Audio Engineering Society

Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, manufacturers and other organizations and individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. They are mainly engineers developing devices or products for audio, and also people working in audio content production.

The Audio Engineering Society is the only professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology. Its membership of leading engineers, scientists and other authorities has increased dramatically throughout the world, greatly boosting the society's stature and that of its members in a truly symbiotic relationship.

The organisation develops, reviews and publishes engineering standards for the audio and related media industries, and produces the AES Conventions, which are held twice a year alternating between Europe and the USA. The AES and individual regional or national "Sections" also hold AES Conferences on different topics during the year.

The AES publishes a peer-reviewed journal, the "Journal of the Audio Engineering Society" (JAES).

The idea of a society dedicated solely to audio engineering had been discussed for some time before the first meeting, but was first proposed in print in a letter by Frank E. Sherry, of Victoria, Texas, in the December 1947 issue of the magazine "Audio Engineering". A New York engineer, C.J. LeBel, then published a letter in response the following month asking for interested persons to contact him.

What came to be the AES was formed at an organizational meeting at RCA Victor Studios in New York City on February 17, 1948. Its first membership meeting followed on March 11, drawing primarily from the area's broadcast and recording operations. The guest speaker at the first meeting was Harry F. Olson, a prominent engineer and scientist at RCA and author of "Acoustical Engineering".

AES Gold Medal recipients

The AES Gold Medal is the Society's highest honor, and given in recognition of outstanding achievements, sustained over a period of years, in the field of Audio Engineering. The award was established in 1971; it was formerly known as the John H. Potts Memorial Award. [ [http://www.aes.org/info/award_guidelines.cfm About the Audio Engineering Society. "Award Guidelines"] ]

Awardees in chronological order

*Harry F. Olson (1949)
*Howard A. Chinn (1950)
*Hermon Hosmer Scott (1951)
*Frank L. Capps (1952)
*Edward W. Kellogg (1953)
*J.P. Maxfield (1954)
*Lee De Forest (1955)
*Sherman Fairchild (1955)
*O.B. Hanson (1956)
*Edward C. Wente (1957)
*Samuel B. Snow (1957)
*Harvey Fletcher (1958)
*Harold Stephen Black (1959)
*S.J. Begun (1960)
*John Kenneth Hilliard (1961)
*Arthur C. Davis (1962)
*Benjamin B. Bauer (1963)
*Vern Oliver Knudsen (1964)
*Frederick Vinton Hunt (1965)
*John E. Volkmann (1966)
*Arnold P.G. Peterson (1968)
*William Snow (1968)
*Marvin Camras (1969)
*Rudy Bozak (1970)
*Leo Beranek (1971)
*Manfred R. Schroeder (1972)
*Henry E. Roys (1973)
*Floyd K. Harvey (1974)
*Georg Neumann (1976)
*John G. Frayne (1976)
*Daniel R. von Recklinghausen (1978)
*Hugh S. Knowles (1978)
*Arthur C. Keller (1981)
*Duane H. Cooper (1982)
*Willi Studer (1982)
*Cyril M. Harris (1984)
*Stefan Kudelski (1984)
*Claude E. Shannon (1985)
*Thomas Stockham (1987)
*Heitaro Nakajima (1989)
*Eberhard Zwicker (1991)
*Michael Gerzon (1991)
*Ray M. Dolby (1992)
*Bart N. Locanthi (1996)
*Richard H. Small (1996)
*Kees A. Schouhamer Immink (1999)
*Fritz Sennheiser (2002)
*Gerhard Steinke (2007)
*Jens Blauert (2008)col-end [ [http://www.aes.org/info/awards.cfm AES Awards winners] ]

Officers and Key Staff

President: Bob Moses
President-Elect: Jim Anderson
Past President: Wiesŀaw Woszczyk
Treasurer: Louis Fielder
Secretary: Han Tendeloo
Vice President Eastern Region US & Canada: Peter Cook
Vice President Central Region US & Canada: Jim Kaiser
Vice President Western Region US & Canada: Bob Lee
Vice President Latin America Region: Andres Mayo
Vice President Northern Region Europe: Peter Swarte
Vice President Central Region Europe: Ewald Kerschbaum
Vice President Southern Region Europe: Antonio Oliveira
Vice President International Region: David Murphy
Governors: Kimio Hamasaki, Dottie Kreps, Christopher Struck, Karlheinz Brandenburg, Bozena Kostek, Ron Streicher

Executive Director: Roger K. Furness
Controller: Christine Carleo
Editor, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society: John Vanderkooy
Chair, 124th AES Convention: Peter Swarte
Co-chairs, 125th AES Convention: John Strawn and Valerie Tyler

British Section

The AES British section, which is the largest outside the US, issues a monthly newsletter and holds regular lectures, usually in London, with occasional visits to studios and other places of interest [http://www.aes.org/sections/uk/index.html] . Lectures, which are often on topics of topical interest to audio enthusiasts are usually recorded, with past lectures available to all as free MP3 downloads, sometimes with accompanying slides in PDF format [http://www.aes.org/sections/uk/meetings/past.html] .

Upcoming events

* October 2-5, 2008 - 125th AES Convention - Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, US

ee also

* Acoustical Society of America
* Institute of Acoustics
* Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
* Institute of Radio Engineers
* Royal Academy of Engineering
* Society of Broadcast Engineers
* Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
* TEC Awards; sponsored annually by Mix Foundation and awarded during the Fall AES convention.

References

External links

* [http://www.aes.org Official Site]
* [http://www.aes.org/events/#conv AES Conventions]
* [http://www.bostonaes.org/ Boston Section]
* [http://www.aesla.org Los Angeles Section]
* [http://www.aes.org/sections/ny/ New York Section]
* [http://www.mtsuaes.org/ Middle Tennessee State Univ. Section]
* [http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/aes/ Penn State Univ. Section]
* [http://www.aes.org/sections/uk/index.html British Section]
* [http://www.aes.org/sections/uk/meetings/past.html British Section past meetings (with free MP3 downloads)]