As the year continues, many of these posts will be philosophical in nature. Some will be in contradiction to previous postings. These are not intended as truths or assertions, they’re merely thoughts…ideas. Think of this as stream of consciousness over a wide span… I'm continuing the "visual vs. sound analogs" stream this week. I feel confident in expecting that everyone … [Read more...]
Art of Surround
Acousmonium, INA-GRM, 1980. Photo by Laszlo Ruska. Surround (Oxford Dictionary) (verb) [with object] - Be all round (someone or something) (noun) - A thing that forms a border or edging around an object. (adjective) (Surrounding) - All around a particular place or thing. Based merely on a technological approach, one might think that Surround sound is just the … [Read more...]
Tonebenders Soundbytes – Will Files
The Tonebenders Podcast has just released another "Soundbytes" mini-podcast that ties into our "Surround" theme for this month. Give it a listen, and don't forget to subscribe to them on iTunes! … [Read more...]
Audio And VR
There’s been more VR content made in the past year than the last twenty combined, thanks to the emergence of the Oculus Rift, Sony’s Project Morpheus and other such virtual reality (VR) devices. There’s lots of innovation happening on the visual front, including new methods of gameplay, narrative structure and visual design. The obvious question: what’s happening on the audio … [Read more...]
In Search of a DIY Surround Panner
Last month my friend Marc Mailand was showing me around his home studio (which is super sweet). We were discussing his surround setup and mentioned needing a surround panner and how expensive they are. I noticed the PS3 controller sitting on his desk and wondered out loud: "There has got to be some sort of DIY solution using a game joystick as a surround panner". So when it … [Read more...]
Big Noise Go Boom: Bass Management and Your Subwoofer
Let’s talk about surround sound systems for a quick second, shall we? A modern surround sound system, in its simplest form, consists of six channels; Left, Center, Right, Left Surround, Right Surround, and the Low Frequency Effect channel. The first five channels are all fairly self-explanatory, denoting the location of the speaker itself and the channel’s … [Read more...]
DSDG – Noah With Craig Henighan and Coll Anderson
We'll be starting our web chat with Craig and Coll in just a few minutes! Head over to our Google+ page if you want to ask questions when we get to the Q&A. We had a great conversation, and the recording is now available, and remember that this and all of our other previous Designing Sound Discussion Group presentations are archived here. … [Read more...]