_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Jim Alfredson
-
Posts
12,732 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Everything posted by Jim Alfredson
-
I dunno; the writer failed to sway me. Even if what he writes is correct, his sneering tone makes me think his mind has preconceived notions. Take this for example: "The CD-quality standard—which Young and HRA proponents say isn't sufficient—wasn't adopted randomly. It's not a number plucked out of thin air. It's based on sampling theory and the actual limits of human hearing. To the human ear, audio sampled above 44.1 kHz/16-bit is inaudibly different." But I remember reading that within a few years of the CD's introduction, people thought 16-bit was inadequate. That's why even vinyl remasterings in the '90's touted 20- and 24-bit mastering. Yes, but that increased bit depth was in the mixing / production stage, not the final output stage. The bit depth of vinyl is essentially about 12bits if one were to convert vinyl specs into the digital world. Whenever you are processing digital audio it's always wise to use a higher bit-rate but for the final product 16bits gives you a theoretical 96db of dynamic range, which is more than enough for almost all music. Even the most dynamic orchestral recording usually has a swing of around 70db before the noise floor of the venue, the microphones, the preamps, and everything else starts to become a factor. A sample rate of 44.1kHz is also more than enough. I've done a lot of experiments. I even released a Blu-Ray version of my THEO album with stereo mixes in 24bit / 96kHz but honestly they don't sound any better than the 16bit / 44.1kHz mixes on the regular CD. As I mentioned in another thread, the low end on the 16bit mixes is a bit more "solidified" which is something 16bit does for some reason. It's not necessarily better, just slightly different. The cool part about the Blu-Ray is the surround mixes, imo. The argument that higher sampling rates result in more detail has never made any sense. It also goes against human physiology. Our ears can only hear up to 20kHz but most people don't even have that much upper end left. Most of us can only hear up to 16kHz or so due to hearing damage or simply age. Then there are the microphones that are used to capture the music. The majority of microphones drop off precipitously at 20kHz. Even some of the best only go to about 22kHz or so. There are a few measurement mics that go up to 30kHz but the majority of microphones in the average recording studio's mic locker do not capture much above 20kHz. Most dynamic mics, which are often used on drums, horns, and vocals, usually roll off steeply at 15kHz! And let's not forget the mic preamps that must amplify the minuscule electrical signal from the mic. They too are rarely linear beyond 20kHz... because why should they be? We can't hear that stuff anyway! And if the microphone isn't picking it up due to it's limitations and the preamp isn't amplifying it due to it's limitations, then how is it going to be on the recording? ESPECIALLY older, pre-digital recordings! The frequency response of even the best, well-maintained tape machine back then was barely over 25kHz. The upper frequency limit of 96kHz audio according to the Nyquist theorem is 48kHz. That's over twice what our ears can actually hear. For 192kHz it's 96kHz!!!! It's completely pointless. It would be like a TV manufacturer making a TV that can output colors in the ultraviolet and soft x-ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. I don't care how good your eyes are, you cannot trump the physical bandwidth of your senses!
-
How would you fare on a WAV to MP3 blindfold test?
Jim Alfredson replied to Hardbopjazz's topic in Audio Talk
Not at all. It's akin to learning about color theory in painting. If you don't know theory then you really don't know what you're looking at. Notice this has nothing to do with appreciation of the artwork in question, but rather understanding the analytical side of it. Likewise, there are cues to listen for in lossy compression formats; it's not about straining but about knowing where to 'look'. For example, lossless 16bit and 24bit sound remarkably similar but for some reason 16bit digital tends to solidify the bass in a certain way. But you don't really notice it unless you compare the two side by side. For lossy compression, it's really about the high-end. There's an 'air' and shimmer in the high end that is often times lost during conversion. But it depends on the quality of the algorithm. That said, for all intents and purposes 320kbps is very very good and damn near indistinguishable from 16bit wav. Check this plug-in out: http://www.sonnoxplugins.com/pub/plugins/products/codec/codectoolbox.html It allows the mix engineer to audition different codecs in real-time and then make mix decisions based on the results. It's a very handy tool that theoretically can be used to optimize the audio for the intended format. -
Thanks to David Jacques for posting this over at the Keyboard forum. What a great band.
-
"Popular Christian theology, on the other hand, renders this life less meaningful by anchoring all notions of value and purpose to a paradise somewhere in the future, in a place other than where we are right now. Ironically, my Christian upbringing taught me that ultimately this life doesn't matter, which tends to make believers apathetic about suffering and think that things will only get worse before God suddenly solves everything on the last day." http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/08/opinion/bel...
-
Is it any wonder that a civilization built upon the violence of patriarchy is systematically killing Mother Earth?
