AES: Any WOW moments?

[sfoote]

Just got home from my first ever AES. I'm wondering if any of the jaded veteran folks out there had any WOW moments -- thanks that made you say "wow, that's good". I had a few.

1) Everyone in this business is pretty nice -- at least at conventions. I met lots of manufacturers of gear I love, and now I love the people too. Big shout out to Brad Avenson and John Hardy. I had great conversations with both. John and I had both been to funerals the day before. Brad gave me tips.

2) The Bricasti. In the ridiculous noise of the convention hall, I couldn't hear any preamp or microphone differences worth anything. Even gear I know well, like the Anamod ATS-1, I had a hard time hearing well. But the Bricasti -- good stuff. It gave me goosebumps. It took some great dry female vocals, a fabulous classic guitar, and an OK rock mix, and made them all sound really interesting. The guitar almost sounded like the Bricasti could change the timbre of the notes -- like subtly changing which awesome guitar he was playing. He also extended the tail to 30 seconds, and it still sounded very cool at any level (including 100% wet).

[AntillesSound]

I didn't get to hear it! im so bummed. however, I had a few...

1)Crane Song HEDD 192-This thing, to me at least, is a mix maker. Dave Hill gave me a run down and then played a demo reel through it and I was SO impressed. What it can do for your mixes, on top of being a great D/A, makes it so worth the price. I literally brought EVERYONE that I knew that I got to see over to the Crane Song booth.

2)Mojave MA-201- Dave Royer spent a few minutes with me talking about it and I instantly fell in love. I know its REALLY hard to tell anything about a mic in a convention hall, but I definitely got the jist of it [I should mention that I had the opportunity to hear it near 6pm yesterday, on top of Dave's booth being near the boondocks]. I think it has much more detail in the top end than the 200 and the imaging is unreal. To top it off, the price point is unbeatable.

3)API 1608 & RND 5508-Both of these consoles rocked my world. I wish I got to hear the Neve, but just seeing it in his presence, feeling the quality of the build and knowing what those pres sound like was a big enough sell for me. And the 1608 is just API goodness. I would love to sit down and have all of that in my reach. ps-I lumped these two together into one number because little needs to be said

4)PT8- Despite the typical whining I hear from everyone who is isn't down with Digi [yea we get it. Maybe you don't think its the best DAW, maybe you think its over priced, maybe you think they still dont offer this or that, blah blah. dont care. sorry.fuuck], I think its great. Being a PT user on a professional day-to-day basis, some of these new features are AWESOME and will continue to speed up my work flow. Little bummed about the look of it [I love how shitty PT has looked up until now] but it looks like you can make it loo a bit brighter and I'm sure that there will be some download in the near future that give the user the ability to have PT7 looks but PT8 under the hood. Again, love it. Cant wait to upgrade.

AES was awesome. It was more of a schmooze-fest for me, but it was great seeing so many faces and seeing so many people excited about audio. Might I add that I love this buzz that everyone is feeling right now. The positive outlook that AES gives does alot for the optimism that we all need to have more of, as well as for the propogation of creativity and excitiment.

[IntenseJim]

My first AES:

Wow:
Meeting Sean and some of the Mercenary crew
Talking with Wade of Chandler, Peter of Shadow Hills, and Scott Chapelle
Seeing and hearing a lot of cool gear
Some really nice cleavage and stunning women

Ant-wow:
Salmon caesar salad at the convention center-- the parasites are eating their way through my insides as I type

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by IntenseJim

My first AES:

Wow:
Meeting Sean and some of the Mercenary crew
Talking with Wade of Chandler, Peter of Shadow Hills, and Scott Chapelle
Seeing and hearing a lot of cool gear
Some really nice cleavage and stunning women

Ant-wow:
Salmon caesar salad at the convention center-- the parasites are eating their way through my insides as I type

Moscone Center is surrounded by great food. Next SF AES, take a break, walk a few blocks and enjoy real food!!!!!Then go to North Beach after close and get your dinner on!

[bcgood]

Wow: Meeting the babe playing the keyboard at the Korg booth. Thanks for letting me play it!

