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Audio: How We Hear

eliash

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Sounds reasonable, I understood it that way first, but English Wikipedia is somehow inconsistent, as they state in my previous quotation, it ends at the outer ear canal, later they claim it ends at the eardrum/tympanic membrane, which makes more sense from an "easier to normalise" point of view...
 

eliash

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HRTF ends at the eardrum. When we're talking headphones, vs speakers, it ends at the entrance to the ear canal, because you're already used to your ear canal resonances.

Finally a big thanks for the above lecture, a valuable refresher and some new findings for what has been written in several academic books in the last century!
 

Jim777

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This was a goldmine of information, I've learned so much even though I've worked in perceptual audio coding for years. Not one wasted breath!! Thank you so much @j_j !
 

therlane

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I really liked the last 5 minutes! --- I watched the first 40 minutes, and then skipped to the end (I'm German, and it's a bit hard to follow biology in a different language). And I see how much effort went into this, and am grateful for the opportunity and your sharing!

I'm a big fan of classical music. What I notice again and again is that my enjoyment of music depends on the attention I put to it. For classical Music, that is watching a Youtube shot of a performance together with decent recording. In comparison to "just audio", it's that much easier to keep your attention on the Music.

Recently, I sat in a live concert with Violinist Hilary Hahn playing Bach Partitas, and it was the first time I consciously noticed the characteristics of her playing, although I've heard different interpretations of them so many times. And of course - just like in the video - I have my attention on this now when listening to pure Audio.
 

therlane

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Another one:
In the beginning, he talks about how sound reaches the ear.
When I'm listening to certain Remastered Beatles Tracks on Spotify via Headphones, some individual instruments come only from one side. This feels very sharp and uncomfortable. My interpretation is that my brain is surprised, since in a natural environment, the sound would come through both ears, even if it's straight right or straight left of me.

So essentially bad Re-Mastering

Is that correct thinking?
 
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amirm

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I'm a big fan of classical music. What I notice again and again is that my enjoyment of music depends on the attention I put to it. For classical Music, that is watching a Youtube shot of a performance together with decent recording. In comparison to "just audio", it's that much easier to keep your attention on the Music.
I agree. With some music the audio-only version is quite boring to me.
 
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amirm

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In the beginning, he talks about how sound reaches the ear.
When I'm listening to certain Remastered Beatles Tracks on Spotify via Headphones, some individual instruments come only from one side. This feels very sharp and uncomfortable. My interpretation is that my brain is surprised, since in a natural environment, the sound would come through both ears, even if it's straight right or straight left of me.

So essentially bad Re-Mastering

Is that correct thinking?
It is not remastering. Stereo was new then and production was tailored to emphasize the effect then. Over time the novelty wore off and we got the modern, more tasteful mixing than all-left/right.
 

therlane

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It is not remastering. Stereo was new then and production was tailored to emphasize the effect then. Over time the novelty wore off and we got the modern, more tasteful mixing than all-left/right.

THIS.
Thank you. Now I can make peace with it. I'm 35, so apparently too young. ;-)
 

Kal Rubinson

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I agree. With some music the audio-only version is quite boring to me.
I can understand that but, for me, the issue is with the repetition of the video which I find boring. So, I will listen and watch the first time but, after that, I turn off the monitor (or just listen to the ripped audio).
 

RayDunzl

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When I'm listening to certain Remastered Beatles Tracks on Spotify via Headphones, some individual instruments come only from one side. This feels very sharp and uncomfortable. My interpretation is that my brain is surprised, since in a natural environment, the sound would come through both ears, even if it's straight right or straight left of me.

So essentially bad Re-Mastering

Is that correct thinking?

Things were a bit more primitive back then.

You don't mention which tune disturbed you, but, as late as 1967 - Sgt Pepper - unless I'm wrong, the master only had four channels to mix into the final two channel or mono product.

There was certainly literal "cut and paste" (splicing) involved in creating mix tracks to be fed to the master tracks.

If you wanted to mix two tracks into one, you played both back simultaneously (maybe on two different tape decks) and record the mix on a third.

You couldn't go too far with that or the tape noise would intrude.

Kudos to George Martin.

"And of course, we were on 4-track and not a 120-track like now. We had to make decisions and put all the right sounds on at the time of recording." --- Beatles Engineer Geoff Emerick

Eight track became available for Abbey Road.

---


"Recorded in February 1967, using two Studer J37 Multi-Track Recorders. After recording tracks onto the first tape machine (referred to below as "Tape A"), the tracks were bounced -- combined and mixed -- onto tracks of the second tape machine (referred to below as "Tape B"). Bouncing freed up tracks to overdub additional instruments. The technique was devised to overcome a limitation of 4-track recording equipment. Today's modern multi-track and digital recording studios make such efforts unnecessary. Note that only the second tape -- the "bounce" tape -- is heard in this video. Each of four tracks is shown in a different colour. "

 
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Wombat

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A must-read, IMHO:

images.jpg
images.jpg
 

Sal1950

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RayDunzl

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Thank God digital came along.


Maybe, but what happened to the talent?

Holt's Law: “The better the performance, the worse the recording will be, or conversely, the better the recording sounds, the worse the performance will be. This is semi-curmudgeonly acknowledgment of the fundamental problem with recording anything – the more energy directed towards sound quality, the less is aimed at musical quality."


 

Sal1950

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Maybe, but what happened to the talent?
Yeah ,Yeah, Yeah I know ole timer. They don't make music like they used to and all that.
The Beatles, never been a more over-rated, designed for 13 year old girls, group
And those stupid Moe Howard haircuts. Oh Boy
She Loves You . Yeah Yeah Yeah Ooooooo

 

RayDunzl

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Sal1950

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RayDunzl

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