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Teach yourself to echolocate (2018)

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242 points Anon84 | 5 comments | 16 Nov 24 22:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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almd ◴[17 Nov 24 04:02 UTC] No.42161878[source]▶
This is often used by audio mixing engineers and taught in a roundabout way at schools and studios. We think a lot about where thins “sit” in the mix. Proximity wise, and even height wise in a stereo mix. Eventually you learn how to locate things in headphones and it’s a really weird sensation when you realize you can do it. The kicker is we start out by simulating real environments in mixes, but then end up having to simulate what people expect from the medium as opposed to real life. For example something I learned doing video audio, if someone is writing something on a train, viewers expect to hear the pen on paper. But irl, there’s not a chance it’s audible. Explosions are always distorted because microphones end up clipping due to the volume, etc.

A great book on spatial simulation is The Art of Mixing by David Gibson. Older but forever relevant

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vasco ◴[17 Nov 24 09:30 UTC] No.42163060[source]▶
> For example something I learned doing video audio, if someone is writing something on a train, viewers expect to hear the pen on paper

Just yesterday was watching Territory season 1 where the characters have an intense suspenseful, almost whispering "serious voice" conversation while standing next to a running helicopter, without even raising their voices which took me out of the scene.

So the question is, do viewers want it, or do know it all producers say people do and put it in?

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1. Moru ◴[17 Nov 24 12:11 UTC] No.42163762[source]▶
When they say viewers want it, they mean just about 90% won't notice. Most people haven't been close enough to a running helicopter to understand.

I'm having problems watching movies at all, there is so many things breaking my immersion. :-)

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2. kibwen ◴[17 Nov 24 19:17 UTC] No.42166285[source]▶
> When they say viewers want it, they mean just about 90% won't notice.

Even more than that, they will notice if you don't it the "wrong" way that they've come to expect. This is called The Coconut Effect: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheCoconutEffect

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3. Moru ◴[17 Nov 24 20:14 UTC] No.42166786[source]▶
Ah, had no idea it had a name!

My clearest memory of that was me as a kid watching a Bond-movie where a sportscar makes a screaching sound when driving down a sandy beach. I turned of the TV and don't think I ever saw a full Bond movie after that.

The list on the page you linked had one thing that isn't toally correct though:

>The very specific (but entirely unrealistic) echoing thud that is heard when all the lights are turned on in a large spacenote .

That sound is realistic if it is an old building with the heavy type of power relays or whatever they are called. They do make that sort of sound if the acoustics are right. They could be set up with timers so they don't start the lights at exactly the same moment to prevent overloading the fuses.

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4. tinix ◴[18 Nov 24 05:21 UTC] No.42169914{3}[source]▶
Have you never walked through sand and heard it screech or squeak? It's definitely a thing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_sand

5. quinnirill ◴[18 Nov 24 20:50 UTC] No.42176853[source]▶
Surprisingly, it’s also present in live sports, see for example this article (in Finnish) about sounds in winter sports broadcasts: https://yle.fi/aihe/a/20-10005843