Audio Forum 2019

November 22, 2019 | 13:00 – 16:30 | on-site

Mirjana is an engineer of acoustics and audio technology, also Chief System Architect at Dirigent Acoustics. Having previously completed the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and before various private engagements, she worked for more than 10 years for Radio Television of Serbia as an operator, engineer and audio systems designer.

At Audio Forum 2019, Mirjana led a workshop on DANTE audio protocol. After her lectures and demonstration exercises, the participants had the opportunity to take the test for Dante Certification Level 1 and 2.

The work history of Dirigent Acousticsis based on successful projects of mapping and mitigating noise in public spaces, acoustic treatment of various interior spaces and designing audio systems within various business units. Some of the examples: New terminal building of the Nikola Tesla airport, Strategic noise mapping of major roads in Serbia,, Barriers for noise protection on the highway near block 28.

November 22, 2019 | 17:00 – 18:30 | online

Mark has been building his game audio portfolio since 2006, after a couple of years working on audio for linear media. He is an award-winning sound designer, mixer and implementer, with works such as Forza Motorsport, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, Brothers in Arms.

In the course of eight year, he’s been the Audio Director for the Call of Duty franchise, closely working alongside worldwide team of developers on the related Call of Duty installments: Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, Black Ops 1-3, Exo Zombies, Modern Warfare Remastered and Call of Duty: WWII.

Mark won the Golden Reel, awarded by the MPSE (Motion Picture Sound Editors), in the Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Computer Interactive Game Play category, for Call of Duty: WWII. Numerous titles brought him BAFTA nominations and also Outstanding Achievement in Sound, awarded by DICE (Electronic Arts Digital Illusions CE).

November 22, 2019 | 19:00 – 20:30 | online

Joe is a music producer at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood. Ten-time Grammy and Latin Grammy winner; known for working with artists such as Tori Amos, Beck, U2, The Strokes, The Killers, Elton John, The Shins, The White Stripes, Morrissey, Alanis Morrisette, Jason Mraz, Juanes, Julieta Venegas, The Raconteurs, Cafe Tacuba, and My Morning Jacket.

Grammy™ awards:

• Best Latin Rock/Alt Album Café Tacuba „Cuatro Caminos“ (2003)
• Alternative Album: The White Stripes „Icky Thump“ (2007)
• Best Engineered Album Non-Classical: The Raconteurs „Consolers of the Lonely“ (2009)

Latin Grammy™ awards:

• Best Rock Album: Cafe Tacuba „Reves“ (2000)
• Best Rock Solo Vocal Album: Juanes „Fijate Bien“ (2001)
• Best Rock Solo Album: Juanes „Un Dia Normal“ (2003)
• Album of The Year: Juanes „Un Dia Normal“ (2003)
• Best Alternative Album: Café Tacuba „Cuatro Caminos“ (2004)
• Best Alternative Album: Ely Guerra „Hombres Invisible“ (2010)
• Best Instrumental Album: Bajofondo „Presente“ (2013)

In his decades-long career, he has also worked on projects outside of music production such as music supervision for film titles, studio system design and A&R consulting with major and independent labels.

November 23, 2019 | 13:00 – 14:30 | on-site

Srđan is a graduate lawyer, specializing in the field of intellectual property law, specifically – copyright. The choice of career and direction occurred due to a great love for creation, primarily music, which makes him a rare example of a lawyer narrowly profiled for legal issues over what the human mind produces during its work.

He spent years in the publishing company “Mascom” as a lawyer, where in cooperation with many creators from the territory of the Republic of Serbia, he worked on the constant enrichment of the domestic music catalog.

Srđan often appears at the Audio Forum conference for a simple reason – because it’s still not in our culture to “mist” our creative process with things we don’t like, love or that we find dragging. Therefore, the audience would approach Srđan’s lectures without much expectation but soon after we’d have difficulties getting him safely out of the building from the overwhelming onslaught of high-quality questions.

