Join us a day early for additional training and workshop opportunities before the AES Show Long Beach kicks off.
Each session will focus on specific skills and technologies in the industry. It’s perfect for anyone, whether you have a basic understanding or just need a refresher. Sessions are in-person only and are $30/session for members and $45 for nonmembers.
Presented by: Matt Kulewicz, MPSE
Time: 12:15pm – 1:45pm
In this Skill Building Workshop, you will learn the basics of how to sound design for video games. Using Wwise you will learn how to take sound effect samples and then edit, mix and implement these sounds depending on game parameters. A Simple sample library of sounds will be provided, but feel free to provide any sound effects you’d like to use during this workshop.
Presenter: Nate Flaks
Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm
iZotope’s Nate Flaks will walk you through techniques and best practices for delivering polished dialogue for short films, TV, podcasts, and audiobooks. This will be a hands-on session, hosted in Pro Tools, with demo files available so you can follow along.
Presenter: Matt Wallace and Will Kennedy
Time: 3:45pm – 5:15pm
Think mixing for immersive is just “stereo with ‘advanced panning?’” Think again. Immersive mixers Matt Wallace and Will Kennedy walk you through the basic construction of an Atmos mix from multitracks, passing on some of the central lessons they’ve learned after nearly 500 mixes.
The AES Show’s Tech Tours offer attendees a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes at some of the most influential and innovative audio facilities in the region. These curated experiences provide an insider’s look at the tools, talent, and technology shaping the sound industry today. Whether you’re interested in recording studios, manufacturing, preservation, or professional networking, each tour is designed to inspire and inform. Full details for each tour—including dates, stops, and registration—are listed below.
TECH TOUR PICK UP LOCATION: IN FRONT THE LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER PROMENADE PARKING GARAGE
Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Pick Up Time: Buses Load at 9:15am – Departure at 9:30am
Duration: All Day (Approx 9:00am – 7:00pm PT)
Cost: $75 per person
A full day of sonic adventure around the Hollywood-Burbank area with a multi-stop tour covering different aspects of the Los Angeles audio industry. Participants need to be ticketed and travel with the tour group on our bus to attend a technical tour. (The tour will provide bus transportation throughout the day, with the tour starting and ending at the Long Beach Convention Center)
1) One on One Studios
Recently renovated and returned to commercial operation after decades in private use, this state-of-the-art studio offers recording, engineering & mixing to major and independent record labels. Founded in 1982 as a large single room studio with a great drum sound, this is where many 80s MTV icons (KISS, Metallica, Poison, White Snake & Motley Crue) recorded countless platinum selling albums. Legends including Donna Summer, Brian Wilson and Heart recorded here during this era.
In 1999 the studio was purchased and primarily used for private label projects for 30 years, until it once again reopened under the original name in 2022, currently as a freshly renovated multi-room facility with BAS Neve Custom Series 75 Analog Console in Studio A and an impressive cache of mics and outboard gear for a new generation of clients.
2) The LA Audio Lunch Bunch
Every week for ten years, a rotating mix of local and visiting audio engineers and producers have been dropping in and catching up at this legendary no-host luncheon. Founded in 2016 by Peter Doell (Miles Davis, Toto), the LA Audio Lunch Bunch has grown to be a tradition and a great place to network with audio professionals of all levels. They will have tables reserved for us on the patio at this low-key Mexican restaurant. Everyone will order and be billed separately for your own meal while you mingle with the LA audio engineering community.
3) Royer Microphones
Engineers rely on the tonal quality and durability of Royer mics to solve recording challenges. This tour will take you through the factory where every Royer ribbon microphone is hand-crafted. Founded in 1997, Royer has won many TEC Awards and a 2013 Technical Grammy Award for their innovative designs. The R-121 uses a patented “offset ribbon,” making it the first compact, lightweight, high-sound, pressure-level-capable ribbon microphone, able to record louder sources like drums and horn sections up close without damaging the ribbon element. Royer mics are also used for different challenges in film; the R-122V was used to achieve specific sounds, like the low-end grit for the character Scar in The Lion King. Multi-Grammy winning engineer Ed Cherney credited Royer mics for making him a better engineer.
