Dec 18, 2023 03:17 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | How Things Work | How-to | History
Announcing the release of my new book "Push the
Right Buttons: A Practical Guide to Becoming and Succeeding as an Audio Engineer and Producer."
Read More...Oct 27, 2023 01:27 PM Filed in:
news | Did You Know? | nostalgia
There are sounds unique to both the hit show M*A*S*H and a real MASH unit during the Korean War. Read More...Jun 12, 2023 10:15 AM Filed in:
History | Did You Know?
The sounds of the original Star Trek show find a place in a strange new world.
Read More...Tags: History, Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, SFX, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Apr 27, 2023 01:54 PM Filed in:
Did You Know?
Think your hearing is good? That notion is destroyed when you find out about all of the other sounds you don't hear.
Read More...Tags: sound wave, infrasound, Ultrasound, Animals
Mar 29, 2023 10:12 AM Filed in:
Did You Know? | How Things Work | History
Reimagining performances in centuries-old spaces.
Read More...Tags: History, acoustics, Reverb, baroque, Recording
Jan 24, 2023 03:44 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | How Things WorkNov 30, 2022 04:21 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | History
Arthur Haddy may not a household name, but his achievements are. Haddy is considered by many to be the "father of hi-fi." He may single-handedly be responsible for some of the greatest consumer audio advancements of the late 20th century: High-fidelity recordings, Stereo LPs, and Cassette Dolby noise reduction.
Read More...Tags: LP, Record, Recording, History, Cassette, dolby, Noise reduction
Oct 31, 2022 10:53 AM Filed in:
Did You Know? | How Things Work
Hidden messages are everywhere in music, film, art, prose, and architecture. Do they manipulate us into doing things?
Read More...Tags: subliminal, supraliminal, Secret messages, Backmasking, The Beatles, Led Zepelin
Sep 27, 2022 11:56 AM Filed in:
History
The Golden Age for horror films was the 1930s, and not coincidentally when movies with sound began.
Read More...Tags: Vampire, Horror, Dracula, Bela Lugosi, Frankenstein, Silent film, Talkies, mummy, Creepy
May 20, 2022 05:43 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | History
As terrible as war is, it often brings scientific discoveries to the masses in peacetime. One such discovery from World War II is the Sound Fixing and Ranging channel, or SOFAR channel for short. It's not a TV channel, but an ocean channel. In 1944, geophysicist Maurice Ewing discovered a hidden horizontal oceanic layer about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) deep under the ocean's surface. It's sandwiched between warm, less salty and lighter upper waters, and cooler, more salty denser lower waters. What's unique about this layer is its ability to trap sound waves and channel them over vast distances.
Read More...Apr 18, 2022 07:03 PM Filed in:
History | Did You Know?
If we look back over the last 140 years of sound recording, it seems that formats come and formats...come back. I've written many times in these newsletters about nearly dead technologies that seemingly get resurrected out of nowhere, such as the vinyl record, the cassette, and AM radio. The younger generations are partly responsible for breathing new life into these old formats, but most stand on their own merits. Read More...Tags: Wax cylinder, Record, LP, Cassette, Vintage, Phonograph
Mar 08, 2022 11:25 AM Filed in:
Did You Know?
Today's farm is not at all like your grandfather's farm. It's a high-stakes business for farmers who expect high-yields. And what's driving up those yields? Technology. Since the Newcomen steam engine of the late 1700s, the agriculture industry has been progressively adopting new technology and science to feed the world. And now high-tech farming is getting even more high-tech. Farmers are using exciting new sound technologies and practices to coax more out of their crops, keep their livestock happy, and keep themselves safe.
Read More...Tags: Farm, Agriculture, Farming, Livestock, SmartHome, ioT
Jan 21, 2022 05:40 PM Filed in:
History | Did You Know?
PART I
The year '22 ushers in an exciting new technology. Here's what has been said about it:
"The newspaper that comes through your walls."