-
THEO - my new progressive rock project
Jim Alfredson replied to Jim Alfredson's topic in Miscellaneous Music
Thank you very much. Yes... The Lamb was a huge inspiration on my musical development. I lived and breathed that album my junior and senior years of high school. And I also agree that many paths were left unexplored in music and I've been attempting to discover them for years, including my work with organissimo. I posted a full song on YouTube so people can get a feel for the record. The video is also on Facebook via this link. If you click on that and SHARE it on FB, you're automatically entered to win a $100 gift card from Amazon. No strings attached, it's as easy as clicking "SHARE". The gift card will be given away on the date of release, which is Jan 27th, 2015. -
How would you fare on a WAV to MP3 blindfold test?
Jim Alfredson replied to Hardbopjazz's topic in Audio Talk
The test has to be very strictly controlled and set up. If there is anything more than a 0.5db difference in volume between the two samples, that will be perceived and could skew the results. Also, 320kbps sounds drastically different than 256kbps and is much, much harder to distinguish. The playback software must be taken into account as well. Some software is better at decoding mp3s than others. That said, there is a difference if you know where to listen. -
I just heard on the radio of a 90+ pile up on I94 near Kalamazoo. One of the vehicles involved is a semi hauling 40,000 lbs of fireworks. And it's now on fire. You just know there's gonna be some great cell phone footage of that!
-
So now I know: My Epson NX620 printer can print about 100 sheets of standard 11pt text in black before the black ink cartridge runs out. That's 16 cents per sheet (not counting the cost of paper). That's absolutely absurd. Fuck you, Epson.
-
Really bummed to hear that Camel Audio is closing its doors. Alchemy is probably the most prevalent synth on THEO after the Moog Voyager and the Alesis Andromeda. I'm pretty sure it's on every single track at least once. I love that soft-synth.
-
I posted this when it first appeared (Sept 2012) but it is again very expedient given the tragedy in Paris. http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/on-the-freedom-to-offend-an-imaginary-god
-
Yet another result of the push by the corporate sector to privatize public services. This is the post office I use almost every day and where my PO box is located. The workers are friendly and speedy. This decision makes no sense. I recently had to send two medium sized packages to Europe, each weighing less than 10 lbs. Both UPS and Fedex wanted over $160 each to ship them. The USPS delivered them for $30 each. When the USPS is gone due to our congress being in the pocket of big business,...
-
The popular use of industrial design in modern restaurants has been a thorn in my side for years. Or should I say a turbine in my ear? They are often so loud as to be uncomfortable and to make matters worse it's a cold, shrill loudness. Here's hoping more restaurants think about acoustics in the design phase. http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2015/01/05/two-east-bay-restaurants-take-unique-approach-to-noise/
-
Zora on cleaning the kitty litter: "Dad, if Hell exists, this is what it smells like."
-
Jon Anderson just emailed me the following about this song: "Great track, and production...excellent lyric...have fun making videos...great for dance...I love all the parts , very stage music...be well..Jon" http://youtu.be/BjKod2BqOB0
-
I'm really worried about my old kitty, Herman. He had a very strange episode about an hour ago where he wouldn't stop shaking his head and he was drooling. I petted him and got him to calm down and then he walked in circles and cried and didn't seem to know where he was or who I was. The poor guy... he's at least 17 years old (probably). I don't think he's going to last much longer.
-
6. The look and feel of CDs or computers can’t compete with vinyl, which can sound amazing for what it is. But there is no music lost “between the bits.” High quality digital formats are sonically superior to vinyl in every measurable way. http://numeralnine.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/a-brief-guide-to-audio-for-the-skeptical-consumer/
-
Here's some food for thought for today: The net worth of the six Walton heirs is $144 billion (that's billion with a "b"). The average pay for a Walmart employee is $8.81 per hour, or $15,500 per year. This is so low that it qualifies the majority of Walmart employees for SNAP (federal food assistance). And many use the program, to the tune of $6.2 billion in benefits every year, including SNAP, Medicaid, and subsidized housing. And get this... $13 billion of the $76 billion yearly SNAP benef...
-
I took the family to see my paternal grandmother today. She is 95, still smart as a whip, and the last familial connection to my late father. It was a very enjoyable visit and something I must do more often.
-
If you recall the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that recently passed here in Michigan, you'll notice that Indiana is doing the same thing. These bills are pre-packaged and sold to legislatures by a conservative corporate clearinghouse called ALEC. Most of the politicians pushing these bills have never even read them. It's CongloboCorp (from my album THEO) manifested; Government Made Easy! http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/04/exposing-alec-how-conservative-backed-state-laws...