Awesome idea for sound project

[Jesper Tjørnelund]

Hi guys!

I'm attending 4th semester of something called "Medialogy", at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark right now and I am in need of a muse

The theme of this semester is sound and the way we are doing projects is by a problem-solving approach (or problem based learning). So what I'm asking of you guys, is to share any problems you've encountered when working with sound or just good ideas for creating something interesting and cool.
We're not aiming at saving the world so the problem can be almost non-existing and unoriginal, such as:
"How is it possible to create a piece of art that reacts to changes in sound?"

Almost anything goes, but it has to have some substance, in order to built up an academic project around it.
I hope my explanation of what I'm looking for is sufficient. I could go about posting guidelines for the 4th semester of my study, but I do not want to kill you guys of boredom.

Thanks in advance!

Best regards
Jesper Tjørnelund

 

[Chris Nixon]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

This may give you some ideas, though it may not be as directly sound based as what you have to do.

Social Media and Live Sound: Do Ya Like It? | SPLnetwork.com

Chris

 

[Karl Winkler]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

Here's an idea for you. One problem we face as sound "pros" is the difference between our (educated - hopefully) perception of sound vs. what the audience (uneducated) hears. An example: you are mixing sound at the console and someone from the audience comes up and says "there's too much bass". You don't hear it that way (otherwise you would have fixed it already) What do you do?

 

[David Karol]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

What do you do?

You switch to an empty layer and push a fader to it's max

 

[Ivan Beaver]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

Here's an idea for you. One problem we face as sound "pros" is the difference between our (educated - hopefully) perception of sound vs. what the audience (uneducated) hears. An example: you are mixing sound at the console and someone from the audience comes up and says "there's too much bass". You don't hear it that way (otherwise you would have fixed it already) What do you do?

You tell that guy to swap seats with the guy who says there is not enough bass---------------------------------------

 

[Ivan Beaver]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

You switch to an empty layer and push a fader to it's max

When people say it is to loud I would grab a fader that was turned up but had no signal-and turn it down.

most of the time that works-because they "thought" you did something for them.

Either that or they give up-thinking you are an idiot. Fine-as long as they aren't the one writing the check.

 

[John Roberts]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

Make a device that can tell when musicians play or sing a wrong note, then gives them a shock.

JR

 

[mark anderson]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

I saw an article about the work someone put in on coming up with a sound for an electric car. Apparently they are too quiet and accidents are a concern. The sound they came up with was just as annoying as a real car. It might be a fun problem.

 

[Mike Diack]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

A Maxwell Smart style cone of silence projector that can, from a distance, mute the DOOF DOOF DOOF sound of boy racer car stereos (or is that an RPG?)
M

 

[Rob Timmerman]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

A Maxwell Smart style cone of silence projector that can, from a distance, mute the DOOF DOOF DOOF sound of boy racer car stereos (or is that an RPG?)
M

Something like this?

 

[Karl Winkler]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

When people say it is to loud I would grab a fader that was turned up but had no signal-and turn it down.

most of the time that works-because they "thought" you did something for them.

Either that or they give up-thinking you are an idiot. Fine-as long as they aren't the one writing the check.

Yep - that's pretty much what I used to do. I had an empty fader on the console and swapped a red fader knob from the master channel onto it and wrote "VOLUME" on the label. Worked most of the time...

 

[Frederik Rosenkjær]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

Don't know if this is the sort of problem you are looking for, but lately I have been wondering about:

The human hearing, as we all know, has a sensitivity that peaks somewhere around 2-4 kHz, so we could hear the leaves rustling when the saber tooth tiger was lurking nearby. This rise in sensitivity comes partly from the shape and size of our ear canals which resonate at a certain frequency thereabout.

But - since we have different ear canals we must also have different peak frequencies in these sensitivity curves, from person to person. This would also explain why I often find that some other techs aren't bothered by the 2.5 kHz that really stings in my ear, but instead talk about a 3.5 or 4 kHz that virtually never bother me.

