Test Your Knowledge of AES and Audio History
Just asking: Is it true the first annual Audio Engineering Society Convention was held in San Francisco in 1947?
TRUE OR FALSE
1. The first annual Audio Engineering Society Convention was held in San Francisco in 1947.
2. 1948 was a banner year in audio history: AES was formed, the LP was introduced, and the first tape recorder was available in portable cases.
3. In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell’s Photophone was the first to use light to transmit sound.
4. Dr. Wolfgang Ahnert presented the first digitally enhanced modeling of an acoustic space in 1997.
5. The first real-time transmission of DVD-quality, multichannel audio over the Internet happened in 1999 at the 107th AES Convention.
6. The digital revolution in recording equipment traces back to the early 1980s.
7. The first 16-bit, pulse-code modulation, digital recording was Ry Cooder’s “Bop Till You Drop” in late 1978.
Check out the answers on Page 2.
Test Your Knowledge of AES and Audio History
Just asking: Is it true the first annual Audio Engineering Society Convention was held in San Francisco in 1947?
ANSWERS
1. FALSE. The first AES Convention was held at the Hotel New Yorker in New York from Oct. 27 to 29, 1949. More than 3,000 attendees and 40 exhibitors participated in the show. Notable names in attendance included Donald Plunkett of AES, Dr. Harry F. Olson of RCA Laboratories, phonograph cartridge design pioneer Norman Pickering, and acoustical consultant Louis Goodfriend.
2. TRUE. Several technology firsts happened that year, including the microgroove 33-1/3 rpm long-play vinyl record introduced by Columbia Records, Scotch types 111 and 112 acetate-base tapes, and the Magnecord PT-6, the first portable tape recorder.
3. TRUE. Bell and Thomas Edison both theorized that telephone devices could transmit images as well as sound. Bell wantedd to develop his Photophone for sending images s in in addition to sound transmission.
4. FALSE. It was 1991 when Dr. Ahnert presented his first acoustic model in a binaural simulation. Other technology advances that year included the introduction of Apple’s QuickTime multimedia format and the ADAT digital multitrack recorder from Alesis.
5. TRUE. The demonstration took place on Sept. 26, 1999, and was conducted by members of the AES Technical Committee on Network Audio Systems.
6. TRUE. In 1981 Sony introduced the PCM-F1, the first 14- and 16-bit digital adaptor for VCRs—which was originally designed for consumers, who never took to it. But the product was a hit with professionals, sparking the digital revolution in recording equipment.
7. FALSE. The first 16-bit PCM recording in the United States was made by Thomas Stockham at the Santa Fe Opera in 1976 on a Soundstream recorder. Cooder’s album is considered the first all-digital pop music album.
SOURCES: AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY, ABOUT.COM, WIKIPEDIA
