The Audio Engineering Society’s Board of Governors (BoG) has elected Brecht De Man to the role of AES Director, beginning 1 January 2021. He takes over the post from Alex Case (Past President and Membership Committee Chair) as one of two BoG-elected Directors, and will serve on the Board of Directors until 31 December 2022.
Currently serving as a Governor of the AES, De Man has held various roles within the Society and continues to work as a sound engineer, educator and member of the AES Education Committee.
‘Dr Brecht De Man’s contributions to AES leadership on the Board of Governors and within its committees have been noteworthy and appreciated, evidenced by his election as Director by the Board of Governors,’ says AES President, Agnieszka Roginska. ‘On behalf of the Board of Directors, we welcome Brecht and look forward to working even closer with him. We are truly grateful to Professor Case for his leadership, wisdom and humour.’
‘The AES has been a huge part of my audio life, from student to professional,’ De Man says. ’My involvement at the section level through to my current position as an AES Governor has been a way to give back to the organisation that has given me so much. I look forward to helping ensure the Society’s viability going into the post-pandemic future and to aid in refining and expanding its service to our diverse membership.’
De Man holds a PhD in Audio Engineering from Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for Digital Music (supported in part by the AES Educational Foundation), and an MSc and BSc in Electronic Engineering from the University of Ghent, Belgium. He has published, presented and patented research on the perception of recording and mixing engineering, intelligent audio effects, and the analysis of music production practices at AES conventions and conferences, as well as the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society.
De Man first took an active role in the AES as Chair of the then-dormant London UK Student Section, helping its membership to increase tenfold. He also (vice) chaired several editions of the flagship student event Up Your Output! and was Student Representative on the British Section’s Executive Committee. As elected Chair of the AES Student Delegate Assembly (SDA) he organised the student track at four conventions and represented the 4,000-plus AES Student Members across the globe.
Since concluding his term, he has been Vice Chair of the AES Education Committee, overseeing the SDA and introducing a system of institutional memory, a remix competition, and a MATLAB plug-in design competition. Most recently, he was instrumental in the revival of the Belgian Section as Chair. De Man also sits on a number of Technical Committees and has organized and participated in several AES convention workshops, as well as continuing his work for Semantic Audio Labs, which he founded.
