Student Delegate Assembly

Oddy Litlabo

BFA Sound Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Eastern US & Canada
SDA Newsletter Editor

Oddy Litlabo grew up in the small town of Sogndal, Norway where his passion for sonic storytelling began. He came from a performance background, however, during his first year at college he discovered the wonders of sound design for visual media, immersive reality and theatre. After designing his first binaural experience, Oddy had fallen in love with immersive audio and sonic storytelling. He finished his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sound Design at SCAD in the Spring of 2022, and is now working as an Assistant Mixer at Heard City in New York, NY.

Oddy was introduced to the Audio Engineering Society at Savannah College of Art & Design. After participating in his first AES Show, Oddy went on to found SCAD’s first student section. Oddy has done sound supervision, mixing and/or editorial for film, tv, motion media, advertising, immersive audio works and virtual reality experiences. His work has received the Silver Award in the AES Student Recording Competition, a Student Emmy Award, and finalist nominations in the Rookies and the AIXR International VR Awards 2022.

Outside of work, Oddy enjoys hiking and working out, learning about immersive audio, and developing experimental, devised theatre.

Carla Herrán 

Vice Chair

Student Delegate – Latin America (Mexico)

Sala de Audio (MEX) – B.M. Sound Reinforcement

Carla Herrán is a Mexico City Student, specialized in sound reinforcement, and has been an active AES Member since 2018, when she began her Audio studies at Sala de Audio, in Mexico City. Her activities in the AES student section have helped her further engage in her passion for live audio and sound system design, fomented by her school teachers and mentors, for which she feels very grateful. 

She has been part of student projects and events, like the CONTEO a AES LAC and the Student Podcast Latinamerica (SPL), collaborating in conjunction with students of the continent. In addition to other projects, she manages Student’s LATAM social media account, which binds student sections together and encourages participation. 

These activities in collaboration with AES LATAM have been an opening door to new experiences, having the opportunity to give online conferences about the “History and Evolution of Sound Reinforcement Speaker Systems”, for the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Puebla, and for the CONTEO AES LAC 2021, all events created for and by students from all of Latin America. During her time in college, she began working with Japanese musicians in cultural festivals in Mexico, allowing her to constantly develop the audio skills learned at school. 

Carla likes to learn new languages, taste food from other countries, watch movies with her dog, and take long walks while listening to music.

Daniela Pardo Quintana

SDA Chair – US Eastern Region

M.M. McGill University, Canada

Daniela Pardo Quintana is a Colombian audio engineer and pianist from Colombia. She received her B.Mus in Music, emphasis in Audio Engineering in 2018 at Javeriana University (COL) and her M.Mus in Sound Recording in 2022 at McGill University (CA). 

AES Member since 2017. She has 8 prizes in the Student Recording Competitions: 2 Nationals: Colombia 2017, Mexico 2018. 3 Latin Americans: Uruguay 2018, Brasil 2020, Colombia 2021 and 3 Worldwide: Vienna 2020, Las Vegas 2021, and New York 2021. She has been granted the AES Educational Foundation Scholarship in 2020 and COLFUTURO for academic and professional excellence 2020. 

She has had the pleasure to work with different artists in a wide range of musical genres included: Royal Chamber Concertgebouw Orchestra, Canadian Brass, Achilles Liarmakopoulos, Trío Nueva Colombia, Isatis Trio, El Cuatro, Grupo Putumayo and the Bogotá Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra as audio editor, producer, recording and mixing engineer. She worked as the the Concert Recording Facilitator at Schulich School of Music at McGill University, working in webcasts, recordings and live sound.

Daniela is currently the chair of the SDA and works at Recording Arts Canada (RAC) teaching studio production techniques, sound design and signal processing.

Lara Villanueva

MA Audio Sciences, Peabody Conservatory

SDA Secretary – Eastern US & Canada 

Lara Villanueva is a Maryland-based audio engineer and multi-instrumental musician known for her resourcefulness and attention to detail.  Originally from the northern suburbs of New York City, Lara currently is in her last year out of five at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University for her bachelor’s degrees in Bassoon Performance and Recording Arts and Sciences, and her master’s degree in Audio Sciences – Acoustics.  

