 Five  Decades of SERVICE Heralding the New Scientific Horizons of Audio Through Society Communications Program.

 Setting a Leadership Hole in the Development of International Audio Standards.

 Encouraging the Expansion of Educational Programs in the audio Engineering Discipline.

 Fostering an International Membership Base of Professionals and Specialists in Audio 

A Brief History of the development of the organization that is now the international information conduit for engineering in the audio domain.

The Audio Engineering society is now in its sixth decade and throughout that period, the AES has been a continuous and dynamic force in the dissemination of information. consequently the Society has materially assisted in the development of audio engineering from a formless craft to an industrial/technological strength of major magnitude.

The AES was formed by a group of concerned engineers in 1948.They felt there was a desperate need for an organization that could foster and continue the exchange of information of a technical nature and thereby, advance the various facets of the audio craft into a cohensive and viable technology.Prior to the formation of the Society,audio was a part of the record industry,of broadcasting,of the film industry and of perfoming arts. This fragmentation resulted in poor communication for all concerned.

In the early forties, during the second World War, the problem of poor communication was very evident.Those involved in the recording field and the record business in those years faced shortages of material.In an effort to locate new sources of vital materials,several key individuals recognized the value of exchanging information.At this time,a small group of recording specialists banded together on both coasts of the United States Because they were involved in the recording industry,this small group assumed the name Sapphire Group in recognition of their use and dependence on sapphire cutting styli.The group started to meet informally in the Los Angeles area

The group in the East carried the concept of exchanging information foward and started plans to form an organization.Timing was of the essence for the technology was starting to move rapidly.In addition, there was a lack of interest with the field of audio on the part of other electronics associations.Despite the importance of these new engineering destinies, the group of dedicated audio engineers aforementioned felt it was also imperative to find and shape a rightful place for audio,which, in 1948, was growing,but not in a cohensive manner.

Among the innovations being introduced rapidly at the time include the use of highly selective frequency discrimination to produce noise reduction. This development by the late Hermon Hosmer Scott caused radio to look differently at records as a source of quality entertainment. The extension of frequency range on recording as exemplified by the British Decca full frequency range records of 1947(FFRR) and the emergence of quality record reproduction equipment by engineers such as Norman Pickering made the hopes of the past a reality in 1947.In addition to these developments, news and examples of the new process of the tape recording became visible, promising a major breakthrough in the coming years.

Therefore, the group of dedicated engineers, active in the field of audio, formed a steering committee  for the the formation of a society interested in the field of audio engineering. they gave it the most appropriate name - The Audio  Engineering Society. These interested individuals included C.J.LeBel, who was to become the first AES President  and a guiding light for the AES until his death in 1965,John D. Colvin,C.G.McProud,Norman C.Pickering and Chester A.Rackey. this committee was ably assisted by several others in the field and was effective in organizing the first meeting in March 1948.The meeting was held on the cold winter's night at the RCA Victor studios in New York City with about 150 interested parties attending. The dedication of the sterring committee is apparent when you consider there was no mailing list available, just word of mouth.colleague to colleague. Suddenly,there was the basis of an organization.

This first meeting resulted in formulating operating rules and a second meeting in March 1948,again at RCA Victor,was more formal in nature.After organizational discussions, a formal lecture by Dr. Harry Olson on loudspeaker design started the technical information snowball rolling, and it has been rolling and gaining in magnitude in the ensuing years.

Events were moving quickly; tape recording had arrived and the many technologies "bottled up" during the second war exploded, and audio became of interest to consumers. To continue the information explosion,the AES organized its first convention in 1949 which was a rather ambitious undertaking for a fledgling society.The convention was held in New York, in October 1949 at the Hotel New Yorker.This first AES convention filled two floors of the hotel with over 40 exibits which were to have a major,long range effect on the life of audio and its devotees.

A program of importance, with papers presented,indicated the true need for an organization such as AES.This first convention also included the staging of live versus recorded demonstrations, which set the stage for future years of such displays. Such difficult but fruitful demonstrations did a great deal towards attracting not only the technically minded,but those in the creative field of music.Some of the first audio presentations of the tape were previewed at the first AES Convention in 1949,plus binaural recordings,quality headsets and unique record manufacturing techniques which were really a harbinger of the future.

The Society's conventions have continuously provided a growth pattern, both for the Society and the field of audio engineering.Meetings and exchanging concepts made the Society grow.The Society operation rapidly spread through the use of sections that wre forming all over the U.S. By 1953,the Society jumped from national borders to an international profile,with the formation of a Japan section.This section still flourishes, as does the industry that the AES helped introduce into that nation.

By the late 1950's members were enrolled in Europe, and by late 1960s, the AES membership had spread even to the East into the Soviet Union, basically because of the Society's journal. European and international membership is now a significant percentage of the AES.

The AES founded a technical journal in 1953.Prior to that time, technical articles of interest and the Society news was published in a concerned and cooperative magazine, a pioneer of that time, entitled Audio Engineering. The Journal eventually became the means of international expansion. the Journal has become the audio reference and the prestigious guide of the technical development throughout in the world technical press. The formation in the work by Lewis Goodfriend, the first editor, has become a cornerstone of Society information programs and the international growth. In the ensuing years, an expanded program of publications has made the Society a vital worldwide force in the rapid transmission of new ideas via the printed word.

Complementing the journal, the convention programs of the society have annually aided the growth of the society. The creation of a convention in Europe in 1971,by dedicated European members, has in a decade seen the Society grow tenfold in membership in that area. The annual convention programs have been vital in providing a theatre for technical information and simultaneous expansion of AES horizons in several areas of the world.

The technical achievements of individuals were recognized soon after the formation of the society, and annual awards of merit have been part of the Society's conventions. It is well to remember here, that if a small dedicated group of volunteers did not go beyond their hopes and energies, a Society may not have been created and the work recognized in the awards would not have been realized, or perhaps not even undertaken by the individuals honored for there would not have been an organization to help spread the news of their individual accomplishments.

The Society is a unique example of individual initiative, combined with the hard work of others, pulling together for a common purpose - the dissemination and encouragement of development of new technologies that push forward the frontiers of audio engineering.

by Donald J.Plunkett         

Chairman AES Historical Commitee

AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY INC

60 East 42nd Street

New York, NY 10165 USA