Ant Wow: Meeting the very unhelpful and unfriendly guy working the Avalon booth.

[IntenseJim]

Originally Posted by Beyersound

Moscone Center is surrounded by great food. Next SF AES, take a break, walk a few blocks and enjoy real food!!!!!Then go to North Beach after close and get your dinner on!

I know. I was in SF end of August and took advantage of it.Unreal restaurants. FOREIGN CINEMA was outstanding.

Today I flew in to SF at 10am and flew out at 4pm so I was short on time.

[andsonic]

1) The Tape project (Paul Stubblebine Mastering): That monitor system sounded incredible.

2) The Bricasti: Say no more. The 5088, wish i could hear it.

3) The Crane Song IBIS: How could I forget. Just give me that whole CS rack & I will be done. (Thanks Dave for the demo).

4) The Slanted Door: Sorry fellow slutz, the best meal warn't at Cha-Am Saturday night, it was at the Slanted Door.
The Slanted Door

That was the best meal I have had in years. Beautiful location in the ferry building.

[Brad McGowan]

For me:

1. Hearing the Daking FET II compressor. Although not a new product, it was the first time I heard it and now I'm thinking of ditching my Distressor.

2. Getting a free 500 series input/output/power adapter board from Andrew at Purple. I can't believe he was just giving those things away. Now I can basically run power and line in/out to and from a signal module outside of the lunchbox. This will be great for prototyping my own modules.

Brad

[Sean Sullivan]

CharterOak SCL1 Discrete Compressor Limiter: By far the most impressive stereo compressor I've ever heard in terms of transparency. I think we were doing -20dB of gain reduction and there was no pumping or lose of clarity. I compared it to everything else at AES and it was by far my and my friends favorite. Michael at CharterOak is a great guy and the lifetime warranty I don't believe is offered from any other company.

Focal Monitors: Both my friend and I are selling our monitors and buying these, they are amazing. I heard things in mixes I'm familiar with I've never heard before. They have a new line of speakers that are less expensive than the Solo6's and they are very impressive for their price point.

Chandler TG-1 and Germanium Compressor: I have a TG-2 and love the preamp, but after hearing the EQ section of the TG-1 I'll probably sell the TG-2 and get the channel strip. Listening to a drum mix and EQing it with the TG-1 brought the biggest smile to my face at AES. Then compressing it with the Germanium...well it was a perfect pairing. Also, Wade is an amazing guy, the kind of person I'd love to support. Most people (since I'm 21) didn't give me the time of day when I asked question (Manley, Bock, Earthworks, Royer, Wunder) and that really turned me off their products. Wade answer all my questions, let me play around with his pieces, and was honestly excited about my opinions and thoughts of his company (I think he has the best overall product line on the market)

JZ Blackhole: A very interesting, unique design, but compared to a U87 which it is designed after and improved on, it had a greater sense of depth, clarity, and detail compared to it's Neumann counterpart. I'm not sure where you can buy these in the states or try one out, but consider it if you want a U87.

Daking Mic Pre/EQ: I know this piece is old news, but it was my first chance to use it, and I love the EQ. It had a whole different character to the Chandler, and I'd like to make these two pieces my main channel strips. Great company, great people, very funny.

Audient Console: For the money, these was extremely well built and had a ton of features. Very nice EQ, and visually appealing. If I were in the market for a sub $30,000 console, I'd strongly consider this.

Dangerous D-Box was a great front end for a DAW, I can wait to get one to use with my 002R. Deserving of the TEC award.

[laser]

Originally Posted by IntenseJim

My first AES:

Ant-wow:
Salmon caesar salad at the convention center-- the parasites are eating their way through my insides as I type

Convention center cooks routinely ruin hot dogs. God knows what they can do to salmon.

Hope you recover in time for next year.

Laser

[T_R_S]

JZ Microphones ... thumbsup

[bforest4]

Originally Posted by andsonic

4) The Slanted Door: Sorry fellow slutz, the best meal warn't at Cha-Am Saturday night, it was at the Slanted Door.
The Slanted Door

That was the best meal I have had in years. Beautiful location in the ferry building.

I eat there everytime I am in SF, one of my favorite restaurants in the world!

