Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/987065
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 63 CILECT North America "Sound & Storytelling" Conference Not a trade show, CILECT North America (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) had its first academic conference dedicated specifically to sound. The CAS was a sponsor for this event, held at Chapman University in Orange, CA, in March. CAS President Mark Ulano gave a great plenary lecture about his experiences as a production sound mixer, and yours truly moderated a panel of sound mixers for the audience on closing night. The panel included Larry Blake, Erik Aadahl, Tony Lamberti, Julian Slater, and Will Files. I have to say that this was by far the best academic conference that I have been to. Not only was it dedicated to sound but the organizer Michael Kowalski of Chapman University made sure to fill the events with working practitioners in the field rather than exclusively academics. This led to a well-balanced conference that was not only educational but entertaining and thought- provoking. Some of the events were videotaped and are expected to be viewable online by the time this article is in print. JWSound/RAMPS Party at NAB The party, hosted by Jeff Wexler CAS, is always one of the best parties at NAB. Eric Toline was present to hand out the raffle prizes, and CAS President Mark Ulano opened the evening with a few comments, including the announcement that one lucky raffle winner would get two tickets to the 2019 CAS Awards, valued at $450! The party was moved to a new venue (Firefly Restaurant) this year as it had outgrown the previous year's. NAMM The National Associate of Music Merchants' (NAMM) annual convention is, of course, primarily for people who work in music sales. However, for people in post production, there is a lot to see. This year, the Pro Audio section was expanded significantly, covering two floors of the new ACC North Hall building that was recently added to the Anaheim Convention Center at an additional 100,000 square feet. The show grew more than 20 percent with this addition! More than 115,000 attendees saw 2,000 exhibitors. Zoom won a Best in Show Award for its H1n portable recorder, the smallest of its H-series recorders. Although it is only a two-channel recorder, it is self-contained and of good use for quickly recording stereo sound effects. Rupert Neve introduced its 8-Channel Remote Control Dante Mic Pre RMP-D8 with Dante con- trol available. I believe this is the first product Neve has introduced for live sound, and it might be quite useful for live broadcasts. Antares introduced a pro version of their Autotune, with a completely new interface There is also an "Auto Key" plugin, which will automatically adapt to the key a piece is in. Zynaptiq introduced Unfilter, what they call "Adaptive Tonal Contour Linearization." The name describes it; the plugin allows you to correct for unwanted filtering on audio. In addition to being useful for restoration work, this also has many uses for re-recording mixers, such as correcting for muddy dialogue from a poorly mounted lavaliere. PreSonus introduced the FaderPort 16 Control surface. For those mixing in a home studio or on a budget, this gives you 16 automatable faders for $1,000. Unfortunately, it does not include rotary knobs, making automation of other parameters more difficult and the faders are quite close together, closer than most mixers would be used to. Also, it uses HUI and Mackie Control as protocols. PreSonus FaderPort 16 controller Zoom H1n JWSound/RAMPS party at NAB