The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the

professional audio Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Typically it encompasses sound recording, sound reinforcement system setup and audio mixing, and studio mu ...

industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working in audio content production. It also includes

acoustician Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

audiologist Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing vario ...

s, academics, and those in other disciplines related to audio. The AES is the only worldwide professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology. Established in 1948, the Society 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 US. The AES and individual regional or national ''sections'' also hold ''AES Conferences'' on different topics during the year.

History

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 and audio consultant, C.J. LeBel, then published a letter agreeing, and saying that a group of audio professionals had already been discussing such a thing, and that they were interested in holding an organizational meeting. He asked interested persons to contact him for details. The response was enthusiastic and encouraging. Fellow engineer Norman C. Pickering published the date for an organizational meeting, and announced the appointment of LeBel as acting chairman, and himself as acting secretary. The organizational meeting was held at the RCA Victor Studios in New York City on February 17, 1948. Acting chairman Mr. LeBel spoke first, emphasizing the professional, non-commercial, independent nature of the proposed organization. Acting Secretary Norman Pickering then discussed the need for a professional organization that could foster an exchange of knowledge in this quickly-growing field. The group agreed to form the Audio Engineering Society, and confirmed the acting executive committee, which consisted of John D. Colvin, C. J. LeBel, C. G. McProud, Norman C. Pickering and Chester O. Rackey. The first AES technical membership meeting followed on March 11, with about 3500 attendees. The guest speaker at the first meeting was Harry F. Olson, a prominent engineer and scientist at

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

and author of ''

Acoustical Engineering Acoustical engineering (also known as acoustic engineering) is the branch of engineering dealing with sound and vibration. It includes the application of acoustics, the science of sound and vibration, in technology. Acoustical engineers are typical ...

'', who spoke on ''Problems of High-Fidelity Reproduction''.

Membership

has over 12,000 members. Members elect a Board of Governors and officers, who jointly set policies and procedures for the Society. The AES is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation headquartered in New York.

Journal

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

Conventions and conferences

The AES produces two conventions each year as well as a number of topic-specific conferences. The fall convention is in North America and the spring convention is in Europe. The first convention was in 1949.

Technical Council

23 Technical Committees advise the AES Technical Council on emerging trends and areas of interest in the audio engineering community. The Committee meetings, held at Conventions, are open to participation by members and non-members alike, and are the venue for planning workshops, seminars and conferences in specific technical areas.

Standards

The AES has been involved in setting technical standards for audio since 1977. The (AESSC), through a consensus system open to anyone materially affected by such standards, develops and publishes a number of standards on the subject of analog and digital audio recording, transmission, and/or reproduction. Notable standards include: *

AES3 AES3 is a standard for the exchange of digital audio signals between professional audio devices. An AES3 signal can carry two channels of pulse-code-modulated digital audio over several transmission media including balanced lines, unbalanced ...

(also commonly known as AES/EBU) for digital audio interconnection * AES10 (also commonly known as MADI) for multichannel digital audio interconnection *

AES11 The AES11 standard published by the Audio Engineering Society provides a systematic approach to the synchronization of digital audio signals. AES11 recommends using an AES3 signal to distribute audio clocks within a facility. In this application, th ...

for digital audio synchronization *

AES31 AES31 is a standard developed by the Audio Engineering Society for the interchange of digital audio projects between different systems. The primary purpose of the standard is to allow exchange of audio editing projects between digital audio works ...

file exchange format * AES42 for digitally interfaced microphones *

AES47 AES47 is a standard which describes a method for transporting AES3 professional digital audio streams over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. The Audio Engineering Society (AES) published AES47 in 2002. The method described by AES47 is al ...

, AES51 and AES53 for sending AES3 digital audio data over

Asynchronous Transfer Mode Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a telecommunications standard defined by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and ITU-T (formerly CCITT) for digital transmission of multiple types of traffic. ATM was developed to meet the needs of ...

networks * AES48 on interconnections; grounding and EMC practices; and shields of connectors in audio equipment containing active circuitry *

AES64 The AES coarse-groove calibration discs (AES-S001-064) are a boxed set of two identical discs, one for routine use, one for master reference. The intent is to characterize the reproduction chain for the mass transfer of coarse-groove records to d ...

for coarse-groove mechanical audio recordings *

AES67 AES67 is a technical standard for audio over IP and audio over Ethernet (AoE) interoperability. The standard was developed by the Audio Engineering Society and first published in September 2013. It is a layer 3 protocol suite based on existing ...

for

audio over IP Audio over IP (AoIP) is the distribution of digital audio across an IP network such as the Internet. It is used increasingly to provide high-quality audio feeds over long distances. The application is also known as audio contribution over IP (ACI ...

interoperability AESSC also provides input to IEC for development and revision of international standards in audio engineering. AES does not charge for participation in the standards process, but does charge non-members for online copies of published standards. Printed copies are available for a charge to both members and non-members.

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.

Awardees in chronological order

* Harry F. Olson (1949) * Howard A. Chinn (1950) *

Hermon Hosmer Scott Hermon Hosmer Scott (March 28, 1909 – April 13, 1975, aged 66) was a pioneer in the Hi-Fi industry and founder of H.H. Scott, Inc. Scott graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fra ...

