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A Sound Education

Push the Right Buttons BOOK RELEASE

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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...

The Sounds of M*A*S*H

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There are sounds unique to both the hit show M*A*S*H and a real MASH unit during the Korean War. Read More...

Strange New Worlds

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The sounds of the original Star Trek show find a place in a strange new world.

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All The Sounds You Never Hear

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Think your hearing is good? That notion is destroyed when you find out about all of the other sounds you don't hear.

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Acoustic Archeology

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Reimagining performances in centuries-old spaces. Read More...

Noise Reduction

Noise Pollution

Noise Pollution Solutions Read More...

The Father of Hi-Fi

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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...

Pssst!

Pssst

Hidden messages are everywhere in music, film, art, prose, and architecture. Do they manipulate us into doing things? Read More...

Thnkgs That Go Bump In the Night

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The Golden Age for horror films was the 1930s, and not coincidentally when movies with sound began. Read More...

SOFAR So Good

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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.

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Is the Wax Cylinder the Next Big Thing?

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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...

Sound Farming

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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...

What's New in '22!

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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."

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Requiem of the Bells

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"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.

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Sick and Tired of Sound

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"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.


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When Old is Old Again

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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!

Though not in the forefront of the American conscience anymore, Citizens Band radio has been around since 1945. Twenty-three channels (later 40) were carved out of the 11 meter shortwave band between broadcast AM radio and old-school VHF television. From the beginning, CB radios transmitted by amplitude modulation (AM), which was more economical and common than frequency-modulation (FM) in the 1940s.

At the height of its popularity in the 1970s and 80s, the CB craze was everywhere: TV, movies, music, and magazines. Millions of radios were sold and everyone seemed to have one in their home or car (including our family). Even new cars like the Pontiac Trans Am (the one the Bandit drove) could be ordered with an AM-FM-CB radio. Back then, this instant communication with people in your community was almost parallel to today's social networks, except way more civil. But after a while most folks burned out on it and left the airwaves to the truckers. Go to ten yard sales on any given Saturday and you'll find at least one dusty old CB radio for sale.

What killed CB radio? Crowded airways, boredom, static and noisy transmissions, and eventually mobile phones and the internet. Truckers, farmers, hikers, trail riders, and some businesses continued to use CBs because of the economical way to have short-range communications. Sure they have a squelch feature to block out background static, but they've always been limited in range from power restrictions and susceptible to noise from auto engines, power lines, and atmospheric interference.

In the mid 1990s the FCC opened up the UHF spectrum to create the license-free Family Radio Service Band (FRS). Initially proposed by Radio Shack, FM-transmitted FRS has a lot less noise than AM-based CB radio. But like it's sister, FRS is limited in range. Now called HT (handy-talkie), it has been widely adapted by businesses and outdoor enthusiasts.

Who still uses CB radio in the U.S.? Mostly truckers for real-time alerts about road conditions from other truckers. Large family-owned farms and ranches may still use them, as well as some businesses with simple communications needs. Some newer transceivers include superior noise reduction plus an optional SSB (single side band) mode that makes everyone sound like aliens. Like the dark web, SSB even has its own community and terminology. But curiosity seekers will probably quickly grow disillusioned while trying to find anything interesting to listen to. Some may graduate to ham radio, never admitting that they took a step up from the "Chicken Band."

So why would the FCC suddenly allow CB radios to operate in FM mode if it's unpopular? FM does have increased fidelity and reception over AM, but that's not the driving factor. Is it because the FCC is trying to lure people away from the increasingly crowded FRS band? That's probably not a factor. Is it because the public has been loudly crying for FM on the CB Band? No, most pleas have been for more power and a wider frequency band. It's most likely because one manufacturer just simply asked them to.

Cobra, a long-lived but dying manufacturer of CB radios, filed a petition with the FCC in 2017 to add FM to CB's 40-channels. President, another manufacturer of CBs, went on record in support of it. You see, Cobra and President already manufacture CB radios that transmit on the CB band with FM. Those have been sold in the United Kingdom since 1981 when the Brits created their own Citizen's Band spectrum. Its channels reside very near ours, but CB operators in the UK have had much clearer transmissions because they operate in the FM mode. Cobra, President, and other manufacturers who already supply the UK and European market will only need to slightly modify its FM circuitry to sell these as new models in the U.S.

This is where the controversy in the amateur radio community begins. The FCC apparently is allowing AM and FM users to use the same channels simultaneously. That means that AM users will only hear garbage when an FM user transmits, and vice-versa. This risks clogging the channels with unintelligible radio waves and effectively squelching millions of existing CB radios. In order to "breaker-breaker" on the channels the've been freely using since Truman was president, CB users will have to – you guessed it – buy a new radio. Radio buffs are really PO'd that the FCC ignored the power and frequency upgrades that the larger community has wanted for decades, only to have one company's petition come to fruition in just a handful of years.

What does the future hold for CB radio? I see a big race to the line between AM and FM, like a thrilling movie chase scene with a big rig built for speed and a sports car built for agility. There's only one cop that can police this situation and it's not the FCC. It's Sheriff Buford T. Justice.

Sub Sonic

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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.

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Fantasound

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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.

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Now Ear This

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"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.

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Ear Training

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"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.

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