Acme Voiceworx » audio

The most exciting announcement at AES 2009…

Steve — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:17:29 +0000

The 2009 Audio Engineering Society Convention (aka the 127th AES) in New York City got underway today in the Jacob Javits Center. Early reports from attendees include comments about how much smaller the show is than in the recent past — less than half the exhibit space — which is understandable in the current economy.

We all know that the recording industry is undergoing a painful transformation into, well, many of us are not sure exactly what it will become. But times are definitely tough… one observer sent me a picture of what they consider the most exciting announcement to be seen so far, shown here.

It speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

Audio players for websites in June 2009 RAP

Steve — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:52:19 +0000

This month we take a look at several embedded audio players for use in HTML websites, as well as for those based on blogging software like WordPress. Nearly all of these players require MP3-formatted audio players to work, although some will play other formats as well. The players themselves are based on Adobe’s Flash technology combined with some Java scripting.

The reason for this is simple; nearly 97% of all online users have Adobe’s Flash player already installed on their computers, and almost all modern browsers know how to handle javascript properly. Using Flash insures that your clients will be able to hear your demos without the annoyance of having to stop and install yet another plug-in in their web browser.

YouTube squashes sound for free – FIXED

Steve — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:59:03 +0000

UPDATE: YouTube appears to have fixed the “problem” with their new compression scheme, according to Wired.com. What’s interesting is that they seem to have undone the previous damage to users’ files, which implies that they either kept uncompressed copies that they could re-encode, or that the new scheme worked in real time. Read the update here.

No, it’s not a man-bites-dog story. It is a story about how YouTube’s new audio compression algorithm not only makes all the sound louder, including any noise, but also destroys any dynamic range in music. In some cases it actually generates distortion where their previously was none.

It’s particularly hard on classical or acoustic music as it also raises the level of quiet passages, increasing their noise significantly. We can only hope they get it right at some point. Soon, please.

New YouTube Audio Compression Stymies Uploaders | Listening Post from Wired.com

And yes, it has been reported as a bug:

Recent audio compression issue – Bug Reports & Issues | Google Groups

As they say on comedy-news on local TV: More later as the situation develops.