NEW YORK CITY - The Audio Engineering Society (aes.org) recently welcomed Gary Gottlieb as president, beginning January 1st. An AES member for 40 years, Gottlieb has been deeply engaged in various levels of leadership in the organization for the last 20.
An AES Fellow, Gottlieb attended AES Conventions starting in 1983 in New York, where he began his career as an assistant engineer at Counterpoint Studios. He moved on to National Edison Studios before beginning his freelance career in some of the most storied studios in New York, including A&R, Sigma Sound, The Hit Factory and Clinton Recording. By the early 1990s, Gottlieb expanded his career to sound design and sound reinforcement. In 1991 he relocated to Vermont, where he earned his master’s degree in Audio Aesthetics & Technology from Marlboro College.
In the early 2000s, Gottlieb moved to St. Louis, where he ran and revamped Webster University’s audio program, expanding it to become the school’s Department of Audio Aesthetics & Technology. While in St. Louis he revitalized the St. Louis AES Section, which was dormant for 13 years, and helped students form the Webster University AES Student Section. During his time in St. Louis, he authored three books: "Shaping Sound in the Studio & Beyond," "Recording on the Go," and "How Does It Sound Now? – Legendary Engineers and Vintage Gear," which won the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.
Along with holding every local AES Section office possible, Gottlieb served two-year terms on the Society’s Board of Governors, first as a Governor then later as Regional Vice President for the Eastern Region of US and Canada, and is now on the Board of Directors. He has served in leadership roles on the Historical Committee, the Conference Committee, and the Events Coordination Committee.
“AES is a volunteer organization,” shares Gottlieb. “Our strength is in our ability to support the organization by volunteering. I encourage all members to pitch in to help build a stronger community, whether it’s on the local level, regionally or internationally”.
In his new role, he will focus on ensuring that technology is in place to give members the best possible experience regarding all of the Society’s digital assets, including the E-library, the AES LIVE: Videos archive, and the Oral History Project.
“We have a wealth of valuable information about the audio industry, workflows and methods, and how the industry and AES evolved over the last 77 years,” says Gottlieb. “We are working behind the scenes to make all those assets available to members in an organized and intuitive interface.”