Resources

There is an interesting resource that shows the DR meter readings (DR stands for “Dynamic Range”) for loads of albums. The database was put together to educate people more about the loudness wars. Check it out here: http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/ It is arguable whether the DR type reading is still the best option now that LUFS and … Read more Dynamic Range Database

There is a pretty cool library of Creative Commons Impulse Responses maintained online by The University of York: http://www.openairlib.net/ Most of the impulses are shared with the Creative Commons Attribution and Share Alike license. Attributing credit when using an impulse response in a commercial project is rarely practical, but this resource is very useful nonetheless … Read more Impulse Responses

There are a bunch of interesting audio illusions that people can try. A couple of the main ones are binaural beats and the shepard tone. Binaural beats have a few uses including therapy, although they can also be harmful and cause fits in people who suffer from epilepsy apparently. Two tones are played that are … Read more Audio Illusions

I’ve had to do a bit of VO (voice over) recording and editing for some games lately that will end up as apps for iPads etc. The work has got me thinking about levels again, and what is the right “standard” to use. Unfortunately there isn’t really a proper standard to adhere to as such, … Read more Mixing levels for mobile devices

There is an interesting article that I recently came back across (it was written over 5 years ago) about sensible recording levels and the use of VU style metering when recording here: http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/index_files/Proper_Audio_Recording_Levels.php The crux of it is that it is much more important to your sounds to work with your analogue gear (preamps mostly) … Read more Proper Recording Levels

I’ve had a bit of a play with ambisonics since I picked up an Oktava 4D surround microphone for toying around with. I really got the mic to do some surround atmos recordings but occasionally it lets me down as it seems to be very prone to getting condensation in the capsules which cause noise. … Read more Some Ambisonic Resources

Here’s another resource I’ve been digging lately. Just catching up on episodes of Tonebenders podcast: http://www.tonebenders.net/ It covers sound design and field recording discussion and has some interesting guests and reviews.

Duncan from Infidel Studios put me on to some interesting reading about speakers from Australian speaker designer Ralph Waters. Some interesting reading for audio types: http://www.homeentertainment.com.au/speakers.html