audio-technica In October, we had the opportunity to take part in the Audio Engineering Society (AES) 2013 Convention, a showcase and celebration of innovations in the sound engineering space. We wanted to dig into the reasons we pursue, develop, and refine audio equipment in the first place. To do so, we hosted a Livestream event, “Ask Me Anything,” where we heard experts in audio weigh in on their specific areas of expertise. Today, we’ll look at key portions of our Livestream interview with Jackie Green of Audio-Technica. Jackie Green is currently the Vice President of R&D/Engineering at Audio-Technica and participates as vice chair of the AES SC-04-04 working group on Microphone Measurement and Characterization. She started working for A-T in 1984 doing contract computer programming. She started working for A-T in 1984 doing contract computer programming. She joined the company as a Product Manager in 1986 and was promoted to Vice President in 1992. She has worked on the concept, design, and production of many of A-T's highly regarded products and technologies. She holds patents for key digital and wireless work, and enjoys sharing knowledge and ideas via participation as a presenter at numerous seminars, workshops, and publications. Jackie holds a Bachelor of Science and Sound Recording Technology from State University of New York and a master’s degree in management from the University of Akron. A-T: What drew you to audio initially? JG: I am a musician! I play a lot of things. I don’t play anything anymore, but when I was younger, I can’t even remember not reading music. My grandmother was a Carnegie Hall pianist. I learned to read music the same time I could walk and talk. I played keyboards from a very young age, then guitar, then flute, then pipe organ, then bass, then French horn, then whatever… drums. I loved music, but I also loved science and when I was in the fifth grade, I wanted to join the jazz band and my father wouldn’t buy me an electric bass. I had to scrabble one together from cheap parts, so I started learning about circuits and I was like, “oh, I could make this sound better.” Unfortunately, I kept blowing up his… he wouldn’t buy me an amp either; I kept playing through our home stereo and I kept blowing it up, so then he was like, “you better fix that.” The music got me involved with the electronics because I wanted to be able to express myself. As time went on, I discovered that the microphone and the recording stuff in general was really an art. It was just as much creating music as playing my flute or playing the organ. Music drew me in and then my interest in science sort of hooked it. A-T: The AT4060, would you share with us a little bit about the development of a tube microphone that can handle the SPLs that that mic is capable of? JG: We wanted to make a tube microphone. The reason we wanted to make a tube microphone was because tubes cause a certain sort of harmonic distortion that we all know and love, right? We had to learn how to burn those tubes in and then test them, but the best thing ever about the AT4060 is that we knew we had an idea how to power it so it can take the max SPL. But we had to be able to test it and how do you test something and create that kind of sound pressure level? I hooked up a 22 shell in a jig and a weighted hammer that then was triggered from a computer that was hooked up to our audio precision. The audio precision would start a signal; it would drop the hammer and fire the shell into the microphone. We played with the mounting on the element until we could really take those SPLs. There were gunshots in our chamber for about 18 months. A-T: You love science, so why audio and not another field? JG: Because I also love music and I love art. I could have pursued a different scientific discipline, In fact, when I started working at A-T, I don’t know if you would consider it science, but I actually got in by doing computer programming and it wasn’t even anything to do with engineering. It was doing computer programming for market analysis. A-T: You realized that crafting the actual devices became an art the same way that the music did; I was wondering if there was a moment when you were listening to something that made that click for you or if it was a gradual thing where you just heard the art in the making of the sound? JG: Actually, the AT4050 made a really big difference to me because when I was messing with the diaphragm tuning and the circuit, it was an OK mic when it was a prototype and the microphones we had made before were really nice mics. They had a good reason to exist on their own, but when I was playing with the tuning on the AT4050, there would be times when I’d listen and it would be just like you hit that sweet spot and you just feel it through your whole body. You feel it and go, “gasp, that’s amazing!” I didn’t realize you could dial it in that well, and I just started chasing that. Now in anything we build, I look for that. So, I would say it was probably working on the AT4050, which is one of my favorite projects. Audio-Technica would love to thank Jackie Green, one of our own, for speaking to the excitement of developing and testing special products, like the AT4050 condenser microphone. What is the first moment you recall being truly moved by music? Tell us about it in the comments section or on Facebook and Twitter, and keep reading the blog for more updates!