Psychoacoustics

Random dude

Random dude

Well-known member
Honestly not sure if this belongs here. If it needs to be moved, please move it with my apologies.

I think this is a very interesting video. I hope it hasn't already been posted here.

 
I thought it was a fascinating video. I've noticed some of these things appear to be in songs of mine.
I've often used the barber pole effect on an organ with varispeeding and you can do it on guitar and bass by not going more than 2 octaves away from the starting descending/ascending note to create that rising/falling sequence that seems to go on forever.
I've also noticed many a time, the combination tones in lots of my stuff. I have always likened it to a harmonic effect that you hear without hearing clearly, yet it's there.
 
I have a pignose battery powered amp. You’ve all seen these and may have, or had one.

Well, anyway, it has a manifestation when cranked where there is a very pleasing distortion but also overtones that make it sound like an octave fuzz.

It’s subtle, but there and as soon as you roll off the volume, it cleans up and the overtones are gone.

Hmm , I doubt if the circuit was purposely designed for that.

Psychoacoustics involved???
 
I was mixing a song yesterday and it starts with a guitar played with an e-bow. I was sitting in the centre of the two monitors and for some reason, it sounded louder on the monitor to my right even though it was panned dead centre.. I wondered if the left one was faulty so I put my ear on both and the volume was identical. I'll get things like that in various locations both indoors and out from time to time. Psychoacoustics is quite an interesting topic when one stops to think about its real-world application.
 
RFR said:
I have a pignose battery powered amp. You’ve all seen these and may have, or had one.

Well, anyway, it has a manifestation when cranked where there is a very pleasing distortion but also overtones that make it sound like an octave fuzz.

It’s subtle, but there and as soon as you roll off the volume, it cleans up and the overtones are gone.

Hmm , I doubt if the circuit was purposely designed for that.

Psychoacoustics involved???
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I have a mini-Marshall that does the same thing. I always say that I'm going to stick a mic on it and record a solo, but never get around to it, or just forget about it when I'm recording.

I know some famous solos have been recorded with a Pig Nose, but I can't remember which ones. For some reason, Pink Floyd comes to mind, but I couldn't tell you what tune.
 
Random dude said:
I have a mini-Marshall that does the same thing. I always say that I'm going to stick a mic on it and record a solo, but never get around to it, or just forget about it when I'm recording.

I know some famous solos have been recorded with a Pig Nose, but I can't remember which ones. For some reason, Pink Floyd comes to mind, but I couldn't tell you what tune.
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If I remember correctly Eric Clapton used on on the “Layla” album. But I could be wrong.
 
grimtraveller said:
I was mixing a song yesterday and it starts with a guitar played with an e-bow. I was sitting in the centre of the two monitors and for some reason, it sounded louder on the monitor to my right even though it was panned dead centre.. I wondered if the left one was faulty so I put my ear on both and the volume was identical. I'll get things like that in various locations both indoors and out from time to time. Psychoacoustics is quite an interesting topic when one stops to think about its real-world application.
Click to expand...
Maybe your hearing is a little of of sorts?
 
Over my years of working at Bose, I have listened to various stories Dr. Bose would tell of how he got into the speaker business. His interest in the field began after purchasing a stereo system after careful review of all the specifications and took it home only to be very disappointed in its performance. Most of us know this experience with monitors. Specs don't often tell you much about reality. In its simplest form, is a basic primer on psychoacoustics. The way we hear and perceive sound is the result of evolution and how we developed in order to survive. Our brain has evolved to process audio so that we can sort out threats from noise including things like direction.

An interesting research paper I read in the corporate technical library was about the relationship our fight or flight response has to musical performances. It's a big part of why music has such a profound effect on us emotionally. When music hits a certain level, this part of the brain is activated and you become more connected emotionally. For me, this completely reshaped my approach to live sound. More speakers with delay lines to ensure that venue levels reach a desired level evenly throughout the space.

One interesting aspect of all this is the affect the digital world has had on hearing. MP3's take advantage of how our brains can fill in missing information. I grew up listening to AM radio and records with lots of clicks and pops. A phenomenon observed is how younger people today watch video with closed captioning. Studies have been done that indicate that their brains have not been conditioned to filter out the noise. I can still listen to a nearly inaudible AM broadcast and make out what is being said where my son cannot. It goes on and on. It is a fascinating field.
 
Folkcafe said:
Over my years of working at Bose, I have listened to various stories Dr. Bose would tell of how he got into the speaker business. His interest in the field began after purchasing a stereo system after careful review of all the specifications and took it home only to be very disappointed in its performance. Most of us know this experience with monitors. Specs don't often tell you much about reality. In its simplest form, is a basic primer on psychoacoustics. The way we hear and perceive sound is the result of evolution and how we developed in order to survive. Our brain has evolved to process audio so that we can sort out threats from noise including things like direction.

