News

AES Proves the Biz Is Back in Gear

New York City (October 14, 2003)--If anyone had doubts about the health of the pro audio industry or conventions, the AES Convention proved easily over four days that the business is getting back in gear. The aisles of the Jacob Javits Convention Center were jammed each day with attendees eager to learn about new technologies, new advances and new equipment from the wide variety of audio exhibitors on hand. More than a few exhibitors confided that people had come to plan purchases--and not ones for the far-off future but right now. Equally brimming with an upbeat vibe, the workshops and papers also saw good attendance, and special events like the Platinum Producers panel were held before packed houses.

The uptick in attendees did not go unnoticed; AES reports that more than 12,000 people graced the Javits Center during just the first two days of the show alone. That wasn't too surprising, however, to the companies who had been reveling in the attention.

"I'm actually blown away by the traffic," said Paul Foeckler, director, corporate marketing, Digidesign. "We saw more people on Friday than we saw all day during the last AES' Saturday. [Largely,] I think that it has to do with the health of the show and the state of the industry, and the excitement. New Yorkers are coming out in droves, and they're excited to be at the AES show." Digidesign debuted its Pro Tools HD|Accel system at the show.

Over at Adamson Systems Engineering, Jesse Adamson, managing director, was also having a busy show: "Traffic's good; we haven't had a chance to sit down. For the most part, we've had a lot of sound designers interested in theatrical applications, and a few sound companies have come through to look at the Y10 line array and our new addition, the Spectrix, which is aimed at small theaters and club installations."

Even new exhibitors were pleased with the convention. "This is our first time at the AES," said Glenn Stewart, sales consultant for Tekserve, a respected New York Macintosh dealer and repair specialist. "So far, we've had a lot of people stopping by."

Karl Winkler of Sennheiser remarked that his company and the various brands it distributes (Neumann, Turbosound, Innova-Son and HHB) were garnering considerable attention. "People want to see what's new," he said, "and now we have picked up HHB, so we have steady traffic looking at its new PortaDrive, which is a portable hard-drive, multichannel recorder."

With all that was happening on the show floor, there were still numerous fascinating papers and workshops at the show, as well as special events like Monday's "Roadwarriors--Live Sound" panel in Hall 1E, featuring all-star live sound engineers like Jeff Priepot (Shania Twain), Jeff Dunn (Black Crowes), Steve LaCerra (Blue Oyster Cult) and Mark Newman (Blondie).

If you didn't make it to the show, or did turn out but couldn't fit everything in, you can always call up your travel agency and get set up for the next convocation. The 117th AES Convention will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA from October 28-31, 2004.

--Clive Young

AES
www.aes.org