Now in its 26 year, the two-day conference, organised by the Institute of Acoustics, has become a key event in the calendar for consultants, manufacturers, contractors and end users.
As well as providing delegates with detailed updates of major new developments, the informal environment of the event allows them to mingle and share insights and information.
This year's theme will be Performing Arts Venues: Balancing the Design and it will include a keynote paper from Jonathan Adams, architect of the Wales Millennium Centre, which became the country's national arts centre on its opening in 2004.
Adams will speak on what it takes to bring the various specialisms of acoustics, theatre, sound and lighting into the architecture of a venue of this size and will also conduct guided tours of the centre to talk further about its architecture and function.
Other highlights of the conference include:
The presentation of the Peter Barnett Memorial Award to distinguished American acoustician Dr Leo Beranek in recognition of his "enormous contribution to the field of electroacoustics, especially in relation to loudspeakers intelligibility and signal processing". Now aged 95, he is internationally known as an acoustician specialising in concert hall, theatre and opera house design, and his books on the subjects have long been recognised as classics of their kind.
A performance by internationally renowned concert pianist and conductor Shelley Katz in which he will be accompanied by an electronic orchestra, conducted in real time and brought to life through a multi array of loudspeaker technologies that he has developed in the pursuit of the perfect electroacoustic performance that is so elusive in classical music of this calibre.
Martyn Ware, co-founder of the Illustrious Company, will demonstrate pieces resulting from a collaboration last year with Goldsmiths College, London and Duran Audio in Cardiff on a large scale immersive audio experiment.
Ware, formerly with the Human League and Heaven 17, formed the Illustrious Company in 2001 with ex-Yazoo and Erasure star Vince Clarke to create new forms of spatialised sound composition using their unique three dimensional 3D AudioScape surround-sound system. Played through a variety of loudspeakers in the centre's Weston Studio, the Reproduced Sound event promises to provide delegates with a fascinating insight into how aural environments and electroacoustics can become a very real part of our sense of space and a positive factor in good architecture and design.
Paul Malpas, chairman of the Institute of Acoustics' electroacoustics group, said, "Reproduced Sound has firmly established itself as a 'must attend' event for many people from a wide background in acoustics and audio sectors - and this year's conference promises to be one of the best yet.
"Not only do we again have an extremely rich and eclectic mix of papers that will provide delegates with a very valuable consolidation of recent developments, but equally importantly it will again afford superb networking opportunities, and indeed it has become famous for this over the years.
"We are especially delighted to be coming this year to the Wales Millennium Centre which has quickly established itself as a world-class arts and cultural destination. The address by Jonathan Adams should provide a fascinating insight into the inter-disciplinary approach required by an architect to bring a project of this size and complexity to a successful conclusion."
(Jim Evans)