Really dug the Shadow Hills Mastering Comp, Wunder booth(new Fet 47), PT 8, speaking to Massey in person and thanking him for his amazing plugins and pricing.

[suedesound]

Shadow Hills mastering comp was freaking awesome. We have a GAMA8 at my studio and I love their gear, trying to convince the owner to buy the comp.

As far restaurants go, next time take a trip to the deep mission and go to Blue Plate. My favorite restaurant in the city by far and I've lived here for about 7 years.

Favorite AES moment: recording a drunken jam with the remainders of our studio's party at 2am saturday. Just listened back to it last night and there is some funny stuff on there.

[big country]

probably meeting bob heil

figured out the bus theory with the knob guy (kilo )
we also came up with some cool back lite knob ideas
tapered pot light design.
and adjustable resistance ( bus theory )

figured how to power Frisco by passing cars
new street design

ate Carmel covered pan cakes

BTW you should have no more than 30 people on a bus ...

blue grass festival was fun ( PANS! ) and art ...
speaker designs Mic designs other shit too.

the guys at Sennheiser' were supper cool they liked my spinny mic
unfortunately didn't meet the head of Sennheiser' or Neumann son and grandkid but they were there

I meet geoff tanner ( that was cool )


said a quick hi .to eva

breakfast with the Ocean way tec and the silcon mic guy

[octatonic]

What about "Wow, the Protools LE dweebs really do bitch a lot about ADC"?

[big country]

a big OMG!
as far as Mic's go...
( I didn't get to hear it but its looks like a great design )
josephson C700s
mmmmmmmmmmmm.....

sony chick was hot too...

[AntillesSound]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

For me:

1. Hearing the Daking FET II compressor. Although not a new product, it was the first time I heard it and now I'm thinking of ditching my Distressor.

2. Getting a free 500 series input/output/power adapter board from Andrew at Purple. I can't believe he was just giving those things away. Now I can basically run power and line in/out to and from a signal module outside of the lunchbox. This will be great for prototyping my own modules.

Brad

that is awesome.

looks like CLASP just killed your video tutorial though. Did you see their hardware for integrating tape into digital? hahah. Pretty cool.

your video is stil rockin' though.

[digitalson]

Ant-wow:
Salmon caesar salad at the convention center-- the parasites are eating their way through my insides as I type


oh that had me laughing all night long

[outofphase]

Originally Posted by AntillesSound

I didn't get to hear it! im so bummed. however, I had a few...

1)Crane Song HEDD 192-This thing, to me at least, is a mix maker. Dave Hill gave me a run down and then played a demo reel through it and I was SO impressed. What it can do for your mixes, on top of being a great D/A, makes it so worth the price.

Old news, actually really old news, Hedd 192 was presented at AES in 1999!

No MOTU, no Neve (a proper boot not sharing with GC pro!), my god, no Gearslutz Boot!!

Besides Omnisphere, PT8 (although just a software update ), the SPL plug ins and AM660 there was nothing new, everybody presented the same s#$@, IMHO this was a really sad AES, the bad economy in USA is killing everything. Thank you Mr. Bush and everyone who gave him a vote (twice ).

oOp.

[by-tor]

Not that it is new. But those Barefoots, even on a trade show floor, sound soooooo frickin good!

[Jules]

Seeing Roy Thomas Baker..

[mars]

My "Wows":

The compression roundtable with Rupert Neve, Dave Hill, Massenburg etc

The Sound FX workshop

Roger Linn, Tom Oberheim & Dave Smith seminar - double-wow!!


First AES that I spent more time at the workshops & seminars than on the floor...

Oh - and meeting Steve Massey...

Oh - and meeting Bob Katz...

[andsonic]

Originally Posted by mars

My "Wows":


Oh - and meeting Bob Katz...

I wish I had run into Mr Katz. Cool that he made it.

I did get to bug Marc Lavry. His father seemed rather unaproachable. The Lavry's got stuck next to a performance showcase booth. I felt bad for them. You couldn't even hold a civilised conversation in the area. Where's the AES sound police when you need them.

