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Terms cont’d.

Learn about the relative loudness of sound and its measurement in decibels (dB SPL). Explore the concept of musical dynamics and the impact of compression on sound quality. Discover the Loudness Wars and its effect on audio production.

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Terms cont’d.

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  1. Terms cont’d. Dynamics

  2. Dynamics • Relative loudness or softness of a sound. • A trumpet soft is still louder than an acoustic guitar played loud!

  3. Decibel • A measurement of volume. • Not relative like musical dynamics, but objective.

  4. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Auditory threshold at 1 kHz • 0 dB

  5. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Light leaf rustling, calm breathing • 10 dB

  6. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Very calm room • 20 - 30 dB

  7. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Normal conversation at 1 m • 40 - 60 dB

  8. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Washing machine, dish washer • 50-53 dB

  9. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • TV (set at home level) at 1 m • approx. 60 dB

  10. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Handheld electric mixer • 65 dB

  11. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Passenger car at 10 m • 60 - 80 dB

  12. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Hearing damage (over long-term exposure, need not be continuous) • 85 dB

  13. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Traffic on a busy roadway at 10 m • 80 - 90 dB

  14. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Jack hammer at 1 m • approx. 100 dB

  15. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Jet engine at 100 m • 110 - 140 dB

  16. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Hearing damage (possible) • approx. 120 dB

  17. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Vuvuzela horn at 1 m • 120 dB

  18. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Threshold of pain • 130 dB

  19. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Jet engine at 30 m • 150 dB

  20. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • M1 Garand rifle being fired at 1 m • 168 dB

  21. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • .30-06 rifle being fired 1 m to shooter's side • 171 dB (peak)

  22. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Rocket launch equipment acoustic tests • ~165 dB

  23. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Stun grenades • 170 - 180 dB

  24. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Theoretical limit for undistorted sound at 1 atmosphere environmental pressure • ~194.094 dB

  25. SPL - Sound Pressure Level • Shockwave (distorted sound waves > 1 atm; waveform valleys are clipped at zero pressure) • >194 dB

  26. Musical Dynamics • Musical Dynamics • A piece of music may change in dynamic level throughout. • Live music is especially good for hearing dynamics. • Subtle variations in a performance by musicians, being sensitive to the sounds around them.

  27. Musical Dynamics • A recording on CD is also excellent for capturing dynamics, as the available dynamic range is far better than on other recording media (tapes, records, and other analog formats).

  28. Compression Radio and mp3 formats are not ideal for hearing dynamics. The recording is modified with Compression. Compression “squeezes” the dynamic levels, making loud sounds softer, and soft sounds louder.

  29. Compression

  30. Normalize • A way of modifying sound to “peak” at the maximum volume. • Analysis of a computer sound byte will display the current volume level, as well as show the maximum potential volume before distortion / clipping / overload.

  31. Normalize • Before After Add compression

  32. The Loudness Wars • The movement in audio recording and production that strives to get the most audio density into each recording. • Record a sound, compress it, normalize it, compress it, normalize it, compress it, etc. • Eliminates the distinction between loud and soft - everything is loud or “hot”.

  33. Loudness Wars • A recent (within the past 20 years or so) production technique to obtain more density from recorded audio. • The selected audio is compressed and normalized several times to even out the dynamic range, but enable the entire sample to be louder. • It is not only louder, but saturated with signal. • Each track is processed this way, and the resulting mix is very dense, and loud.

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