"Anyone with common sense can readily grasp the elementary principles and begin receiving at once."
"It will become as necessary as transportation. It will be communication personalized. There will be no limit to its use."
Read More...Tags: Radio
Dec 17, 2021 04:35 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | History
"Ding-dong, ding-dong
Ding-dong, ding-dong
Hark how the bells
Sweet silver bells
All seem to say
Throw cares away"
Peter Wilhousky / Mykola Leontovich
This time of year can be joyous, especially for holiday music lovers. Christmas tunes flow out of stores and TV sets, and holiday concerts fill December's weekends. But one carol, "Carol of the Bells," may be based on a centuries-old doom and gloom song.
Read More...Tags: music, Christmas, Bells, Ukraine, Peter J. Wilhousky, mykola Leontovych, Kiev, NBC, Dies irae, dorian mode, Carol, John Williams
Nov 17, 2021 04:25 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | How Things Work | History
"A hospital is no place to be sick."
Samuel Goldwyn
|
Getting hospitalized can be bad for your health. There's an old saying that patients can't wait to go home so they can get some rest. They're losing a lot of sleep for two reasons: the constant poking and prodding at all hours; and the overwhelming cacophony of sound.
Read More...Tags: Hospital, Health, sound level
Oct 21, 2021 04:43 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | History | How Things Work
Buford T. Justice: Breaker, breaker for the Bandit.
Bandit: Come on back, breaker.
Buford T. Justice: Bandit I got a smokey report for you. Come on!
Bandit: Well, talk to me good buddy.
Buford T. Justice: You got trouble comin...
Bandit: Well what's your handle son, and what's your twenty?
Buford T. Justice: My handle's Smokey Bear and I'm tail-grabbin yo ass right now!
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
Just when you thought CB radio was dead, the Federal Communication Commission passed a rule that might have every "Smokey and the Bandit" fan yearning for another sequel. The FCC is allowing FM transmission on CB radio!
Read More...Tags: CB Radio, Amateur radio, shortwave, History, Smokey and the Bandit
Sep 29, 2021 10:21 AM Filed in:
How Things Work | Did You Know?
Captain of the 'Weser': What's it like down there, in a submarine?
Der Leitende: It's... quiet.”
Das Boot, 1981
Submarines need to be stealthy...and quiet. New technology like acoustic cloaking is on the horizon.
Read More...Tags: submarines, Navy, sonar, Warfare, stealth, Ocean, Cloaking
Sep 13, 2021 11:15 AM Filed in:
History | How Things Work | Did You Know?
Mickey Mouse: Mr. Stokowski. Mr. Stokowski! Ha! My congratulations, sir.
Leopold Stokowski: Congratulations to you, Mickey.
Mickey Mouse: Gee, thanks. Well, so long. I'll be seein' ya!
Leopold Stokowski: Goodbye.
In 1940, before the world would be plunged into a half decade of devastating conflict, a larger-than-life cartoon creator teamed up with a wild-haired orchestra conductor and unleashed a fantastical film that would forever change the way we experience movies. The morning after the gala event at the Broadway Theater in New York City, The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther said, "The music comes not simply from the screen, but from everywhere; it is as if a hearer were in the midst of the music." Even with all the wondrous characters, vivid animation, and whimsical storytelling of this new film, it was the sound that stole the show.
Read More...Tags: Disney, surround sound, Fantasound, Cinema
Jul 23, 2021 04:09 PM Filed in:
Did You Know? | History
"There is no reason that function should not be beautiful. In fact beauty usually makes it more effective."
Spock
Function and beauty can coexist, especially in headphone design.
Read More...Tags: Headphones, sony walkman, Apple, AIrpods, Koss, shure
Jun 23, 2021 04:18 PM Filed in:
Did You Know?
"I hear the train a comin', it's rolling round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when."
Johnny Cash
"Folsom Prison Blues"
A train horn can be musical, loud and annoying, or even whimsical. But above all it's a communications device.
Read More...
