FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Recording Academy® Producers & Engineers Wing® on the Move at
AES Convention And Beyond
P&E Wing Continues to Focus on Recorded Sound Quality and Advocacy for Music Makers
AES Convention, New York (October 18, 2013) —The Recording Academy® Producers & Engineers Wing® continues to illuminate those who labor behind the scenes to create music by highlighting their achievements and educating about best practices. The P&E Wing provides a forum where all recording professionals — from producers, engineers and studio personnel to retailers, manufacturers and educators — can work together to preserve and grow their industry. The P&E Wing has been hard at work, with a busy 2013 and a full itinerary at the 135th AES Convention, including the GRAMMY SoundTables® event, paying homage to the late legendary producer/engineer/technologist Phil Ramone with a series of presentations collectively called "What Would Ramone Do?"
Highlights from the year include the following:
- The launch of the "Quality Sound Matters" initiative and website (www.qualitysoundmatters.com), in partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), during GRAMMY® Week in February 2013. This initiative educates about and demonstrates the importance of high-quality audio, and the site offers music consumers information about how they can enhance their enjoyment of music by seeking out today’s higher-quality digital file formats and using listening and storage products that help retain the sound of the music as the artists and engineers intended. The campaign continued throughout the year with events in Nashville, Texas, Memphis, New Orleans, San Francisco and New York (as part of CE Week). These events have included, among other presentations, "Lost in Translation" from GRAMMY winning engineer Andrew Scheps. Set in high-end listening environments, this multimedia demonstration showcases the auditory differences of master recordings played back in different formats such as vinyl, CD, MP3, AAC and online streaming models. Other "Lost in Translation" events have included presentations for tech and online music distribution companies, including a session for Google and YouTube employees at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. on September 9.
- The "Give Fans the Credit" initiative, a campaign that aims to help enhance fans' discovery of new music by ensuring that all music creators are credited for their work on digitally released recordings. This will involve standardization of metadata, and the P&E Wing-led campaign for new standards has continued on several fronts throughout 2013. Progress has been made with a Studio Metadata work group at DDEX (Digital Data Exchange), the music business standards organization, which has deemed studio metadata a high priority item. Additionally, panel discussions and presentations at NARM’s DigitalMusic.org, the AES Education Conference held at Middle Tennessee State University, and the San Francisco MusicTech conference have all tackled the various issues related to the solving the problem of lack of readily available credits.
- Addressing the ongoing problem of hearing loss in our noisy world with the production, in partnership with House Ear Institute, of a flyer and brochure titled "On the Job; Off the Job: Hearing Health Facts for Sound Professionals & Musicians," which has been distributed at events and trade shows including AES and NAMM and is also available online at http://www.hei.org/education/health/soundprofessionalhearingloss.html
- Education in the recording arts: The P&E Wing had a strong presence at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) 50th International Conference, held July 25-27, 2013, at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the first such conference to focus specifically on music education. The first panel of the conference, "Pearl-Cohn High School: A Case Study of Collaboration Between Industry and Education," was presented by the P&E Wing. This panel focused on the recent creation of a recording studio and recording technology program at Nashville's Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School. This event reflects the P&E Wing's continuing focus on music education; P&E Wing Senior Executive Director Maureen Droney states, "Building on the AES Education conference and our ongoing initiatives in support of music education, P&E Wing will continue its efforts to be a bridge between educational institutions and the industry."
- Production of over 40 networking and professional development events, both nationally and in partnership with regional Recording Academy Chapters.
- The annual P&E Wing GRAMMY Week event at The Village Recording Studios in West Los Angeles. This year's event, held on Feb. 6, 2013, honored two people whose creative and engineering contributions to the music industry are among its greatest. Titled "An Evening of Jazz," the event saw Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow bestow the prestigious President's Merit Award on GRAMMY winners Quincy Jones and Al Schmitt.
These events and more all reflect the P&E Wing's ongoing goals:
- To increase awareness and understanding of the value of producers and engineers as artistic co-creators in the art and craft of recording
- To promote integrity in audio
- To promote and safeguard the rights of creative music professionals in the areas of intellectual property, crediting, revenue streams and freedom of expression
- To promote recording industry guidelines and best practices regarding proper labeling, archiving, preservation and storage of master media
- To support music and recording education programs and to serve as a bridge between students, educators and the music industry
- To present educational events, seminars and networking opportunities
- To promote hearing health and educate about the dangers of noise-induced hearing loss
- To promote communication and relationships between audio professionals, companies, organizations, and educators to foster community and consensus on critical industry-related issues
Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards — the preeminent peer-recognized award for musical excellence and the most credible brand in music — The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs. The Academy continues to focus on its mission of recognizing musical excellence, advocating for the well-being of music makers and ensuring music remains an indelible part of our culture. For more information about The Recording Academy, please visit www.grammy.com. For breaking news and exclusive content, follow @TheGRAMMYs on Twitter, like "The GRAMMYs" on Facebook, and join The GRAMMYs' social communities on Instagram, Foursquare, GetGlue, Pinterest, Tumblr, and YouTube.
Currently more than 6,000 professionals comprise The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing, which was established for producers, engineers, remixers, manufacturers, technologists, and other related creative and technical professionals in the recording field. This organized voice for the recording community addresses issues that affect the craft of recorded music, including the development and implementation of new technologies, technical guidelines and recommendations, and archiving and preservation initiatives. For more information, please visit www.producersandengineers.com.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Robert Clyne/Clyne Media, Inc./615.662.1616/robert@clynemedia.com
Lisa Roy/Rock & Roy/310.463.1563/lisaroyaudio@mac.com
Louis Vazquez/The Recording Academy/310.392.3777/louis.vazquez@grammy.com
The Recording Academy® Producers & Engineers Wing® will be exhibiting at booth 2749 at the 135th AES Convention in New York, NY.
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