An interesting research paper I read in the corporate technical library was about the relationship our fight or flight response has to musical performances. It's a big part of why music has such a profound effect on us emotionally. When music hits a certain level, this part of the brain is activated and you become more connected emotionally. For me, this completely reshaped my approach to live sound. More speakers with delay lines to ensure that venue levels reach a desired level evenly throughout the space.

One interesting aspect of all this is the affect the digital world has had on hearing. MP3's take advantage of how our brains can fill in missing information. I grew up listening to AM radio and records with lots of clicks and pops. A phenomenon observed is how younger people today watch video with closed captioning. Studies have been done that indicate that their brains have not been conditioned to filter out the noise. I can still listen to a nearly inaudible AM broadcast and make out what is being said where my son cannot. It goes on and on. It is a fascinating field.
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This.. is very interesting. Wouldn't mind seeing more stuff like this. (as opposed to the.. 'what's better mics' and such :>)
 
Ear trainig can be an amazing thing. Morse Code, for example. A single tone, or the absence of it can be picked out by a trained ear from the noise all around it. Once you are tuned into the pitch (and everyone has a different preferred frequency, it's amazing. I had it, but lost it through lack of use. Being a bit of a radio nerd, the same happens with AM vs FM - but AM noise is (in our words) warmer, while FM noise is just, well, hiss. I can understand perfectly well conversations between aircraft on AM, with all kinds of radio and physical noise - while people here look at me and say "what did they say" plain as day to me? One thing that isn't so good is modern digital radio comms. The low bit rate and companding produce very robotic audio. In analogue, you hear calls and say - that's Jim, or John, but in digital you lose that. Our local Fire Service have returned to analogue because inside breathing apparatus, digital is just gibberish. We did an experiment in college for the musicians. Played some loud music and at a distance was a piano - the test was what is the pianist playing and it was so quiet only a few could filter out the rest, but oddly, when they could see the pianist's hands and fingers they all got it - even those who could not play the piano. Seeing the finger go down, let you hear it!!
 
I'm not totally sure what this thread is about, haven't followed closely. However....

Something happened and/or occured yesterday. A weirdness. It's not the first I've noticed it. The radio was static, not quite picking up the station. I could tell what song was playing, but the key was unclear, and seemed to constantly keep changing. Even the melody seemed a stylized version, different from the original which was actually being played at the time. It reminded me that it's something I have noticed in the past, such as approaching a bar/club and hearing through the walls the band playing. I can tell what song is being played, but the key is unclear or off, changing, and the vocal is not singing the correct melody, some weird stylized version that in a weird way almost works. Odd. I don't know what that is, maybe it's just me. Maybe it is the brain attempting to understand what is being heard, working it out in real time.
 
Mick Doobie said:
I'm not totally sure what this thread is about, haven't followed closely. However....

Something happened and/or occured yesterday. A weirdness. It's not the first I've noticed it. The radio was static, not quite picking up the station. I could tell what song was playing, but the key was unclear, and seemed to constantly keep changing. Even the melody seemed a stylized version, different from the original which was actually being played at the time. It reminded me that it's something I have noticed in the past, such as approaching a bar/club and hearing through the walls the band playing. I can tell what song is being played, but the key is unclear or off, changing, and the vocal is not singing the correct melody, some weird stylized version that in a weird way almost works. Odd. I don't know what that is, maybe it's just me. Maybe it is the brain attempting to understand what is being heard, working it out in real time.
Click to expand...
I don't know if this is the same thing, but when I have headphones sitting on my desk and I can "just" hear what's coming out of them, then I pick them up and put them on my head, they pitch/key of the song seems to change, usually goes up. So, headphones on the desk, the tune seems to be in "A" (for example). When I put them up, the key goes up to A# or B.

Some kind of doppler effect going on. Weird, wild stuff. :eek:
 
Random dude said:
I don't know if this is the same thing, but when I have headphones sitting on my desk and I can "just" hear what's coming out of them, then I pick them up and put them on my head, they pitch/key of the song seems to change, usually goes up. So, headphones on the desk, the tune seems to be in "A" (for example). When I put them up, the key goes up to A# or B.

Some kind of doppler effect going on. Weird, wild stuff. :eek:
Click to expand...
Hmm. Along similar lines? I hear pitch drift up on songs last chords fading down. Just a little, not all that often, but often enough.
In my acoustic band, I'd tend to put it off to instrument tuning differences. But then on pro music tracks, not sure what to make of that.
 
mixsit said:
Hmm. Along similar lines? I hear pitch drift up on songs last chords fading down. Just a little, not all that often, but often enough.
In my acoustic band, I'd tend to put it off to instrument tuning differences. But then on pro music tracks, not sure what to make of that.
Click to expand...
Yah I hear that same pitch drift thing also on pretty much all songs at the end as the volume dies out….weird
 
mixsit said:
Hmm. Along similar lines? I hear pitch drift up on songs last chords fading down. Just a little, not all that often, but often enough.
In my acoustic band, I'd tend to put it off to instrument tuning differences. But then on pro music tracks, not sure what to make of that.
Click to expand...
I definitely hear that too. Probably the same effect in some way.
 
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