Of course, Srđan does not give any actual legal advice on Audio Forum, but surely provides information of great importance to everyone who, at least once in their life, has sung a melody that came to their mind out of thin air.

November 23, 2019 | 15:00 – 16:30 | on-site

Due to the abundance of world audio experts in areas such as sound design and music, we often miss the chance to discover what is hidden in the domestic circles. Such people usually have neither the need nor the reason to appear in public much, but we were lucky enough to meet Julijan Nikolić, who blew us away with his presentation.

Youlean Loudness Meter (YLM) is a VST plugin designed to measure the program and audio loudness level, created by Julian himself. Released in 2017, YLM has become one of the go-to tools for these purposes as it offers highly accurate measurement at a fraction of the cost of competing plugins.

Meanwhile, YLM through cooperation with a number of digital service providers (DSPs) such as Netflixand Spotify, YLM incorporated their own standards for measuring program loudness levels, making program mastering a much easier job than it has ever been.

As of 2022, Julian is part of various other projects in the area of audio product development.

November 23, 2019 | 17:00 – 18:30 | online

Skip is a film sound mixer based in New York at Warner Bros studios. He got an Oscar for „Gravity“ in 2013, when he also got two nominations in the same categories for „Inside Liewyn Davis“ and „Roma“. Before that, he was nominated for an Oscar three times: Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing for his work on „No Country for Old Men“ and 2011. in the same categories for „True Grit“.

A large number of other awards have been received by his works over the decades, and Skip’s portfolio itself is as lengthy as several good scrolls on IMDB.

Over the past decades, he has collaborated with some of the greatest film directors, including Martin Scorsese, Michael Moore, Darren Aronofsky, Alfonso Cuarón and very often with the Coen Brothers.

Since Dolby Atmos technology took root in many cinemas in the West, and even in the world, Skip worked together with the directors on the creative use of a large number of discrete channels with a specific configuration of speakers in the space. He is known as a contributor to important changes in the language of film, which stem from a rather creative approach to sound mixing.

November 23, 2019 | 20:00 – 21:30 | online

On the way to its goals, the Audio Forum has to deal with sound in the media from different aspects, not only from the production side. In order to even understand why and how audio professionals do their jobs, we need to address everything that makes up that job. Therefore, understanding the job of an actor, especially if they are voice acting alone, is crucial to the quality of the output of the sound design process.

Sumali Montano is an actress with an extremely extensive portfolio. You will notice that her roles are mainly in TV series and video games, which is very common for voice actors – it takes a special type of personality and professional engagement to handle such specific jobs. And of course, it only gets crazier if you were an investment banker in your “previous professional life”!

Known for her roles in these video games: Ghost of Tsushima, Return to Monkey Island, Star Wars serijalima, Anthem, World of Warcraft.

In the TV world, Sumali has appeared in titles such as: ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Spider Man, Star Trek: Picard, Star Wars Resistance, Kung Fu Panda, How to get Away With Murder, Transformers Prime.

November 24, 2019 | 13:00 – 16:00 | on-site

Dejan Todorović is the founder and CEO of Dirigent Acoustics, which, since 2007, has been dealing with issues of room acoustic design, noise protection, sound insulation, design and implementation of audio systems.

The work history of Dirigent Acousticsis based on successful projects of mapping and mitigating noise in public spaces, acoustic treatment of various interior spaces and designing audio systems within various business units. Some of the examples: New terminal building of the Nikola Tesla airport, Strategic noise mapping of major roads in Serbia,, Barriers for noise protection on the highway near block 28.

On the third, bonus day of Audio Forum 2019 at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Dejan held a workshop on measuring and calibrating sound pressure levels at the listening point in studio conditions for conference participants.

The visitors who had the strength to listen carefully learned how to properly handle the measuring apparatus and what principles to follow when calibrating the sound reproduction system.