Music and physics are two sides of the same coin, and Lara has always been intrigued by the relationship of sound with spaces. She has worked in a variety of audio environments ranging from studio and location recordings to sound reinforcement, and across genres from classical and orchestral, to jazz and pop. Some organizations and projects that she has worked for are the Verbier Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, zFestival, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass, and various freelance projects.  She is the proud recipient of the 2022-2023 Audio Engineering Society’s Dr. Christian Heil Future of Sound Scholarship by L-Acoustics.  Outside of audio, she also works in video, livestreaming orchestral concerts and freelancing as a video editor.

When not doing audio-visual work, she enjoys reading, rock climbing, crocheting and spending time with friends and family.

Liam Knoll

BA Audio Technology, Capital University

SDA Communications – Central US & Canada

Liam Knoll is from Naperville, Illinois. Falling in love with recording through streaming and composition for six years. Graduating from Recording Workshop’s Core and Advanced programs and transferring to Capital University’s Audio Technology program, receiving a B.A. in May 2022. Constantly looking for the opportunity to challenge himself and his peers, Liam’s passion shines in the two years dedicated to his student chapter as the executive chair. Establishing a culture of collaboration and exploration. 

Post-graduation, Liam is looking to work in audio production recording artists, composing, and providing audio work for short film.

GianlucaGrazioli

Europe, PhD Music Technology, McGill
SDA Newsletter Editor

Gianluca Grazioli (BEng in Electronic Engineering, MSc in Music Technology) is an acoustician, a doctoral candidate in Sound Recording at McGill University, and Cirmmt-member based in Montréal, Canada. He received a Graduate Excellence Fellowship from McGill University and a scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) for his research in Virtual Acoustics, Immersive Audio, and Musical Performance. He co-founded AuralTech, recipient of a European Grant with the project “ArcheoEchi”, a VR and acoustical reconstruction of an archaeological site in Southern Italy. In 2020, he presented “ArcheoEchi” as E-brief at the 149th AES conference, which received a particular mention from the AES Technical Writer Francis Rumsey, and in 2021 as a VR documentary at the Civic Museum of Foggia (IT). In 2021 he worked at “Listen to the Theater”, a VR experience based on the Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino, along with the University of Florence and Tempo Reale. He also freelances as a studio engineer, composer for commercials, and producer. AES Member since 2016, he won 1st place in the Mixing Competition at the “Up Your Output!” AES student conference that took place in the same year at the University of York, UK.

Manuel Nino

UDLA (ECU) Sound and Acoustic Engineering
SDA Event Coordinator, Latin America

Manuel Niño, recently graduated in Sound and Acoustic engineering at Universidad De Las Américas in Quito, Ecuador. He has studied piano at the conservatory, Franz Liszt, for two years and a half. He has a diploma in music composition for films and audiovisual productions from CIBEF. He has been part of AES since 2019. He was part of the UDLA’s student section board in 2020- 2021. Volunteer for the national convention that took place in May 2021. Worked as an editor and mixing engineer for the Latin-American student’s podcast. He won bronce at the AES Europe spring 2022 convention, and gold at the AES LAC 2022, both in the category of sound for visual media. Since the beginning of his career, he has been involved in the audiovisual production industry, working for companies like Kurz.ec, Vacila Films and Touché Films, doing projects as short films, youtube content, and Spotify original’s podcasts. Also, working as a sound engineer for a broadcast company for one year. He has been part of a learning and academic support program at UDLA, mainly teaching physics and calculus. He played zapoña- malta at the assemble: “Ensamble del Viento”, which is dedicated to exploring antique Andean music in a contemporary style. Currently, he is studying a business administration diploma at ILAC international college in Toronto, CA.

Bartłomiej Chojnacki

SDA Chair – Europe & International Regions

Bartlomiej Chojnacki is a PhD student in Acoustics at AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland. He recieved bachelor’s of science degree in Acoustic engineering in 2017 and master’s in on Noise and Vibration Engineering , leading both scientific and industrial career in many student and professional organisations. AES Member since 2014. Active member of student societies, awarded three times with awards on Student Design Competitions (Silver in Paris 2016, silver in New York 2017, gold in Milan 2018). Localy member of Scientific Clubs, organizes scientific conferences and professional meetings in whole country with different range. Author of over 20 scientific publications, including 4 from the AES library. From 2017 he is a Sectretary of the Central Board in AES Polish Section. Professionaly working in music industry for two years as an Acoustic Designer and Operational Director of Mega-Acoustic company, Polish producer of the room acoustic treatment products, develop his skills in working with people, managment and administrations. Former Audio Research Intern in Facebook Reality Labs, Redmond, WA.