There is something fitting about the way the glamour and magic of Hollywood is being disturbed by some dark goings-on in commercial cinema.
Like parallel storylines in a well-crafted movie, these contrasting themes are perfectly poised to converge and collide – with surprising results. I won't give the end away, but I can take you through the cast and their causes. I promise you won't be disappointed...
‘Old films were made to work with old media. Today’s film directors have too much confidence in the supposed compatibility between mixing rooms.’ Bold and uncompromising, this is a real challenge facing sound in the movie business.
It comes from seasoned studio designer and accomplished acoustician Philip Newell, who believes cinema design is locked in the 1970s and is no longer fit for purpose...
Before I discovered the secret world of the recording studio, it was the mystery and promise of early commercial synthesisers that occupied the less engaging moments of my education.
That was in the day when you could build a synthesiser on a kitchen table – something with not inconsiderable appeal. And before ICs ruined everything. Now those days are poised to make a comeback...
My first look at audio’s use of tablet computers was derailed by news of Steve Jobs’ death. My second has been derailed by word that the subject is to be ably addressed by Pro Sound News Europe… no point covering the same ground.
But there’s plenty to talk about beyond apps that make an iPad an essential piece of kit for live sound or broadcast. The combined ability of the internet and tablets is causing problems…
Thursday was a good day to blog. I had an idea and a collection of notes – I wanted to take a look at the rise of the tablet PC with a nod to its uptake and use in various aspects of pro audio. The launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire, the prominence of the iPad and Steve Jobs’ recent retirement from Apple made it especially timely.
Then came news that Jobs had died…
‘I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do: I don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There’s no reason for it ― you’ve got to go sometime.’
When you do, people will want to know, but delivering the news is unlikely to be easy. The role may fall to any one of a large number of people.
It may even fall to the pro audio press…
Visit enough trade shows and it is easy to become blasé about close encounters with truly impressive and groundbreaking kit. Like a good number of you reading this, I have.
And as a journalist, my show goals are fundamentally different from those of a manufacturer or potential buyer. The truth is, a troubled trade show can make much better reading than a happy one. Both ways, a wake-up call is a sound thing.
It’s a little-discussed fact that the tempo of classical music compositions slowed in direct response to the ability to build larger performance spaces. As building techniques allowed larger halls to be constructed, their reverberation times forced composers to downshift tempo in order to retain musical intelligibility.
We have learned much about acoustics since, but we are in danger of losing this and other lessons...
I’d come to talk audio but, right now, I’m getting a lesson in cinema projection. I’d expected to be discussing cinema mixing, surround sound and room acoustics but audio is not alone in its level problems.
Between sound and vision, cinema is looking anything but the high-gloss, high-value experience promised by high-grossing Hollywood blockbusters. It’s not looking – or sounding – good…
If you still regard games consoles as child’s play and their sound requirements as trivial, it is time to think again. And if you are involved in the composing, recording or postproduction markets, it is past time to think again.
Games are not only growing in their sound sophistication, they represent a growing and challenging opportunity, where new frontiers are being pioneered.
‘Is the cloud mature? It’s been around for so long – way before people started calling it the cloud. I, personally, can’t wait for people to stop calling it the cloud.’
And there we were, ready to get excited about yet another 21st century technical revolution. So much for this ‘cloud’ thing that’s all lined up to change the way we work and play…
Fast-and-Wide Blog
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Music and Obsolescence: An Index of PossibilitiesAs a Tyrell Corporation Nexus-6 replicant, Blade Runner’s Roy Batty had a predetermined life span of just four years – and he wanted it extended. Remonstrations...Read More...
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Our Infatuation with SaturationWhen professional digital audio made its entrance, the limitations of early technology combined with the excitement of some advocates made it a soft target...Read More...
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Controlling InterestThe very first synthesiser I owned was a Moog. And my second; and my third. I still have two of them, a Micromoog and Minimoog, but sold the third, an...Read More...
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Sport in Absentia: The Sound of the CrowdSo sport is back, in part, but fans are presently unwelcome at the matches being played – unless you count the cut-outs that the likes of Brighton &...Read More...
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The Last Seat in the HouseWe were just a few days into the UK coronavirus lockdown, when a copy of The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound arrived on my doorstep....Read More...
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Knocking Back CoronaWith only 13 countries presently likely to be remaining Covid-19 free, the live music and club industries worldwide have taken a heavy blow. The games...Read More...
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Après MidiWhen it appeared in 1983, Midi changed my life – as it did for countless other keyboard players around the world. Like any revolution worthy of...Read More...
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evolution: Sennheiser’s revolution Pt.2Having explored the thinking and story behind the evolution concept, Sennheiser’s exclusive show-and-tell session in London gave the floor to the a handful...Read More...
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evolution: Sennheiser’s revolution Pt.1‘Twenty years ago, a question was posed: should Sennheiser continue to produce dynamic microphones? Our prices had gone up and our profit had gone down...Read More...
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The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal RemainsReleased in March 1967, ‘Arnold Layne’ was the first of eight singles from the fledgling Pink Floyd that year. Fifty years on, and with an unassailable...Read More...
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Making Waves: Cause and Effect in Kit ReviewsSharing time and a couple of bottles of Asahi with another former pro audio magazine editor in the bar of London’s Metropolis Studios recently, the...Read More...
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The Heydays of PhaseSometime around 1975-76 I wanted an MXR Phase 90 for my Wurlitzer electric piano – I wanted what the ‘real’ keyboard players of the time were using....Read More...
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The Vibe RevivalWith the ambition of the first Leslie emulation pedals finally fulfilled, the story of the Shin-ei Uni-Vibe has come full circle. In its wake we have phasers,...Read More...
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Second Screen Sports: Off Tube, On TargetMy local pub has a split personality. Or, maybe, it’s more like a secret identity – a single location but with two roles in life. For some of us,...Read More...
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Sound of Story: Chapter 3I once read that smell is our strongest associative sense. I’ve since tried to establish the relative ability of our other senses to evoke memories...Read More...
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Flange Theory: How I Miss My MistressIt seems to have become a common misconception that guitar fuzz boxes and distortion pedals predate more eloquent effects, such as phasing and flanging. OK,...Read More...
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