AES Show Preview: More for Broadcasters in L.A.

The Audio Engineering Society Show is back in Los Angeles this year (Sept. 29-Oct. 2, at the Los Angeles Convention Center). Although the New York edition of the show, which occurs in alternating years, tends to attract more broadcast exhibitors and attendees, the L.A. edition this year is no slouch, with Hollywood’s media businesses helping lure such broadcast-centric exhibitors as Lawo, Calrec, and Clear-Com, as well as manufacturers whose products have traditionally straddled the lines between broadcast and music production, such as Shure, Sennheiser, Harman, Audio-Technica, Sony and Yamaha.

The show floor may have contracted a bit since the event’s heyday of the 1990s, but its attendant conference program has expanded considerably in recent years. This year, an emphasis on audio streaming is reflected in the AES Broadcast/Streaming Media Track, in its third decade as the industry’s forum for the latest advances in radio, TV, and internet streaming. Of particular interest will be a session on the convergence of streaming and object-based audio playback. Other broadcast-oriented events include Audio Considerations for 4K and 8K Television, a seminar that will look at the evolution of 4K/UHD and 8K broadcasting, which is increasingly prevalent in events like the Super Bowl, The Masters, and the Olympic Summer Games; the session will also cover ATSC 3.0 and Super Hi-Vision experimental transmitters.

Yamaha’s new TF-Rack mixer is designed to be rack-mounted.

Yamaha’s new TF-Rack mixer is designed to be rack-mounted.

Saturday Afternoon With the DTV Audio Group
The broadcast-program sessions will be capped on Oct. 1 (1:00-6:00 p.m.) by the DTV Audio Group Forum, produced in association with the Sports Video Group. Titled The Changing Face of Television Audio: Objects, Immersivity, and Personalization, the event will examine how the explosion in streamed-content delivery to fixed and mobile devices has accelerated adoption of advanced audio services for television and their impact on broadcast audio. Calrec, DAD, Dale Pro Audio, Dolby Laboratories, JBL, Lawo, Linear Acoustic, Sanken, and Studer will sponsor the following topics:

  • Advanced Authoring Tools: Live Audio Production — As the ability to deliver advanced audio expands, can live production fill the pipe?
  • The Impact of VR on Immersivity and Personalization in Television —VR is the ultimate personalized immersive experience. How will technologies and trends driven by VR re-calibrate our thinking about television sound?
  • Evolving Tools for Object Audio Post Production — How do theatrical workflows and tools get faster and leaner for the demands of premium episodic TV?

From Accessories to 3D Audio
There will be plenty to look at (and hear) on the show floor, as always. Here are some of the offerings:

  • Alcons Audio USA (a first-time exhibitor) and immersive-audio specialist Astro Spatial Audio will demonstrate 3D audio technologies, including the latter’s SARA 3D audio rendering, in a live-sound environment. Astro Spatial Audio will also introduce its object-based interactive acoustic room-simulation module, developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, which adapts specific requirements, such as speech intelligibility or concert acoustics, to any venue.
  • Yamaha’s new TF-Rack mixer offers the same levels of performance and operability found on TF series mixers in a space-saving rack-mount design. Most operations are easily controlled via a large touch panel, allowing quick and efficient workflow.
  • DPA Microphones will unveil its GSM4000 gooseneck shock-mount accessory and MMP-G modular active cable for MicroDot (Booth 621).
  • RTW will introduce the MM3 MusicMeter, intended to implement loudness metering into music-based applications, to the U.S. market, along with its newly upgraded Continuous Loudness Control (CLC) software Version 2.0.

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