Next month, audio engineers worldwide will make the annual pilgrimage to New York’s Javits Convention Center from Oct. 25-27, 2023 for the 75th annual AES.
The world’s largest gathering of audio pros, AES Conventions are held annually in the U.S. and Europe. But it wasn’t always that way. Given post-war America’s interest in audio technologies, a group of audio pros met in 1948 to launch a formal industry association (AES). The first AES Convention (known then as “The Audio Fair”) became reality in October 1949. For three days, the sixth floor of the Hotel New Yorker was packed with 56 exhibitors and 3,022 attendees.
More than an expo, that first show began the tradition of presenting technical papers. And during the show, a special award was bestowed to RCA’s Dr. Harry Olson, who over his career wrote more than 100 electro-acoustic patents, including RCA’s renowned Model 44 and 77 ribbon mics.
Over the years, the AES Convention has flowed with the needs of the industry. Following the success of the first show, subsequent annual events were held in New York. In 1953, AES expanded to two shows a year, with a winter/spring Southern California show and the NYC show in the fall; and European shows began in 1971. The two-U.S. show format remained until 1985, when AES began alternating the annual U.S. show between New York and either San Francisco or Los Angeles; and it’s been an NYC-only event since 2017.
Congratulations, AES for 75 years of excellence. So mark your calendars for AES NYC and — co-presented with NAB New York — there should be plenty to see and hear. Visit www.aesshow.com for more info.
