Are we visualizing sound when manipulating it?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
yur2die4
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Re: Are we visualizing sound when manipulating it?

Post by yur2die4 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:16 pm

I’ve been admiring the surface of water a lot recently, with my current appreciation for sound in mind. I saw a few weeks ago water where there were dense tiny ripples on top of bigger rippling. But the tiny ripples smoothed out in the shadows of these bushes near the water. Apparently the bushes were blocking the high frequency material of the wind, essentially filtering the sound.

Since then, I think a lot lot lot about the surface of water and my misconceptions about how waves might work… like when waves seem to travel along the water, but the water itself doesn’t necessarily travel at that same speed. And how the surface is just an elaborate cross-section. How we can’t actually ‘see’ that activity from within the water. Only on the surface, at the outer edge.

evon
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Re: Are we visualizing sound when manipulating it?

Post by evon » Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:49 am

Well said. These are the type of posts that used to have me glued to the forum in the earlier years.

I notice that most of the younger/newer posters here seem not to take the time to bother to read the manual. I miss the constant admonitions to " RTFM".
But now we have moderators and thing. No ranting anymore. Hardly get to know anyone here anymore and what they are feeling.

It used to be great to sit down with the family and rave about stuff, especially when the creative juices are not flowing.
fe real!

evon
Posts: 1110
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 7:44 pm
Location: Jamrock

Re: Are we visualizing sound when manipulating it?

Post by evon » Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:52 am

Can't help but notice the time difference in our posts. It is now 10:52 pm in Jamaica, but look at the post time.
fe real!

jlgrimes
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Location: Atlanta, Ga

Re: Are we visualizing sound when manipulating it?

Post by jlgrimes » Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:17 pm

evon wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:51 am
Well are we? Or or we just looking at graphics and pushing faders and knobs?

If not, how is it done? When I make an eq curve, I am not able to visualize in reality what is being done to the sound wave.

A sculptor can look at the wood and actually see what is being done to the physical medium.
Is anyone able to do this with a physical sound wave?
I would really like to get some feedback on this.


Yes/No.

I think the more skilled a programmer is, the most likely they are able to visualize a sound in there head and from experience know what to tweak to get the desired results.

That said Im sure other folks are more/less experimenting twisting knobs to see what will happen.

Some obtuse synthesis methods probably more cater to the latter.

That said once you gain enough experience, you get a better idea of what will happen when you tweak a knob, so in turn you become more visual.

evon
Posts: 1110
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 7:44 pm
Location: Jamrock

Re: Are we visualizing sound when manipulating it?

Post by evon » Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:31 pm

jlgrimes wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:17 pm
evon wrote:
Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:51 am
Well are we? Or or we just looking at graphics and pushing faders and knobs?

If not, how is it done? When I make an eq curve, I am not able to visualize in reality what is being done to the sound wave.

A sculptor can look at the wood and actually see what is being done to the physical medium.
Is anyone able to do this with a physical sound wave?
I would really like to get some feedback on this.


Yes/No.

I think the more skilled a programmer is, the most likely they are able to visualize a sound in there head and from experience know what to tweak to get the desired results.

That said Im sure other folks are more/less experimenting twisting knobs to see what will happen.

Some obtuse synthesis methods probably more cater to the latter.

That said once you gain enough experience, you get a better idea of what will happen when you tweak a knob, so in turn you become more visual.
Somehow I get the impression that you are not visualizing the question in the post. It is kind of an invitation to think outside of the box.

When I am immersed in a production (in the box), I am only tweaking knobs to get the desired sound to my ears. However, it is hard to correlate what we are doing in a DAW to what is actually being done to the physical sound bouncing around in the room.
fe real!

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