[warhead]

The 500 series mixer at the A Designs booth had me involuntarily salivating a bit. Luckily my facial hair disguised it...

Talking with Dave Thibodeau at the Daking booth about possibly resurrecting that 500 series EQ (an A range crammed into a single space but with a digitally controlled interface not many enjoyed I guess).

Seeing Jon Erickson transformed from surfer looking dude, to full on college professor look with jacket, glasses and his hair seemed somewhat kept. Is it me, or has our little Jonny grown up?

The filthy (yet enjoyable) mouth of Dave Pearlman. I never really spent time with Dave at a show before, we achieved levels of potty humor previously unrealized on a trade show floor. I pray Lisa Montessi didn't overhear it, if she did she may be permanently scarred.

Mistaking Adam Brass for "Austin from Boston" in the Mercenary booth, sorry but you dudes look strikingly alike (when I haven't seen Austin in a year or more). I even had to check Adam's badge to make sure he wasn't Austin, sorry for the confusion...

Didn't get to see the presentation as it kept getting pushed back I guess, but the Rupert Neve / sE ribbon mic is intriguing.

Not really wow, but was nice to have my hearing tested and find above average scoring across the board.

Larry @ ADK Microphones was showing his modular lollipop style mic systems, I love modular stuff so I'm interested to hear it.

Andrew's presentation at the Purple booth, his 500 mixing format seems to be very nice stuff.

Scott LaChapell's 500 series preamp and EQ combo...way to go Scott.

Hearing the Chameleon opto tube compressor for the first time, that's a seriously nice box and capable of some nice character compression and drive.

Realizing that pronouncing Avedis' name correctly only causes confusion amongst all who know him or his company, and having to revert back to calling him "uh-vee-dis" (it's really "ah-vay-dees"). Thanks Vahe for setting me straight, no thanks to every person who has to think about what you're saying before they realize you must be talking about "uh-vee-dis".

My neck ache after talking to Tony Belmont too long. Stoop, dude.

Getting to hammer out Metallica tunes as well as some Floyd, Zep and other guitar band stuff, on the Kawai grand at Studio Paradiso. I get sick of playing my digital stuff so...nice to bang on a real piano.

I'm forgetting stuff I'm sure.

War

[diamondjim]

My first AES also.

Biggest hilights:

Meeting Geoff Emerick and having him sign copy of his book for me, after just having finished the book and not expecting him to be there.

The Tape project and Paul Stubblebine Mastering, the old Coast Recorders, and getting to see a vintage Scully lathe in action. Pretty cool stuff.

Party at The Hyde St studios, hearing new Focal monitors.

Gearslutz dinner! Thanks Jules, for organizing. Got to meet some great people.

Oh, and some nice gear.......

[JoshRND]

I get to travel quite a bit and the Slanted Door is one of my favorite food places on the planet! Sailor Thai in Sydney is also up there.

It was an amazing show on all fronts, and it was so good to meet up with some of the folks that I only see online or over the phone.

Thanks to all that stopped by to say hello!

Josh

[Oroz]

CLA, Bob Clearmountain, Joe Chicarelli, Allen Sides .

[mars]

Oh - and meeting Massenburg. Twice!

[T_R_S]

Getting my Beatles book signed by Geoff Emerick.
I am not a autograph hunter but I made one exception. I missed my shot at meeting George Martin earlier this year

[BigJunk]

I too met Geoff Emerick and it was way cool. That was probably my big wow moment.

Since I'm a low end guy I was excited about the Chameleon Labs opto comp. I need a good vocal compressor and this just might be the one. I am also curious to hear it on whole mixes.

The funniest part was that I brought my brother who knows nothing of audio and was just amazed that there was this whole... as he said it "secret underworld of audio geeks". Ha, love it.

Got to hang with the Steven Slate Drums crew for a bit and hear them play the 2.5 kits on the vdrums. Lets just say I had to pick my tongue off the floor after hearing them played live.

Pro Tools 8 seems cool, dare I bitch about the ADC.

Finally got to hear the Focals. Really nice.. I'm saving up.

And last, I shook the hand of Rupert Neve telling him.. "one day i'll afford some of your stuff". He said "good I hope so".

Junk