Archives for September 1996

New York, NY. The hot place to be this week for audio professionals involved with interactive media, including the world-wide web, CD-ROM, and DVD, is IMA Expo’96 in New York City.

IMA Expo’96 is the annual industry event sponsored by the Interactive Multimedia Association. This year’s event is held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (655 West 34th Street). IMA is touting New York and its “Silicon Alley” as the emerging centre of the multimedia universe.

Expo’96 begins today with a series of pre-conference workshop sessions. The regular show begins tomorrow (Sept.17) and runs through Thursday (Sept.19), with three parallel tracks concentrating on Business, Design, and Technology.

The overwhelming emphasis of the show is the web, and everything related to making content for the web. The secondary focus is the new DVD format (including DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and DVD-Audio), including the “DVD World Summit” session on Thursday (Sept.19).

There is an increased interest in audio technology at this year’s IMA Expo, probably because audio has taken a leading role in enabling true multimedia on the web. Audio also owns a large stake in DVD technology.

Audio manufacturers and organizations exhibiting at IMA Expo’96 include Dolby Labs, Imation, Kurzweil Technology Group, NAB, SMPTE, Sonic Foundry, Inc., and Sonic Solutions.

The audio highlight today is an extended workshop looking at the major platforms for interactive audio, including Intel-standard PC’s, Macintosh, Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, and the Internet. The session is moderated by Tom White, President and CEO of the MIDI Manufacturers’ Association, and features panelist Martin Wilde of Viacom New Media. The workshop runs from 1:00pm – 5:00pm (Monday September 16).

Tomorrow, the main audio event looks like the “New Technologies For Interactive Audio” session, moderated by Mark Miller of Crystal Dynamics. Panelists include Tom White of the MIDI Manufacturers Association, Dale Gulick from Advanced Micro Devices, Josh Rosen, Director for Audio Development at Macromedia, Inc., Toder Fay of Microsoft, and Michael D’Amore from Yamaha. They will present an overview of the state of the art and industry in 3D audio, downloadable samples, MIDI and audio in the year 2001. 1:00pm – 2:30pm (Tuesday Sept.17).

On Wednesday, aesthetic and creative issues surrounding the use of audio and soundtrack in interactive media will be the subject in a session called “Audio For Interactive Media: What’s The Difference?” Starting with a broad overview of interactive vs. linear audio, the panel will look at current technology limitations, the role of music in interactive applications, and how to make music work in interactive settings. Moderator is Dominic Milano, Editor of InterActivity and Keyboard Magazines, with panelists James Grunke, Director of Audio for On-Live Technology, Ken Ritvo of Pixound Technology Partners, and independent sound designer Dave Javelosa. 1:00pm – 2:30pm (Wednesday Sept.18).

In addition to the DVD World Summit, which is sure to be of broad interest to the audio community, Thursday brings a session dealing with streaming audio and video on the Internet and the web. Panel experts will separate the hype from reality and explain what is viable today, technically, creatively and from a global market perspective. The panel includes Sandra Morris from Intel, Marcos Sanchez, Shockwave Product Manager at Macromedia, Byron Wagner, CEO of Metawire, Giovanni Mezgec of Microsoft and Mark Dunsmuir of Progressive Networks. 10:30am – 12:00pm (Thursday Sept.19).