Mark Scott is VP, director of operations at Post Modern Sound, a Vancouver audio post-production house specializing in TV series and feature films. He writes about his company’s search for speed at this year’s show.

Every year, when the days become more light than darkness, I’m reminded that, no, it’s not time to dust off my glove and head for spring training or sail that first wicked breeze in the bay. No, it’s time to grab the travel-light suitcase, airline tickets, U.S. dollars (ouch!), a shortlist of questions, and join the throngs on the annual pilgrimage to the desert’s neon jewel for NAB. This is the event to which electronics geeks from 140 countries flock, quenching a yearlong thirst for the latest hardware and software, exchanging ideas and designs in the ever-expanding universe of multimedia arts and communications.

The progressive march of technology is like a massive winding river, encompassing everything from the space race to the micro laptop computer. And like it or not, we’re swept along with it daily, from our coffee makers to our cars, to the way we run our businesses and communicate with associates about everything from stock markets to global warming. Although NAB is primarily a show-and-tell venue for the broadcast and communications world, the same microchips and gadgets that drive it are woven into the very fabric of our lives.

I’m constantly amazed by how quickly we accept the speed of technology. In film and TV post sound production, although 35mm still holds the Oscar for most desirable capture medium, the technology of the computer-driven component is staggering in its complexity. We routinely shuttle files around our 35-room complex with 100 Base Ethernet interconnection, but it rapidly drags its feet under our growing data load. High atop my priority list for NAB this year is an affordable, practical local fiber-optic network enabling our editors, recordists and mixers to share virtually unlimited amounts of data and creativity at the speed of light (186,000 miles/second). Although fiber technology isn’t new this year, there will be fresh implementations at NAB2002, and I expect to find the software and hardware that perfectly meet my criteria.

Also in my ‘top five’ is higher-speed file transmission and compression software. We regularly use several types now, but in order to meet the growing pressure for post-production to serve clients simultaneously in all time zones without barriers and delays, (dare I say it again) we need more speed and throughput. Twenty-four to 48-hour delivery doesn’t cut it anymore. Sharing files via FTP started innocently enough with small batches, but almost overnight, megabytes blossomed into gigabytes, and waiting 30 to 40 minutes for a download is like watching paint dry. Somewhere at NAB2002 I’ll discover a software solution that says ‘point, click, and smile!’

The NAB virtual show runs at www.nab.org. Net surfers and would-be showgoers who waited too long to book airline tickets and hotel rooms can cybernavigate through this massive monster in a box. The site provides useful links and seemingly endless webcasting and datastreaming.

Although the economy has taken a kick in the pants lately and chequebooks will be held onto tighter than usual, who can resist the displays of all that technology, and its undaunted resolve to find a way into some part of our lives? It will pry hard-earned dollars from our well-guarded coffers. From signed orders to carry cases of info on gear you didn’t even know existed, no one leaves empty-handed.

There is nothing like being in Vegas in the spring. The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd! The best exhibitor private parties. The lure of the tables. Chatting with the bright mind that designed and built the Holy Grailware you’ve been seeking all your life. Quizzing the code programmer who wrote the program that will change your career forever.

New jokes. New buzzwords. New relationships and renewals of old ones. The straight you shouldn’t have bet on. NAB2002 is the forum.

-www.postmodernsound.com