The Audio Engineering Society today announced that Michael Williams and Umberto
Zanghieri have been chosen as the co-chairs and Alex U. Case has been named as
the keynote speaker for the upcoming 140th International AES Convention, set to
take place June 4 to 7, 2016, in Paris, France. In addition, the Palais des Congres de
Paris has been selected as the location for the 140th AES.

“I am honoured to have been chosen as the co-chair of the 140th International AES
in Paris along with my esteemed colleague Umberto Zanghieri, and to announce the
first element of the Convention program: incoming AES president-elect Alex Case as
the keynote speaker,’ said Williams. “For AES’s return to Paris, I can think of no
better place for the 140th AES than the Palais des Congres de Paris, located in the
heart of the city.’

Michael Williams started his professional career in the Technical Operations
department at the BBC Television Studios in London in 1960. He is an active
member of the Audio Engineering Society, Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society,
former Governor and served on the AES French Section Committee from 1987 to
2009. Williams has continued his career as a freelance sound recording and
research engineer and has published numerous papers as well as three books on
the subject of microphone array design.

Umberto Zanghieri is the co-founder of ZP Engineering. He has worked on countless
digital audio and industrial design projects and has specialized in DSP development,
FPGA design, embedded Linux development, digital audio interconnectivity (USB,
IEEE-1394, Audio-over-Ethernet, custom links), wireless technology and much more.
Since 2014, ZP has been part of the RCF Group. In 2013 Zanghieri was presented
with the AES Citation Award in recognition for his work for the Italian section of the
Audio Engineering Society. He brings convention management experience to the
Paris convention, having received AES Board of Governors awards for chairing the
134th AES Convention in Rome in 2013, and co-chairing the 136th AES Convention in
Berlin in 2014.

Incoming AES President-Elect Alex U. Case will deliver the 140th AES keynote
address, with the working title of “Plus ça change…History Repeats As Audio
Advances.’ Case noted, “As technological change forces us forward, the history of
signal processing shows that we advance our craft and stimulate artistic expression
by understanding the best of what’s come before.’

Case has dedicated his professional life to the study of aesthetics, perception, signal
processing, electro acoustics and room acoustics for the creation and enjoyment of
recorded music. He is an associate professor of sound recording technology at the
University of Massachusetts Lowell and a Fellow of both the Audio Engineering
Society and the Acoustical Society of America. Engineer, educator and author for
Focal Press and lynda.com, Case lives and works at the intersection of audio art and
science.