Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/757053
AVAR CONFERENCE Review of the First AES by Matt Foglia CAS I In late September, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) held its first Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality (AVAR) Conference during the AES LA 2016 Convention. Given that virtual and augmented reality is slated to be "the next big thing"—with venture capital firms investing $3.5 billion into the technology over the past two years (there are even funds that specialize in VR technologies and companies)—it's great to see the audio industry convene to discuss the topic. Creatives, developers, and other sound professionals from around the world shared insights and information through workshop, paper, and tutorial sessions over the two-day event. Additionally, there were product demo stations set up separately from the AES Convention that showcased micro- phones and encoding software specifically made for VR/AR platforms. Since there was a plethora of interesting informa- tion, I'm going to focus on some of the highlight discussions (in my opinion) relative to production and post production. Production Audio There was a great workshop that took place on Saturday called "Immersive Sound Capture for Cinematic Virtual Reality" that discussed just that. The panel, moderated by Sennheiser's Sofia Brazzola, included Henrik Oppermann (Head of Sound at Visulise Creative), Jean Pascal Beaudoin " " Normally, if you can see the camera's lens, it can see you. With VR, if you can see the camera, it can see you. –Benedict Green CAS MEMBER EVENT: 54 F A L L 2 0 1 6 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y