4) Iron Mountain
State-of-the-art preservation and restoration for millions of audio and image assets inside this fourteen story architectural gem, in the center of Hollywood. With over 200,000 square-feet of archives, a data center and 10,000-square-foot digital studio. Iron Mountain Entertainment Services works with film & television studios, record companies and industry professionals to promote best practices for preserving assets, from original masters to fully digitized copies with complete metadata. Included is their vast collection of vintage machines which can play every format, from the earliest wire recordings. This tour will include the history of their storied 1921 art deco building, and studio tours for audio, video, film, and photo facilities. Attendees will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement to attend this tour.
All four stops on one amazing tour is sure to be an unforgettable day.
Date: Saturday, October 25, 2025
Pick Time: 10:45am – Departure at 11:00am
Duration: All Day (Approx. 11:00am – 7:15pm PT)
Cost: $75 per person
A trip to West LA where state of the art work is produced in historic spaces. This tour will visit different eras of Los Angeles audio and recording history. Participants need to be ticketed and travel with the tour group on our bus to attend a technical tour.
1) The Village
The original Village Recorders that Geordie Hormel built in 1968 is now a state-of-the-art, full-service recording complex which draws a new generation of talent, like John Mayer, Taylor Swift and the Raconteurs, to the rooms where Jim Morrison, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan recorded. Along the way, Grammy winning engineer Al Schmitt consulted on a room-by-room renovation to rewire and refresh the Village. Today the six studios include a collection of vintage Neve analog consoles and an impressive array of modern and vintage mics, amps and outboard gear.
Built in a 1920s era former Masonic Temple, Village retains much of the original architecture and has an auditorium and ballroom, in addition to the studios and artist lounges, which continue to draw both established and new artists alike.
2) 4th Street Recording
Built in 1978, this one room studio has retained an authentic vintage ambience with velvet and natural wood walls from an era when music was created without computers. The tracking room floor and walls are floating on sand, with a rolling wave ceiling and no parallel surfaces. In 2013, Producer Sejo Navajas rewired the control room and installed his 1973 3224 API console. They use essentials like Pro Tools, but other than a monitor screen, the studio feels like you’re revisiting the 70s. This cozy historic studio has been a destination for up and coming indie artists launching their careers (including Fiona Apple and Incubus) to legendary artists including Stanley Clarke, George Clinton, and the Beach Boys.
3) The Bakery Mastering
Serving up sonic excellence in a variety of formats, including vinyl to high resolution, this tour will take you through The Bakery’s studios where they have been creating industry-defining work for a decade on the Sony Pictures lot. Founder & mastering engineer Eric Boulanger (Green Day, Barbara Streisand, La La Land) honed his skills as a protege of Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab, where Eric designed and built their vinyl mastering room.
The Bakery’s mastering signal flow features a wide array of custom electronics, including a DSP-based platform designed by Boulanger, to power the SX-74 cutterhead on their Neumann VMS 70 lathe. From the tape machines to the equalizers, compressors, limiters, A/D & D/A converters, monitoring amplifiers, and console, The Bakery utilizes purpose-designed and handcrafted gear for the most optimum audio mastering experience.
4) Sony Scoring Stage
One of the largest film scoring venues in the world, the earliest music projects here include Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Originally built in 1929 for filming on what was then the MGM studio lot, the 6,100 square foot main scoring area remains mostly unchanged since the 1930s, to preserve the acoustics and unique ambiance. The control room is state of the art, featuring a Neve 88R, 96 channel console (192 mix inputs with motorized faders) w/ Neve custom designed Scoring Panel & 36 track sound mixer.
5) Apogee
This visit to Apogee Electronics’ headquarters offers a look at their legacy in defining industry standards for the digital revolution and development of the company’s groundbreaking products. George Williams, Product Evangelist and Head of Educational Initiatives for Apogee Electronics, will include demonstrations and immersive playback on the tour of their one-of-a-kind recording studio and immersive music stage, where the KCRW Live from Apogee Studio series is recorded and artists including Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish & Finneas have performed intimate concerts, all personally mixed and recorded by legendary engineer Bob Clearmountain (David Bowie, Paul McCartney). This hybrid recording/performance space doubles as a lab for developing and testing the cutting-edge digital audio gear developed there.