USITT > Activities > Interest Groups > Commissions > Sound > Daily Archive 3

Sound Commission Events in Houston Friday, March 21, 2008

Day by Day accounts of the Sound Commission Sessions and events at the 2008 USITT Convention and Stage Expo

Check back each evening to see reports and photos from the day's activities. First Update will appear sometime after 7:00pm, 03/18/08

Friday, March 21, 2008

8:00-9:30 am : Student Sound Presentations Ib

10:00-11:20 am : Using MAX/MSP and PD for Interactive Theatrical Design

David Smith introduces Shahrokh Yadegari, composer and sound designer and professor at UCSD, provided a peek at the limitless possibilities of the MAX/MSP and Pd programs.   After discussing the history of the programs , the basic structure of each program was shown along with a demonstrations of patches.  Practical examples of the use of the programs in live performance were given.  

MAX/MSP has a 30 day unlimited demo and Pd is free.  Both have large online user communities with patches, advice and discussion forums.

MAX/MSP can be found at the Cycling 74 website:

http://www.cycling74.com/products/maxmsp

Pd (Pure Data) can be found here:

http://puredata.info/

 or here:

http://www-crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html

Shahrokh’s activities can be found here:

http://crca.ucsd.edu/~syadegar/

and here:

http://www.yadegari.org/

 

12:15-1:35 pm : Open Sound Forum II

There was a good crowd at the second open forum, and many suggestions and comments were made regarding commission programming. When there is time, a condensed list of these suggestions will be up on the web.

Bill Liotta, Sound Commissioner and Dave Tosti-Lane, Vice Commissioner for Programming try to keep up with the notes on suggestions and comments.

2:30-4:00 pm : Book Signing for Abe Jacob Monograph

Abe Jacob wears out his arm signing copies of the newly released USITT Monograph: The Designs of Abe Jacob, written by Rick Thomas.

Rick Thomas and Abe Jacob signed copies continuously during the event, the line seemed to extend well out into the Expo floor throughout the allotted time.

6:15-7:35 pm : An Evening with Helen & John Meyer

Jim Van Bergen (right) started the ball rolling with questions about how John became interested in sound, and how that led to the creation of Meyer Sound Laboratories and the impact on the world of theater sound design. A capacity crowd gathered in the sound room to enjoy John and Helen's recollections of their amazing career.

The crowd prepares for the presentation and toast to John and Helen Meyer.

John and Helen Meyer, 2008 recipients of the Harold Burris-Meyer Distinguished Career in Sound Design Award.