(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 Harvey Fletcher (September 11, 1884 – July 23, 1981) was an American physicist. Known as the "father of stereophonic sound", he is credited with the invention of the 2-A audiometer and an early electronic hearing aid. He was an investigator i ...

(1958) *

Harold Stephen Black Harold Stephen Black (April 14, 1898 – December 11, 1983) was an American electrical engineer, who revolutionized the field of applied electronics by discovering the negative feedback amplifier in 1927. To some, his discovery is considered the ...

(1959) * Semi Joseph Begun (1960) *

John Kenneth Hilliard John Kenneth Hilliard (October 1901 – March 21, 1989) was an American acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs. He helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film, and ...

(1961) *Arthur C. Davis (1962) *Benjamin B. Bauer (1963) *

Vern Oliver Knudsen Vern Oliver Knudsen (December 27, 1893 – May 13, 1974) was an American acoustical physicist. Biography Knudsen received his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) with an A.B. in 1915. Following his graduation from BYU Knudsen ...

(1964) *

Frederick Vinton Hunt Frederick Vinton Hunt (February 15, 1905 – April 21, 1972) was an inventor, a scientist and a professor at Harvard University who worked in the field of acoustic engineering. He made significant contributions to room acoustics, regulated power ...

(1965) * John E. Volkmann (1966) *Arnold P.G. Peterson (1968) * William B. Snow (1968) *

Marvin Camras Marvin Camras (January 1, 1916 – June 23, 1995) was an electrical engineer and inventor who was widely influential in the field of magnetic recording. Camras built his first recording device, a wire recorder, in the 1930s for a cousin who w ...

(1969) * Rudy Bozak (1970) *

Leo Beranek Leo Leroy Beranek (September 15, 1914 – October 10, 2016) was an American acoustics expert, former MIT professor, and a founder and former president of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (now BBN Technologies). He authored ''Acoustics'', considered a cl ...

(1971) * Manfred R. Schroeder (1972) * Henry E. Roys (1973) *Floyd K. Harvey (1974) *

Georg Neumann Georg Neumann GmbH (Neumann), founded in 1928 and based in Berlin, Germany, is a prominent manufacturer of professional recording microphones. Their best-known products are condenser microphones for broadcast, live and music production purpose ...

(1976) * John G. Frayne (1976) * Daniel R. von Recklinghausen (1978) * Hugh S. Knowles (1978) *

Arthur C. Keller Arthur C. Keller (August 18, 1901 – August 25, 1983) was a pioneer of high-fidelity and stereophonic recording techniques. He attended Cooper Union, Yale University and Columbia University. He joined the engineering department of Western Elect ...

(1981) * Duane H. Cooper (1982) * Willi Studer (1982) * Cyril M. Harris (1984) *

Stefan Kudelski Stefan Kudelski (27 August 1931 – 26 January 2013)
Nagra was a Polish audio engineer known for creating ...

(1984) * Claude E. Shannon (1985) *

Thomas Stockham Thomas Greenway Stockham (December 22, 1933 – January 6, 2004) was an American scientist who developed one of the first practical digital audio recording systems, and pioneered techniques for digital audio recording and processing. He also l ...

(1987) *

Heitaro Nakajima was a Japanese digital audio pioneer, who led Sony's Compact Disc project in the 1970s. Born in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Nakajima graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1944, an ...

(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 Fritz Sennheiser (9 May 1912 – 17 May 2010) was a German inventor and entrepreneur who founded and served as chairman of Sennheiser Electronic, a manufacturer of audio equipment. Biography Early life and education Born in Berlin on 9 ...

(2002) * Gerhard Steinke (2007) * Jens Blauert (2008) *

George Massenburg George Y. Massenburg (born Baltimore, Maryland c. 1947) is a Grammy award-winning recording engineer and inventor. Working principally in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Macon, Georgia, Massenburg is widely known for submitting a paper ...

(2008) *

Rupert Neve Arthur Rupert Neve (31 July 1926 – 12 February 2021) was a British-American electronics engineer and entrepreneur, who was a pioneering designer of professional audio recording equipment. He designed analog recording and audio mixing equipment ...

(2011) *

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business pa ...

(2011) *

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Theloni ...

(2013) *Floyd Toole (2013) *Floyd Toole (2014) * Bob Ludwig (2015) *

Diana Deutsch Diana Deutsch (born 15 February 1938) is a British-American psychologist from London, England. She's a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, and is a prominent researcher on the psychology of music. Deutsch is p ...

(2016) * D. B. Keele Jr. (2016) * Malcolm Omar Hawksford (2017)

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. 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.

Connection with the VDT

Although there are several German sections of the AES and there is no formal connection to the

Verband Deutscher Tonmeister The ''Verband Deutscher Tonmeister e.V.'' (VDT) is a registered association for audio industry professionals. The VDT has evolved from the ''Deutsche Filmtonmeister-Vereinigung'' (which focused on film sound professionals) that was founded in Munic ...

, the goals and activities of both organizations are closely related and there are several instances of double memberships, e.g. in the persons of Benjamin Bernfeld, Gerhard Steinke and Günther Theile.hauptmikrofon.de
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{authority control Audio engineering Broadcast engineering Film and video technology Engineering societies based in the United States Organizations established in 1948 Companies based in New York City Music industry associations Trade fairs