A Sound Thinking Poll

By Ah-Keisha McCants

Designed by ET Green / Instagram

Just last month, Whitney Edwards, CAT CUNY Service Corps member and City College student, attended the Audio Engineering Society (AES) conference with our Sound Thinking cohort. She and Ah-Keisha asked attendees who visited their table at the Education and Career Fair to answer the question, “What does the phrase ‘Sound Thinking’ mean to you?”

The responses were sonically thoughtful and deep – as one might expect from audio professionals, students and sound aficionados. 🙂

Check out some notable AES responses below!

“The phase sound thinking means to me, that you’re always thinking zonally. You’re always thinking in terms of sound, even in terms of engineering, sciences, biology, you always relate everything back to sound. Everything comes in the way of sound, vibration, air, and moving.”

“I would say that means innovative ways of being creative with sound technology and pushing the limits, trying new things and not being afraid of the results.”

“When I think of sound thinking, I think of when you’re brainstorming with a clear mind and you’re really focused on what it is that’s on your mind, but at the same time not letting other distractions get in the way or anything else that could sort of take your mind off the prize.”

“I guess it means like your interpretation of sound and what it means to you as a person, as an individual. Sound Thinking is thinking in a whole different universe. You’re just floating on the sound meridian and you just are able to experience it in your mind.”

“Thinking more in-depth into sound and thinking with sound, in a way. Thinking more in depth and really listening to sounds and figuring stuff out.”

“Sound thinking sounds like a solid thought process because it is sound.”

“I think sound thinking is a form of language, where maybe words don’t work but instead let sound speak it for us. It’s quite understated because we still can’t define sound into words that is easy for anyone else to hear because it’s complicated and it’s a language that we have to decode. It speaks to those who don’t know how to comprehend it.”

“I […] think that Sound Thinking is something that we need to improve on because my mom is a hearing aid specialist and she would always remind us that those who are blind, can still communicate but those who are deaf it’s actually a lot harder and they get overlooked more so that’s why Sound Thinking is another form of communication that we all need to be aware of, like how we listen and also what we see, and how we can use sound to help those who don’t hear us.”

“The phrase sound thinking means to me, contemplating audiosonics and the various amplitudes that you may hear when you think of sound, or emotion and ambience. Sound thinking makes me think of sound in various ways.”

We’re curious about your thoughts. “What does the phrase ‘Sound Thinking’ mean to you?”

Share your answer(s) to the question in the comments section below.

Sound Thinkers Say ‘YES’ to AES!

by Ah-Keisha McCants

Last Friday and Saturday, October 19th and 20th, our Sound Thinking cohort attended the Audio Engineering Society (AES) 145th International Pro Audio Convention at the Jacob Javits Center!

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AES is the premier event for Broadcast and Streaming, Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality, Live Sound, Studio Recording, Home Recording, Music Production, Game Audio, Sound for Picture or Product Development, and much more. It’s like an audio-engineering playground, with hands-on technology at your fingertips, and icons in engineering and music at your disposal! We’re talking the best of the best—the legendary Stevie Wonder even made a guest appearance!

Thanks to the folks at AES, and particularly Lori Jackson, their Membership Director, Sound Thinking NYC was gifted with free Exhibits-Plus badges! The group participated in a number of special exhibits at AES, including the: Broadway Sound Expo, Project Studio Expo, and Live Sound Expo! They explored informational panels: Know It Before You Track It – Guitar Literacy for Recording Engineers; The Special Sauce for Mixing a Hit Record; Mix-Masters: The Art of Mastering, as well as Platinum Mastering – Past, Present Future: Changes in Audio Mastering Technology/Aesthetics, to name a few.

Sound Thinking also had a table in the Education and Career Fair at AES on the Friday of the convention. We shared our Sound Thinking mission as part of their initiative to connect learning institutions from around the world with a massive audio, sound and music community of students, enthusiasts and professionals!

Check out a few of our cohort-member highlights from the AES convention!

“I really like the microphone section because I got to hear and experience different sounds they have and they’re each made for a specific time.” – Joanna S.

“I just liked having conversations with different kinds of people… Because it’s cool to see different peoples’ perspectives. And this is an audio convention, but they’re all coming with so many different backgrounds in audio. I think that’s cool.” – Taysia F.

“Bianca likes… The networking as well, as Taysia said. Being 17 right now, a senior in high school, and having so many connections through Sound Thinking and all the things I was able to do outside because of Sound Thinking, makes me feel in a secure place. But also going out of my comfort zone is a really great thing.” – Bianca P.

“I liked walking around and exploring… The whole new experience of being around people that have the common theme of loving music.” – Annalise J.

“I liked the soundboards and just playing with them. I was getting a feel of how it was.” – Simone F.

“I liked that I was able to get a hands-on experience with the Cloudlifter Zi… And then I won the Cloudlifter Zi.” – Sharon A.

“What I really enjoyed from this convention is, first of all, the mixing boards. I never really knew there were different types. I knew there was for live sound, studio, but I never knew it was for TV shows and all. It really mesmerized me just walking through the exhibition, looking at all the different mixing boards. And having the experience from the Platinum Sound studio, and gaining a hands-on experience of being the audio engineer… That just really puts my interest in learning more about it, at a higher level…” – Angie R.

“I think I really enjoyed the aspect of just being able to hear people’s backgrounds. We met a really nice man. I don’t remember his name. I didn’t catch it. But he was at the Soundable booth. He was so inspired by women all his life, and so he was really appreciative that we were here and that we were actually taking charge to network and get out of our comfort zones, and being so young. And he really encouraged me and inspired me to continue.” – Celines H.

Ah-Keisha McCants
Project Director
Sound Thinking NYC