Sine Language

This week, Ernie wrote in to follow up on last episode’s e-mail. Rob wrote to me to thank me for an e-mail I’d sent him a couple of weeks back. He also included a link to this Italian song, which is pure gibberish intended to sound like English. And then it’s on to another Dissection. … Continue reading "Episode 160 – Manga-inspired audio"

This week, Ernie wrote asking about gain staging. And Steve wrote to say: a) he loved the Dissection (that’s good… there’s another on this ep!), b) like Rob, he also hated the Pono, and c) to ask my opinion on what’s driving the renewed interest in vinyl. Rob also wrote to say he was impressed … Continue reading "Episode 159 – Gain staging"

This week, Rob wrote to discuss the high fidelity audio needs (or lack thereof) of the smartphone media-consuming market. And I introduce a new segment to the podcast called The Dissection. If you find this of value, let me know. Each episode, I will take a commercial I’ve made, and pull it apart, let you … Continue reading "Episode 158 – The initial Dissection"

This week, Izotope has set up a training ground for audio engineers called the Pro Audio Essentials. Even as a 30 year veteran of this stuff, it makes for a good refresher/reality check! I highly recommend you check it out if you are interested in any form of recording or mixing. Rob weighs in with … Continue reading "Episode 157 – The value of music"

This episode, a little late now, but still worth a read… Rupert Neve’s touching tribute to Sir George Martin. I get on my soapbox about the (in my opinion) incorrectly-referred-to “phase switch”. This week, I was alerted to this unbelievably amazing video, which you need know nothing about. Just click the freakin’ link and be … Continue reading "Episode 156 – The benefits of distortion"

This week, a company called Nervana plan to bring you some headphones which will promote the release of dopamine in the body, whilst you’re enjoying your toons. Some guy with waaaay too much time on his hands built this amazing hand-cranked marble-powered music machine, which he calls the Wintergaten. Mobile phone manufacturer HTC in conjunction … Continue reading "Episode 155 – From Nervana to MQA"

This week, I had a follow up e-mail from Ernie re: location recording for his video naturescapes, Rob wrote another epic titled “False Surround Dictatorships” about the disparity between the R&D dollars spent on 3D video as opposed to any kind of 3D audio (links at the end of this post), Steve Hope asked the … Continue reading "Episode 154 – False Surround Dictatorships"

Happy New Year! This week, I came across this blog post, highlighting the 50 best free VST plugins of 2015. Along the way, I talked about the plugin Ambience from smartelectronix. One of the best algorithm-based reverbs I’ve come across (not that I use them much these days; I mostly stick to convolution reverbs). Plus … Continue reading "Episode 153 – Who’s responsible for the Loudness War?"

This week, a “just-in-time” e-mail from Rob Bettla reveals his difficulties with deciphering Aussie slang, his interpretation of the sound of a piece of 4″x2″ (via his soundcloud account), the Japanese engineer with a few patents to his name, including how to make speaker cones out of wood (see the pic), and the Top 25 … Continue reading "Episode 152 – Compressor design topologies"

This week, I answer a couple of e-mails from both Rob Bettla and Greg Anderson, regarding the move to audio for motion picture. I WAS going to cover the compression discussion as well, but decided at the end that I’d leave it until the next episode. Comments will be closed after 30 days. Love the … Continue reading "Episode 151 – Questions about ‘audio for motion picture’"

This week, iZotope is teasing the forthcoming release of Ozone 7, plus RX5 (their awesome noise reduction suite) is out now. Ever wondered what a close-up view of a needle tracking on a piece of vinyl might look like? Well,  wonder no more! Interestingly, during this video, the guy talks about a format I’d not … Continue reading "Episode 150 – Working on a movie"

This week, Rob Bettla sent me a link to an interesting product designed to augment our audio reality in real time. You can see the company website or their promo video. The quote I was trying to remember was from Benjamin Franklin… “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, … Continue reading "Episode 149 – Learning new stuff"

I have seen, over the last week or two, a couple of different references to an issue which pivots on the holy trinity of Windows 10, FAT32-formatted removable media, and files with a .wav extension. One instance was at Pro Tools Expert, and the other was at Sound-on-Sound. Seems that the issue is not affecting … Continue reading "Episode 148 – Stoic audio donkeys"

This week, I’ve just returned from a 3 week holiday in Borneo (photos are here if you’re interested). While I was there, I had a couple of interesting acoustic experiences which I ended up recording on my trusty little Tascam DR-05 handheld recorder. After I recorded the podcast, I got an e-mail back from Gunung … Continue reading "Episode 147 – The sounds of Borneo"

This week, the reasons behind the month-long break, further discussion on the pyramids, dimensions of the King’s Chamber, musical acoustics, the speed of sound, the Golden Ratio in music, part 4 of Rob’s epic e-mail concerning binaural recording and playback, the video that Rob referenced from The Verge, a discussion on the use of binaural … Continue reading "Episode 146 – Zombie binaural ears & ASMR fetish tribes"

Apologies for the late post. This whole Easter thing has got my days all mixed up! This week, Alan Blumlein honoured (somewhat belatedly) for his contributions to audio and various technologies. To this day, the Blumlein Pair is still my favourite mode for recording stereo. So, think you can tell the difference between 16 bit … Continue reading "Episode 145 – Our unbearable incredulity about the future"

This week, I start off with an apology re: the sound of the last episode, why it happened, and what I’ve done to fix it. Steve Hope sent me off to look at Jaguar Audio Design, I saw a musical instrument project on Kickstarter which I thought was an interesting twist on a few different … Continue reading "Episode 144 – The Toy on Stage Effect"

This week, Bill Vencil wrote to tell us about his tape vs digital shootout. The videos he put together are available right here. Did you hear the one about the guy who placed his iPhone inside an acoustic guitar body and shot video of the resonance of the strings? No? Well, check out the cool … Continue reading "Episode 143 – Speech-to-text conversion"

This week, fun and games on two wheels. Feedback on episode 141 from Rowan Matthews, who mentioned Cloudlifters, a DIY kit from Seventh Circle Audio called the J99, and the Warm Audio WA76 compressor/limiter. Karel Weis chimed in about voiceover recording and wanted to know my approach. This was the image that Karel sent me … Continue reading "Episode 142 – Voice recording, and hi-res mobile audio"

I’m baaaaack! This week, re-launch #2, why re-launch #1 failed, my plans for SL and recording projects in 2015, gear lust, and the yumminess of analogue hardware. Some of the gear I’m talking about it this episode: AEA R84 AEA TRP AEA RPQ API 5500 Safe Sound Audio Dynamics Toolbox (discontinued) Focusrite VoiceMaster Pro (discontinued) Drawmer 1960 … Continue reading "Episode 141 – The state of play"