AI and the Audio Professional 2024

Well-versed in writing and recording string arrangements, horns, pop, folk, and chamber ensembles, Nahuel is a master of multifaceted disciplines that come together in every way to support the music and the elevation of each song beyond the concept of genre. Also, being a musician himself with ties to many Bay Area artists, his collaborative spirit both inspires and enlivens the local community. One notable example of this was his release entitled “The String Quartet Experience”, in which he wrote string arrangements for local singer-songwriters, and gathered everyone together for a filmed showcase that was simply enchanting. Nahuel is a graduate from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and from Escuela de Música Contemporánea (Argentina), and studied audio and acoustics at Universidad de Tres de Febrero (Argentina). He has served as Governor of the Recording Academy, San Francisco Chapter, as a member of the Producers and Engineers Wing Committee, and also as a committee member for the Audio Engineering Society, SF Chapter.

Julius Dobos is an award-winning, platinum-album electronic music and film composer, sound synthesist and professor of music technology. His music production credits include major movies, tv shows and Grammy®-winning performers. As forgotten future, he builds musical universes and creates organic electronic music with a distinct character. His multimedia installations and performances have attracted audiences internationally – the 2019 Los Angeles Human Intelligence Control show featured an inventive musical experience through digitally-tracked physical interaction with the audience. Julius has also engineered, mastered hundreds of records, beta-tested and preset-programmed synthesizers and music technology tools for the past three decades. He is currently the Vice Chair of AES San Francisco and the founder

David v.R Bowles formed Swineshead Productions, LLC as a classical recording production company in 1995. His recordings have been GRAMMY- and JUNO-nominated and critically acclaimed worldwide. His releases in 3D Dolby Atmos can be found on Avie Records, Delos and Parma Recordings. In collaboration with NYU Steinhardt’s Music Technology programme, Mr. Bowles researches and teaches 3D audio recording techniques for their Tonmeister Seminar. He has presented his papers on 3D audio gathering at AES (Audio Engineering Society) conferences in São Paulo, San Francisco and Boston. In addition, he is currently AES Western Regional Vice President.

Loïc Maestracci is originally from France where he graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce International, a 3-year graduate business school that delivers a master in international business. As part of his studies, he spent 2 semesters abroad: One semester at the Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA and one semester at the Universidad de Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This gave him an opportunity to see how business was instructed in different countries. On top of his promotion, he was offered to pursue a dual degree and transferred to California State University in San Bernardino to earn an MBA in Corporate Management and Marketing in addition to his master in international business. Armed with 2 graduate degrees and a passion for media, technology, and marketing he started his career in Los Angeles working in marketing for various mobile music companies with many international clients where his international business education gave him an edge. He had the privilege of working with some of the world’s most iconic brands such as Twitter, Samsung, Apple, or SOL Republic. He recently concluded his tenure at Twitter, contributing to notable campaigns such as the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, FIFA World Cups, and NASA’s Mars landing. At Twitter, Loïc helmed large teams to build these global consumer campaigns. In 2014, Loic founded Music Expo, a series of events in San Francisco designed to unite artists, producers, engineers, and industry professionals, eventually expanding to Miami, Nashville, and Boston. Apart from his professional pursuits, Loïc is a passionate music producer. Under his artist name, Iguazúl, he has released several EPs and singles. He is member of the Recording Academy (The Grammys) and since January 2024, he is the chair of the Audio Engineering Society San Francisco Section. Today Loïc lives in San Francisco with his wife Karen, their 2 year old son Matteo and their cat Dindi.

Ken Felton is an Audio Director and Sound Designer with decades of experience in many different professional audio industries. Ken’s current passion is collaborating with talented game/app/experience teams that value quality audio and are fun to work with. Ken started in pro-audio by touring N. America and running sound reinforcement systems. Ken then learned from talented engineers, producers, and artists during his time in the L.A. music business and Film/TV post-production world. In 1994 he moved to Northern California and started working with interactive audio at Electronic Arts. Ken moved to Sony PlayStation in 2006. He continued sound designing and directing while managing the sound design and dialog team in NorCal. Ken joined Spatial Inc. in 2021 and applied all the experience and knowledge collected in his prior pro-audio lives to creating immersive and compelling sound scenes in real world  environments. Since late 2023 Ken is focused on helping to create immersive and healing soundscapes by collaborating with teams developing audio experiences that promote wellbeing and good health. Ken lives in the S.F. Bay Area with his wife- Lynn, and their two sons- Casey and Quinn. Ken enjoys mountain and road biking, good wine, and playing ice hockey.

Jean-Marc Jot is a globally recognized audio technology innovator in consumer electronics and pro markets, lately focusing more particularly on immersive audio, hearing personalization and music technology innovation. He founded Virtuel Works to help accelerate the development and deployment of audio, voice and music computing technologies that will power future immersive experiences. Previously, he initiated and drove the development of novel sound processing technologies, platforms and standards for virtual and augmented reality, gaming, broadcast, cinema, and music creation – with Magic Leap, Creative Labs, DTS / Xperi, and iZotope / Native Instruments. Before relocating to California in the late 90s, he conducted research at IRCAM in Paris, where he created the Spat software library for immersive music creation and performance. He is a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, a regular speaker in industry and academic events, and has authored numerous publications and patents on digital audio signal processing.

Erik Foreman is an immersive audio expert, consultant, and educator. He worked in-house at Dolby Labs for eight years, where he created and demonstrated showcase material for consumer experiences of all kinds, for all types of content. Foreman was a sound designer and re-recording mixer at Skywalker Sound for 16 years prior. His experience encompasses film, TV, interactive, and public exhibits. His work has been recognized with multiple industry awards. Foreman is an active member of the local AES section as a board member at large.