Craig Anderton, technologist, musician, author, futurist and Executive Vice President at Gibson Brands, delivered a Keynote Speech entitled “High Resolution Audio: So What?” to a rapt audience at Clair Global Nashville.NASHVILLE, TN—After a few years off the grid, Mix Nashville came back with a bang on August 29, 2015. Hosted by Clair Global Nashville’s touring production facility and The Blackbird Academy Live, the popular pro audio event was presented in conjunction with the local Nashville Section of the AES, attracting more than 300 attendees to a daylong exhibition with panels, product displays, Master Classes and more.
The day kicked off with a keynote speech by Pro Sound News columnist Craig Anderton, a musician, technologist, author, audio raconteur and executive vice president at Gibson Brands. His speech, entitled “High-Resolution Audio: So What?” led the audience through a series of charts and anecdotes that debunked some of the myths regarding how much the consumer can distinguish, before settling into the real benefits of recording at 96 kHz and higher frequencies. The event was streamed live, which allowed Anderton to get in a few digs at the sometimes-broken, disrupted nature of streaming audio.
Panels provided many of the day’s highpoints. “Demystifying The Vocal Session,” with moderator vocal specialist Jonell Polansky (Mandy Barnett, Colin Raye, Ty Herndon, Rebecca Lynn Howard) and panelists Chuck Ainlay (Mark Knopfler, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Peter Frampton) and Bil VornDick (Rhonda Vincent, Jo-El Sonnier, Alison Krauss, Sarah Darling) garnered lots of attention.
The “In the Box or Off the Rack? Mixing in a Hybrid Digital/Analog World” panel, presented by The Recording Academy’s Producers and Engineers Wing, Nashville Chapter, featured noted producer/engineers (l-r) F. Reid Shippen, Jaquire King and Jeff Balding. Insights also abounded at the “In the Box or Off the Rack? Mixing in a Hybrid Digital/Analog World” panel; presented by The Recording Academy’s Producers and Engineers Wing, Nashville Chapter, it featured moderator F. Reid Shippen (Studio Owner, Producer/Engineer—Death Cab for Cutie, India.Arie, Eric Church) and panelists Jeff Balding (Producer/Engineer—Little Big Town, Taylor Swift, Don Henley) and Jaquire King (Producer/Engineer—Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Buddy Guy).
Yamaha, Harman (JBL, AKG and dbx), Shure and Obedia presented intensive half-hour Master Classes throughout the day. Avid kept its demo room hopping with the Nashville debut of its new S6L Live console, while Yamaha rolled in its mobile truck to show the Nuage console for post-production and present its own Nashville debut—this one for the new Rivage PM10 live console.
It all made for an informative day. “We were thrilled with the support for the re-emergence of Mix Nashville, both from our sponsors and from the attendees,” said Tom Kenny, editor of Mix. “We had product debuts, Master Classes and an engaged audience, which is what Mix Nashville was designed for—bringing together the community of manufacturers and users in a professional facility and in an educational setting. Between our panels on tracking live, miking vocals, studio business and mixing in and out of the box, it was a great day, and I think everyone came away from it with something they learned.”
Mix Nashville
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