Music, Audio, Instruments, and Sound

Hearing Audio Frequency at 20 kHz

I read quite a few “experts” here with the absolute, unequivocal statement that nobody can hear about 20KHz. First, the human ear is an analog system. There is no 20KHz “cutoff” beyond which nobody can hear. Everyone has a curve of decreasing perception and some point where the curve falls below the level of perception. The 20Khz frequency cited was chosen for two reasons:
1) the vast majority of people cannot hear anything above that frequency (note that I did not say all) and
2) it’s a nice round number. …

Audio, Reader Submission

Audio Encoding

This was a very good test. You, sir, picked a very good song for this test (in the sense that it’s very hard to tell the difference). It took me several listenings to pick out the correct one (which i did manage).
Now i want to point out a few things here.
First of all, you didn’t specify how the encoding was done and with which encoder. You see, 128 kbit MP3′s are typically ALWAYS encoded in Joint Stereo by most modern encoders, while 320 kbit MP3′s can often vary between normal …

Audio, Reader Submission

Contest for Creative Sound Enthusiasts

How exactly does one go about putting together sounds to portray ideas not inherently suited for the medium? For example, what sounds portray the color red or “the birth of an idea”? If you’re the creative type and up for the challenge, take a look at the following sound challenge:
Vancouver Film School is teaming up with SoundCloud to create a contest for creative sound enthusiasts. The Full Scholarship Challenge offers the winner a full-tuition scholarship for Vancouver Film School’s one-year Sound Design for Visual Media program. Open globally to all …

Audio

Clutch – only Album using Digital Recording

A year and a half ago, I bought Clutch’s Blast Tyrant album on CD. Immediately, something seemed…off. I am still new to the audio nerd scene, and was newer then, and I could not place the weirdness.
Later, I read a couple articles in Guitar World about recording music – especially hard rock and metal – and the author discussed mixing and mastering. Also, in reading up on the loudness wars, I became more and more attuned to the concept of over-compression. As I listened to Blast Tyrant more, it seemed …

Commentary, Featured Bands, Music Production, Reader Submission

Digital Audio Quality – Vinyl LP Forever

I used to think that audio files were basically a collection of snapshots of a spectrum analyzer with various frequencies at various levels. Then I realized, That isn’t how audio works!
On any given track, all the various frequencies superimpose to have a single oscillating voltage. Think about it: if you have only two frequencies – a very low bass and a high-mid, for example – the speaker will be movinng roughly slowly, but if you zoom in, it is oscillating to the frequency of the higher frequency even as the …

Audio