This means that we might never hear the same thing, and if my ear canals are very different from those of the FOH tech of the day, I'll have to suffer through a concert of ice pick to the forehead ("I" being any concertgoer out there). So that got me thinking - maybe, if all this is true, one possible solution could be "standard ear canal" in the form of a custom molded ear plug without filters in them but with a standardized hole through. Then the FOH guy could use those while mixing and any serious concertgoer could have a set made. Then the venue could have signs saying "Tonight's concert uses SEC (Standard Ear Canal)" or some other fancy three-letter acronym, and everyone would be a step closer to hearing the same thing?

...I don't know...

But there could be lots of things to study about this: What frequencies do different people find uncomfortable at what levels? How much does this differ from person to person? Could this be measured taking the earcanal out of the picture somehow, to see how much effect this really has? etc...

 

[John Roberts]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

Don't know if this is the sort of problem you are looking for, but lately I have been wondering about:

The human hearing, as we all know, has a sensitivity that peaks somewhere around 2-4 kHz, so we could hear the leaves rustling when the saber tooth tiger was lurking nearby. This rise in sensitivity comes partly from the shape and size of our ear canals which resonate at a certain frequency thereabout.

Not to put too fine a point on this... human hearing sensitivity logically evolved to match the output range of human speech. Perhaps preferentially to babies frequency range, which is why crying babies are so annoying to us. Our adaption to localize sabre toothed tigers would be our sensitivity to differences in arrival time for transient sounds between ears.

But - since we have different ear canals we must also have different peak frequencies in these sensitivity curves, from person to person. This would also explain why I often find that some other techs aren't bothered by the 2.5 kHz that really stings in my ear, but instead talk about a 3.5 or 4 kHz that virtually never bother me.

I am not aware significant differences in sensitivity between individuals, other than experience based losses.

The outer ear differences will alter pinnae transforms (comb filtering), but this seems like something we would learn and adjust for as they change while we grow.

This means that we might never hear the same thing, and if my ear canals are very different from those of the FOH tech of the day, I'll have to suffer through a concert of ice pick to the forehead ("I" being any concertgoer out there). So that got me thinking - maybe, if all this is true, one possible solution could be "standard ear canal" in the form of a custom molded ear plug without filters in them but with a standardized hole through. Then the FOH guy could use those while mixing and any serious concertgoer could have a set made. Then the venue could have signs saying "Tonight's concert uses SEC (Standard Ear Canal)" or some other fancy three-letter acronym, and everyone would be a step closer to hearing the same thing?

...I don't know...

But there could be lots of things to study about this: What frequencies do different people find uncomfortable at what levels? How much does this differ from person to person? Could this be measured taking the earcanal out of the picture somehow, to see how much effect this really has? etc...

Perhaps sound system operators should be required to have acceptably undamaged hearing frequency response, and be kept away from the faders if they don't hear sounds as loud as the audience. Another consideration, some music sounds annoying at any volume.

JR

 

[Frederik Rosenkjær]

Re: Awesome idea for sound project

I am not aware significant differences in sensitivity between individuals, other than experience based losses.

Perhaps sound system operators should be required to have acceptably undamaged hearing frequency response, and be kept away from the faders if they don't hear sounds as loud as the audience. Another consideration, some music sounds annoying at any volume.

JR

I've noticed it many times, as mentioned. That one frequency that's hurting one person is not hurting the other and vice versa with other frequencies. And not just with myself as one of the individuals. To me it seems as a plausible explanation. Otherwise I am at a loss in explaining how so many esteemed colleagues cannot hear how painful their, otherwise good, mix sometimes is. Am I alone with this feeling?

I've heard many times from quite highly regarded sources that the ear canal is causing resonances in this area, and when you look at the differences (easy to see when looking at custom molds) - they must sound quite different. I know the ear (brain) can adjust to almost anything, but maybe there could still be some kind of "non linear" behaviour to this (when coupled with the inner ear) that it does not compensate for when things get loud? Seems like a worthy subject to study at least.