Crtical Music Listening Sonic Faults Moodle

8/18/2019 Crtical Music Listening Sonic Faults Moodle

1/22

Sonic Faults


2/22

Sonic Faults: RationaleLO3 Understand sonic problems that may have a negative effect upon

music performance or production

3.1 identify musical shortcomings

Musical: accuracy e.g. incorrect notes, sharp, flat, keeping time, variations

in tempo and pitch

3.2 explain balance and timbre problems

Balance and timbre: characteristics e.g. audio spectrum, acoustic

environments, blend, intelligibility, volume and compression

considerations, reverb issues, EQ, effect of the listening environment,

stereophony anomalies, normalisation


3/22

Sonic Faults: Rationale3.3 explain extraneous problems that detract from musical or sonic

effectiveness

Extraneous problems: errors e.g. pops and clicks, clips, signal-to-noise

ratio, excessive low frequency content, hums, balance, editing, phase

problems, cross-talk, microphone and headphone spill, feedback and

howl-round, slapback and echo problems, drop-outs, analogue and digital

distortion, sibilance, loudness, reverse image, polarity reversal

Look at task sheet and grading criteria


4/22

Sonic Faults: Musical Accuracy

(performers influence)Incorrect notes: e.g. out of musical key / dissonant / sharp / flat / tuning

and pitch

Timing: keeping time with other instruments / musical phrasing

Dynamics: notes that are too loud or quiet etc


5/22

Sonic Faults: Balance and Timbre

(acoustic influences)Balance and Timbre: e.g. a mix or recording that has been created in a

space that is not a ‘critical listening environment’ can be influenced by…….

Effect of the listening environment e.g. poor acoustics in the mixing space

mean that frequency and amplitude balance are different when played in

new environments

Acoustic environment e.g. poor acoustics in the recording space can lead

to inaccuracies in timbral reproduction and problems with monoreproduction (stereo mic pairings cause significant phase problems)


6/22


(acoustic influences)Frequency spectrum e.g. frequency re-production may be affectedbecause the original mixing recording environment emphasised / de-

emphasised certain frequencies (standing waves / comb filtering / flutter

echoes)

As the original mixing space did not have a ‘controlled’ or flat frequency

response and accurate reverb time (0.2 to 0.5 sec max with consistency in

the mids and highs – lows can be longer but ideally the same), the

reproduction in other spaces is unpredictable

A control room is typically designed to reproduce the reverb

characteristics of a living room (e.g. consumer listening environment)


7/22


(acoustic influences)

Acoustic treatment of recording and mixing spaces can never compensate

for all the possible places a recording may be heard

However, the greater the control, the greater the possibility that re-

production will be accurate enough in order to showcase the recordingsympathetically

Typically, it is good practice to listen to a mix on various playback devices

and in different spaces


8/22



Acoustic problems include: standing waves which is cancellation andaddition of frequency in the low end leading to inaccuracies in bass levels.

This is down to room shape and size

Plus 100hz Minus 100hz


9/22



Comb filtering: changes ininstrument timbre caused by

phase problems in the mids

and highs. The same

frequencies arrive at the ear /

mic at different times causingphase addition and

cancellation. As the sound

reflects this can evolve and

cause changes over time. This

is down to poor acoustic

treatment or mic positioning


10/22



Flutter echoes: frequencies that bounce between two parallel surfaces

slightly out of time with each other causing a ringing sound. This is due to

poor acoustic treatment


11/22



Amplitude levels and instrumental balance will all be affected by acoustic

conditions

For example, if there is a prominent standing wave that causes certain

bass frequencies to be emphasised or lowered, this may affect the

decision making process in terms of adding or subtracting EQ. It would also

influence volume and compression considerations.

A control room with the incorrect reverb response may influence howreverb is applied and stereo imaging is likely to be inaccurate in a room

that is acoustically poor


12/22

Sonic Faults: Extraneous Problems

(errors in the recording process)Pops and clicks may be caused by a variety of processes but typically may

be associated with mic technique, poor drop-ins (in the analogue world)

and poor edits (without crossfades in digital editing)

It can also be associated with low buffer sizes so the computer struggles

with the workload causing drop-outs which result in pops and clicks,

Clipping is caused by gain levels that are too high for the system to cope

with and ultimately lead to distortion


13/22


(errors in the recording process)A poor signal-to-noise ratio will mean that the noise inherent in all

recording systems will be audible in the recording

In analogue systems this resulted in audible ‘tape hiss’ whereas in digital

systems noise is caused by quantisation error e.g. the system cannot fullyrepresent the analogue data because a signal falls between two

quantisation levels (or steps). Higher bit rates create more ‘steps’ and

higher sample rates increase the amount of discreet chunks measured in

the waveform


14/22


(errors in the recording process)Excessive low frequency content could arise from poor mixing levels (e.g.

listening at too low a level will mean that the ear does not accurately

measure the bass content), room acoustics and poor speaker selection. As

the low end is the foundation of the mix it is crucial to get this correct

Hums occur because of electrical wiring. The voltage in our cables is at a

specific frequency (in Europe = 50hz) and this can be picked up by

electrical equipment. Balanced systems remove hum whereas unbalanced

systems do not


15/22


(errors in the recording process)Balance problems occur with poor mixing and poor recording. It could be

influenced by not using compression e.g. an instrument level constantly

changes therefore its level in the mix is not consistent

Editing problems are caused by poor attention to detail when editing or

dropping in

Microphone and headphone spill are caused by poor sound isolation (for

example, not noticing the vocalist has the headphone on one ear only!)

Analogue and digital distortion is caused by poor gain staging and mix

levels


16/22


(errors in the recording process)

Sibilance is caused by the human voice’s pronunciation of certain

consonants typically S which sounds like ‘hissing’. This is typically rectified

with a de-esser which is a specialised compressor that operates in a

frequency band (typically upper mids and highs e.g. 2khz to 8khz) where

these artefacts occur


17/22

Sonic Faults: Example 1 – Christina

Aguilera ‘Beautiful’ (3 min 54 secs in

original track)


18/22

Sonic Faults: Example 2 – Police

‘Roxanne’ (6 secs in original track)


19/22

Sonic Faults: Example 3 – Dixie Chicks

‘The Long Way Around’ (21 secs in

original track)


20/22

Sonic Faults: Example 4 – Eric Clapton

‘Blues Power’ (1 min 28 secs in original

track)


21/22

Sonic Faults: Example 5 – Jackson 5 ‘I

Want You Back’ (1 min 8 secs in original

track)


22/22

Any Questions?

Crtical Music Listening Sonic Faults Moodle

Documents

Transcript of Crtical Music Listening Sonic Faults Moodle