The International Music Software Trade Association (IMSTA) has announced that Grammy® Award-winning mix engineer Dave Pensado and veteran manager/executive producer Herb Trawick, hosts of the weekly audio engineering-themed talk show “Pensado’s Place,” will present the keynote at IMSTA FESTA Atlanta. The celebration of music technology will take place July 27 (11am-6pm) at the SAE Institute Atlanta.
“Building on their wealth of knowledge about both the craft and business of audio and music, Dave and Herb together bring our community an incredibly valuable — and entertaining — educational resource,” said Ray Williams, managing director at IMSTA. “They put tremendous thought and energy into ‘Pensado’s Place,’ and I know we can expect a great keynote from them in Atlanta.”
Pensado’s mix credits include work with stars such as Kelly Clarkson, AfroJack, Beyonce, Elton John, Christina Aguilera, and Jill Scott. Trawick founded his own management firm, working with artists such as Brian McKnight, Robin Thicke, and Tyrese Gibson, and has consulted with top labels including Mercury, Island, and Def Jam. On “Pensado’s Place,” they pair up to offer viewers an array of interviews, technique demonstrations, and other segments dedicated to audio engineering and the music business.
Along with the keynote by Pensado and Trawick, IMSTA FESTA Atlanta will feature panels, workshops and master classes, song critiques, demonstrations, and networking opportunities in an environment where music makers can network, interact, and learn from one another face to face.
In addition to hosting IMSTA Master Class sessions, full-time music professionals and experts from top music production technology companies will offer technology demos and exhibitions. Featured companies include Accusonus, Antares, Arturia, Avid, Celemony Software, Eventide, FabFilter, FL Studio, Focusrite, IK Multimedia, MAGIX, Native Instruments, NUGEN Audio, PreSonus, Reveal Sound, Roland Cloud, Serato, Softube, sonible, Sprkle, Steinberg, u-he, xils lab, and Yamaha. Exhibitors will offer product-specific tips and techniques and also provide prizes for hourly raffle giveaways.
Live song reviews at IMSTA FESTA Atlanta will give attendees the chance to present their work to experienced industry professionals for one-on-one appraisal. As the day concludes, the most exceptional of these songs will be judged along with other regional entries for the 2019 IMSTA FESTA Songwriting Contest. The regional winner will move on in the competition, earning the chance to win a free trip to Santorini, Greece, to be part of a song camp at Black Rock Studios.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More