[ATTACH=CONFIG]194537.vB5-legacyid=1333[/ATTACH][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=2]In a recent episode of “MythBusters” on Discovery Channel, show hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman worked with Meyer Sound to investigate whether the “big bangs”—specifically gunshots and explosions—heard in movie soundtracks are sonically faithful to the real events. The episode, entitled “Blow Your Own Sail,” was aired on May 11, 2011.
“MythBusters” often calls on Meyer Sound when it comes to investigating audio-related myths. The show, which features a team of special effects and science experts who put some of the most outrageous urban legends to the test, has turned to Meyer Sound to prove or debunk popular claims including the existence of the dreaded “Brown Note” and the ability of high-power subwoofers to set off a rifle. For the recent episode, Savage and Hyneman reunited with “Honorary MythBuster” and Meyer Sound Staff Scientist Roger Schwenke, with the goal to compare highly accurate, on-the-scene audio recordings to their Hollywood counterparts.
“Real gunshots and explosions are too loud to reproduce exactly in a theater and would damage people’s hearing,” says Schwenke. “So the question is: are movie sound effects simply the real sound played back at a safe level, or have they been changed in ways other than just level.”
To put explosive sounds under a sonic microscope, the team used gunshots both naked and as shrouded by silencers, a gasoline bomb, and a C4 explosive charge, with the assistance of audio equipment supplied by Meyer Sound. The recordings of actual gunshots and explosions were compared to movie soundtracks using Meyer Sound’s high-resolution Wild Tracks™ audio playback (32 bit floating point at 48 kHz), HD-1 studio monitors, and instrumentation microphones from Brüel & Kjær.
“We were dealing with extremely fast and loud transients, while real gunshots have extreme peaks of up to 165 dB,” adds Schwenke. “They were quite a challenge to record, but we were able to get all the data we needed to discern different sonic characteristics.”
Learn more about the “MythBusters” episode by visiting:
[url]http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-sounds-bogus-high-speed.html[/url]
[url]http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/[/url]
[B]ABOUT MEYER SOUND[/B]
Family owned and operated since 1979, Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc. designs and manufactures high-quality, self-powered sound reinforcement loudspeakers, digital audio systems, active acoustic systems, and sound measurement tools for the professional audio industry. Founded by John and Helen Meyer, the company has grown to become a leading worldwide supplier of systems for theaters, arenas, stadiums, theme parks, convention centers, houses of worship, and touring concert sound rental operations. Meyer Sound’s main office and manufacturing facility are located in Berkeley, California, with field offices and authorized distributors located throughout the USA and around the world. Meyer Sound is a registered trademark of Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
More information is available at Tel: +1 (510) 540-4509, Fax: +1 (510) 486-8356, email: [email][email protected] or by visiting www.meyersound.com.
Become a fan of Meyer Sound on Facebook: [url]http://www.facebook.com/meyersoundlabs[/url]
Follow Meyer Sound on Twitter: [url]http://twitter.com/meyersound[/url]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
