Deep Listening - Why Audio Quality Matters

Ok.


This is really heady stuff.
Here is a two and a half hour round table discussion on audio fidelity, set up by the Philoctetes Center (The Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination).

On the surface it seems to be a bunch of mastering engineers ragging on digital audio (and specifically MP3), but there are some great observations on the science of audio, and the business of production.


Participants: Steve Berkowitz, Greg Calbi (moderator), Evan Cornog, Michael Fremer, Kevin Killen, Craig Street
Deep Listening: Why Audio Quality Matters 


The irony of course is that the audio of the discussion is really poor...

Random Trivia Tidbit - Radio Waves vs Sound Waves

My Mom's a big ole trivia geek too...


She just sent this my way:

Because radio waves travel at 186,000 miles per second and
sound waves saunter at 700 miles per hour, a broadcast voice
can be heard sooner 13,000 miles away than it can be heard
at the back of the room in which it originated.

Neat!

Physicist's Gadget Lets You HEAR The Sound of a Perfect Golf Swing!

A new golf gadget developed by a Yale physics professor takes a different approach to golf training. Rather than focusing on the mechanics, the device literally allows players to "fine tune" the sound of their swings.

read more | digg story

The Sound That Shouldn't Be. Violinist Defies Physics?

Mari Kimura is a New York composer and virtuoso violinist whose music includes haunting low notes on the violin called “subharmonics.” Problem is, these sounds aren’t supposed to be possible.

If the science is anything similar to wind instruments, I used to hum through the back of my throat while playing the bass clarinet, and it would creating these warbling mid tones.

Click below to hear Mari's work.
read more | digg story

Acoustic Cloaking Device to be Made From Crystals

Now you hear me...

So this is following up on the theories of cloaking objects from the visible light spectrum, that if you can get acoustic energy to flow AROUND a structure, then the inside of that structure is essentially acoustically neutral.

BBC News has the scoop:

Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves.

The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships.

Darpa had a similar project running in 2007 to try and reduce acoustic energy from military vehicles, but I think this current project from Spanish researchers could prove more effective. It would also have more immediate consumer benefits (as well as more practical application for the Navy), though probably less effective for ground based vehicles.

Or maybe it would be too good. It might not be such a good idea to make a completely sound proof car...

Thanks for the link Jeff!

Do YOU have the perfect voice? Cuz I don't...

At least according to researcher Shannon Harris...

BBC News is reporting on a study, where the qualities of a person's voice (tone, frequency, rate of speech, breathing) can be charted to determine where one might fall on a pleasant scale. There are many objective qualities to be taken into consideration, but I'm not wholly surprised by this. Just as we generally determine physical beauty based on certain attributes, like symmetry, the idea that we can mathematically determine what frequency and pitch a voice should have to be considered "pleasing" isn't too far fetched to me.

So who did UK researchers pick as having "perfect" voices?

I have to say THIS did surprise me just a little. Apparently Alan "and cancel Christmas" Rickman has an ideal male voice. This is interesting to me, as I find his voice is a touch nasal, but I can't help but listen to every word he says, usually with rapt attention.


Which voice should women be aspiring to? Look no further than Dame Judi Dench!



BBC World News has a great little interview with researcher Shannon Harris. Cool stuff!

So what DO your muscles sound like?

An engineering student at Cornell decided to find out, and ultimately turned his whole body into a theremin like thing.

Check it out:


Thanks Giz!

PopSiren's Dr. Kiki explains how earbuds work

So, you should REALLY be watching PopSiren. I think it's one of Revision3's most ambitious shows yet (and Heather Frank is pretty bad ass). The show, hosted by Sarah Lane and Jessica Corbin, covers all manner of subjects from lifehacking to DIY, and Dr. Kiki covers a lot of "Mr. Wizard"- like topics (like making fire dance with sound waves).

In their most recent episode Dr. Kiki demonstrated how earbud headphones work. Being the A/V nerd that I am, how could I NOT be totally stoked. I've written about earbuds before, and was really happy to hear Dr. Kiki also warn her audience about the possible hearing damage associated with cheap earbuds.

Here's Episode 6 of PopSiren, but you should really subscribe to this show with something like Miro.
Enjoy!

someaudioguy some audio guy music voice over hearing headphones recording equipment voice acting demo production adr dubbing

The Science of Speech - 1913 Dictation Machine

This is about as steam punk as you can get.

In 1913 John B Flowers invented a machine that could convert speech to typed text.


IO9.com has a great write up of the invention, and it's limitations.

There were "serious limitations which must be considered" with Flowers's voice-operated typewriter, chief among them its inability to distinguish between homophones like "to," "too," and "two"...

Expanding on IO9's post, I found a paper published by Mr. Flowers in 1916. It's a dry read, but pretty incredible reading through his analysis of the human voice. With all of our fancy software algorithms and powerful computers, we're really not that much farther along.
If you're interested at all in the science behind how we make noise (recording engineers I'm looking in your general direction), then I would highly recommend reading through some of this. It's already given me some EQ ideas for my next demo production session.

You can read his paper at the link below:
Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers @ Google Books
The link should take you right to John B. Flowers' paper, but i it doesn't scroll down to page 213.

And here's IO9's post:
A Machine That Types What Is Spoken To It, 1913
someaudioguy some audio guy speech text dictation voice over production voice acting demo animation audiobook speech to text narration recording audio engineering
Picture Courtesy of io9.com

Rescuing Recorded Sound from Ravages of Time

This is just plain cool!
Scientists are using modern technology to archive the recordings off of older media. I wonder what our media's shelf life will be. I doubt CD's will really last beyond 30 years, and I wonder how long a harddrive can last inactive, let alone early wax cylinders which have lasted over 100 years.



Still it's fascinating work:

"These echoes of a bygone era were recorded on media such as wax
cylinders and shellac and lacquer discs. But many are now too fragile
to play in their original format; the pressure of a stylus or
phonograph needle could cause irreversible damage. Others are too
broken, worn or scratched to yield high-quality sound. The archivists
needed a means to preserve the recordings without injuring them further.

A physicist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Haber
was developing subatomic particle detectors to be used at CERN in
Geneva, Switzerland. This involved using digital cameras and robots to
place each delicate detector in precisely the right place. In a flash
of insight, Haber realized that an optical scanning system could solve
the Library's quandary."

Read the rest @ huliq

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