David Hewitt of Hewitt Remote Services is one of 20 audio professionals featured in the second volume of AES DVD Oral History Project interviews.
AES Executive Director Roger Furness has announced the completion of the second volume of the Audio Engineering Society DVD Oral History Project interviews. Conceived in 1997 by longtime AES member Irv Joel, the project was initiated as a critical opportunity for preserving the creative and technical thought process of the originators of professional audio as related by them personally.
“Irv Joel has maintained close, ongoing relationships with many of the giants of our industry,” Furness says. “In addition to coordinating the interviews, he personally served as cameraman and off-camera interviewer for most of them. The entire professional audio community owes Irv Joel a vote of thanks for producing over 100 irreplaceable one-on-one interviews.”
In 2007, Joel brought pro audio industry veteran Harry Hirsch on board to glean through a voluminous amount of video, photographic and related material, carefully organized by AES Technical Director John Chester in preparation for the transfer to individual DVDs. Working with Final Cut Pro, Hirsch devoted hundreds of hours to the massive editorial project.
Among the innovators featured in the new set of 20 DVDs are:
Bruce Martin (1944-2004): Founder of Martin Audio, one of the industry’s largest dealerships in the 1970s and ‘80s. Martin was an innovative console designer, and inventor of the Martin Vari-Speed, used by many studios to alter tape machine speed.
Bill Hanley: The “father of festival sound,” best known for designing, building, installing, and operating a custom sound system for the historic 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair. Mr. Hanley is a storied FOH mixer and a co-founder the Fillmore East.
Ed Greene: Chief engineer at MGM Records in 1970s; world-renowned engineer; mixer for Grammy and Academy Awards and the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics broadcasts; recipient of 19 Primetime Emmy Awards; and inducted into the Technical Excellence in Creativity Hall of Fame in 2007.
David Hewitt (pictured): A pre-eminent remote recording engineer for almost 40 years (Neil Young, Yes, ELP), Hewitt has received multiple TEC, Grammy, Emmy and Cinema Audio awards as a live recording and broadcast engineer, and film sound mixer. Founder of Remote Recording Services, he created an innovative and hugely successful mobile recording studio. Mr. Hewitt was inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame in 2006.
Dr. Floyd E. Toole: Recipient of the 2008 CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Toole is a 40-year pioneer in the acoustics field, widely known for his research on small room acoustics, relating measurements to a listener’s perceptions. A contributor to many audio publications, he continued his groundbreaking work as VP of Acoustical Engineering at Harmon International Industries Inc. until his retirement.
Dr. Marina Bosi: A past president of AES, Dr. Bosi is consulting professor in the Music and Electrical Engineering departments at Stanford University, and a founding member/director of the Digital Media Project. An accomplished author, she holds several patents and received the AES Fellowship Award for her work on audio standards development.
Ioan Allen: Since joining Dolby Laboratories in 1969, Allen spearheaded the introduction of many breakthrough film sound technologies. He received an Oscar for his contributions to motion picture sound development, holds several patents and has authored many AES Journal papers. He is active in world standards organizations, and is Adjunct Professor at the USC School of Cinema-Television.
John Meyer: Influencing the way audiences hear sound since the
late ’60s, Meyer began creating loudspeakers using integral control
processors at SF-based McCune Sound Service. Since founding Meyer Sound
Laboratories in 1979, his innovations such as advanced self-powered
loudspeaker systems have changed the face of live sound. Meyer Sound
has garnered 37 U.S. and international patents and numerous industry
awards. He was made an AES Fellow in 1985, and he received the Silver
Medal in 2007.
Other industry leaders featured in the second AES Oral History Series
are Frank Abbey, James E. Webb, Manfred Schroeder, Hamilton Brosious,
David Blackner, Neil Muncy, Kunimaro Tanaka, D.B. Keele Jr, Gualtiero
Berlinghini, Jerry B. Minter, Dan Dugan and Walter Selsted.
“Irv Joel, Harry Hirsch and John Chester are making an invaluable
contribution to the appreciation and understanding of our industry’s
early prime-movers,” comments AES Historical Committee co-chair Bill
Wray. “We are fortunate to have a library of over 60 additional
videotaped interviews, all of which are planned for DVD release. And we
plan to continue producing an ongoing series of interviews with current
and future visionaries.”
“This AES Oral History Project was initiated as an inspiration to new
generations of audio industry professionals,” Roger Furness concludes.
“Education remains an AES priority, and these unique DVD personal
histories represent a priceless link between our past and our rapidly
evolving future. Many of the leading pro audio schools both in the
United States and abroad have already added our initial twenty
productions to their libraries. We look forward to a steadily growing
subscription list as meaningful new titles are added to this
collection.”
The entire (current) series of 40 AES Oral History Project DVDs is available now from www.aes.org at $15 each for AES members, $20 for non-members.
