console for the live market, a cool summing box for our music professionals, and a MADI/Dante bridge for our broadcast customers. We staffed up accordingly, and I'm very pleased to say that we had an extraordinarily busy show that exceeded our projections on every level. We are looking forward to 2014 and the convention's return to Los Angeles."

"This AES in New York was the best AES convention in many years," stated Eric Mayer, president, DPA Inc. "This year the show floor traffic seemed up, our booth attendees were more 'qualified,' and spirits seemed high. I'm not sure what changes were made, but whatever they were, they were needed and they worked."

Katy Templeman-Holmes, senior marketing manager USA, mixer group, Harman, echoed Mayer's words: "We had a great show, specifically with the hands-on workshops we hosted. Attendance was stronger than ever and it was a valuable mix of student, new, and veteran engineers all looking to learn and experience the available technologies and products. A good show all around."

"AES New York is always special, as no other show draws such a diverse crowd of key decision leaders in music, post, broadcast, and live sound," stated Phil Wagner, president of Focusrite Novation Inc. "This year's AES show had our booth and sound demo room packed with potential customers from start to finish. We were proud to sponsor both the Project Studio Expo and Networked Audio Track. We look forward to a strong presence at AES Los Angeles next year."