9th AES MEMBERS SHOWCASE

2025 Bulletin - February, Members' Showcase, Regular Meeting, Special Event

The Toronto section of the Audio Engineering Society is hosting its 9th annual Members’ Showcase this February.

Toronto AES members will present their own audio inventions, discoveries, gear ideas, and software solutions, sharing the innovations they’ve developed.

In the spirit of AES’s commitment to knowledge-sharing, this event is an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate the creativity of our members—whether they are professionals, hobbyists, developers, or inventors.

When: Tuesday, February 25 – 2025

Time:

🍕 Pizza: 6:30 PM
🎤 Presentations: 7:00–9:30 PM

Where:
Boyd Neel Room (Basement)
University of Toronto
Edward Johnson Building
80 Queens Park,
Toronto, ON M5S 2C5, Canada

PLEASE REGISTER

THE PRESENTORS

John Vanderkooy

BRIEF:

Simple truncation of the reflections in the impulse response of loudspeakers measured in normal rooms will increasingly falsify the response below about 500 Hz for typical situations. Well-known experience and guidance from loudspeaker models allow the determination of the lowest frequency for which truncation suffices. This paper proposes two additional strategies for achieving much improved low-frequency responses that are complementary to the easily-obtained high-frequency response: (a) a previously published nearfield measurement which can be diffractively transformed to a farfield response with appropriate calculations, here presented with greatly simplified computations, and (b) a measurement setup that admits only a single floor reflection which can be iteratively corrected at low frequencies. Theory and examples of each method are presented.

BIOGRAPHY:
John hails from the Netherlands but received all of his education in Canada, with a B.Eng. in 1963 and Ph.D. in physics in 1967, both from McMaster. After a two-year postdoc in Cambridge, UK, he came to the fledgling University of Waterloo. Early research in high magnetic-field low-temperature properties changed to audio in the 1970’s. John is a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, a recipient of its Silver Medal and several Publication Awards. Together with his colleague Stanley Lipshitz and a number of graduate students they formed the Audio Research Group at the University of Waterloo, studying topics such as crossover design, measurement techniques, dithered quantizers, and acoustics. John retired in 2006 but still had a few graduate students and he also continues with some projects such as today’s topic.

Neil Parfitt

BRIEF:

Prepping for large-scale TV/Film Score Recordings & Mix: Reclaiming 5 figures of hardware investment with minimal compromise to workflow

BIOGRAPHY:

Neil Parfitt is an award-winning composer specializing in animation. His diverse portfolio spans Japanese anime, youth action and fantasy, preschool, teen dramedy, and adult comedy. In addition to his compositional work, Neil has collaborated with prominent Canadian composers as a synthesizer sound designer, programmer, music editor, and score mixer on countless feature films and television series. He can also be found teaching synthesis, MIDI and Pro Tools courses at Centennial College.

Gilbert Soulodre

BRIEF:

In this presentation, we describe the development of a system for creating virtual acoustic spaces using a few custom designed loudspeakers and a lot of proprietary digital signal processing. The virtual acoustics system is portable and was designed specifically for home use. It’s goal is to turn your living room into a variety of selectable acoustic spaces such as a cathedral, a forest, a cave, a gymnasium, etc. By connecting two or more of these systems together, users in different remote locations can jointly share a common acoustic space.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Gilbert Soulodre has extensive experience in the field of audio as a research scientist, product developer, educator, and mixing engineer. He has written numerous scientific papers and technical reports in the areas of digital signal processing, loudness metering, subjective testing, psychoacoustics, spatial perception, multi-channel audio, concert hall acoustics, and automotive audio. As founder and CEO of Camden Labs, he has invented a variety of signal processing and has authored numerous patents. Gil developed the subjective testing methods used in the ITU-R BS.1116 and MUSHRA standards. He was formerly a professor in the Sound Recording program at McGill University. Gil is an AES Fellow and has received recognition from the Acoustical Society of America, the American Institute of Physics, and the IEEE. He received the AES Publications Award for his work on spatial perception in immersive sound environments. In 2022, he presented the Heyser Memorial Lecture at the 153rd AES Convention. Gil's method for accurately measuring the perceived loudness of audio signals was adopted as the international standard, and has been credited for ending the loudness wars. Gil received a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for his work developing the loudness meter. In 2024, Gil was awarded the AES Gold Medal – the Society’s highest honor.

Gregg O'Donnell

BRIEF:

Using machine learning to discriminate between speakers based on windowed time-domain responses to a precisely tuned low frequency square wave. Simply put, there’s a way to tune the frequency such that you get really good data involving step response where microphone type and position do not have to be consistent for the model to work.

BIOGRAPHY:

Gregg is a father of two, a lifelong admirer of the arts, and co-founder of Soundbud. As a post-production specialist, he is fascinated by the evolution of audio tools. High-quality media creation is more accessible and with it many opportunities in the development of these tools. Recognizing the need to adapt to this changing landscape, Gregg enrolled as a mature student at the University of New Brunswick, pursuing Electrical Engineering with a Computer Engineering option. Post-graduation, he plans to offer technical consulting services and develop software infrastructure tailored to modern media demands. Recent post-production credits include the 2024 Indspire Awards (aired on CBC and APTN), three Bell Fibe TV mini-series, and several local short documentaries.

Buck Moore

BIOGRAPHY:

Buck Moore has been teaching filmmaking and sound design for over 20 years at a local career college, and with his own workshops. Buck started recording sound at age 11 and started making films when he was 15.

Buck attended Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, for Animated Filmmaking, has made numerous short films and has worked on many projects for other filmmakers, including the award-winning film The Legend of 23 Hop , and the culturally significant film Back to the Zone (both by Colm Hogan), as well as projects for BBC, CBC, Discovery & Amazon Prime.

Buck was a presenting member of SMPTE’s 2022 Media Technology Summit in Hollywood California, past presenter at Toronto AES’s Member’s Showcase (206 & 2017), exploring the creation, development & evolution of his D-curve EQ process for better film print-masters & DCP’s.

Justin Gray

BIOGRAPHY:

In 2020, Justin began composing new music for a project specifically conceived for immersive production. This project was recorded over 40 days in a world-class studio in Toronto, Canada, and included over 40 musicians from across the globe. The music draws influence from a diverse range of musical traditions and was composed, orchestrated, recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered with immersive intent at each stage.

Justin has drawn upon his broad musical experience as a composer, arranger, performer, recording engineer, producer, and engineer to bring this musical project to life. He is inspired to share the music, philosophy, and immersive production process with the AES community.

As Immersive Audio continues to expand its scope in the global music community, Justin believes that the next step is for artists to integrate immersive design into their creative practice. This can begin at the initial composition stage, and carry through each stage of a musical production.

Justin also rigorously documented the technical aspects of the project and will have additional visual content to support the presentation.