What panels/workshops are you looking forward to?

[Dan]

The AES Convention is more than just a bunch of dudes showing off gear. What's piqued your interest off the convention floor?

-Dan.

[Dan]

My personal area of interest is in sound design for video games. Fortunately, AES has given Game Audio it's own program track this year. One that I will try to attend covers aesthetic and technical considerations of 3-d simulation (http://www.aes.org/events/127/gameaudio/session.cfm?code=G5). Two others that interested me are an overeview of game audio implementation (http://www.aes.org/events/127/gameaudio/session.cfm?code=G2) and a panel specific to the Unreal 3 engine (http://www.aes.org/events/127/gameaudio/session.cfm?code=G6). Unfortunately, I'm going to be getting on and off the train right in the middle of those two.

Others that I thought sounded interesting include:
Integrating MAX/MSP & Ableton LIVE (http://www.aes.org/events/127/workshops/session.cfm?code=W2)
Teaching electronics to audio students (http://www.aes.org/events/127/workshops/session.cfm?code=W12)
Audio forensics (http://www.aes.org/events/127/workshops/session.cfm?code=W16)
History of Bell Labs (http://www.aes.org/events/127/historical/session.cfm?ID=2040)

Sound Effects (http://www.aes.org/events/127/broadcastsessions/session.cfm?code=B13) - I attended this one last year and it was great. Imagine a holophone recording of a helicopter being played back through a 7.1 system comprised of 3 mid-sized line-array boxes per point. :eek:

-Dan.

[Halfway Competent]

My personal area of interest is in sound design for video games. Fortunately, AES has given Game Audio it's own program track this year. One that I will try to attend covers aesthetic and technical considerations of 3-d simulation (http://www.aes.org/events/127/gameaudio/session.cfm?code=G5). Two others that interested me are an overeview of game audio implementation (http://www.aes.org/events/127/gameaudio/session.cfm?code=G2) and a panel specific to the Unreal 3 engine (http://www.aes.org/events/127/gameaudio/session.cfm?code=G6). Unfortunately, I'm going to be getting on and off the train right in the middle of those two.

Others that I thought sounded interesting include:
Integrating MAX/MSP & Ableton LIVE (http://www.aes.org/events/127/workshops/session.cfm?code=W2)
Teaching electronics to audio students (http://www.aes.org/events/127/workshops/session.cfm?code=W12)
Audio forensics (http://www.aes.org/events/127/workshops/session.cfm?code=W16)
History of Bell Labs (http://www.aes.org/events/127/historical/session.cfm?ID=2040)

Sound Effects (http://www.aes.org/events/127/broadcastsessions/session.cfm?code=B13) - I attended this one last year and it was great. Imagine a holophone recording of a helicopter being played back through a 7.1 system comprised of 3 mid-sized line-array boxes per point. :eek:

-Dan.

I worked in game sound design for a few months (sort of an "apprentice" position), several years ago for a video game everyone's heard of. It was about as much fun as I'd ever had at work.

One thing that bummed me, though, was that I worked strictly with sound effects libraries... Didn't play with microphones, and since the audio engine positions every sound effect (in stereo or surround), all generated SFX had to be mono and free of reverb-type effects. I remember one day taking a break and listening to some lush, ambient electronica... The wide stereo was kind of a relief. :)

Then I got to work on sound effects for cinematics. This was a lot more fun, as I could add reverb and other effects to the sounds. This became a bit more like film sound design.

What I enjoyed most about sound design was coming up for sounds for things that didn't exist... Or even things that did. Combining, convolving, etc., common noises to make, say, fantasy weapon sounds. I pitched an idling diesel train up an octave to make for a meaty-sounding servo motor, for example.

[Peter Black]

The AES Convention is more than just a bunch of dudes showing off gear. What's piqued your interest off the convention floor?

-Dan.

the Audio Forensics Technical Council meeting sounds cool I'm going to check that out.