Even if you aren’t an engineer, these are pretty neat. click here to see them all
(brought to you Prosig)
Signal to Noise
Those of us in the acoustics world often talk about signal to noise ratio. Wouldn’t it be more fun if it was a party instead of a ratio? The Museum of the Moving Image is hosting its first Signal to Noise party this weekend as part of its grand re-opening out in Astoria. The museum will be taken over with live electronic music, moving image performances, and interactive art. Maybe we will see you there…
Fractal Pad
This year we had the pleasure of working with Matthew Bremer from Architecture in Formation on Fractal Pad, which recently was honored by Interior Design Magazine’s Best of the Year awards. Congratulations Matt!
meet elvin…he’s an electric vehicle with interactive noise
(Although we haven’t checked under his hood, we think elvin is a boy)
At one time or another, you have probably been crossing the street or walking through a parking lot and out of nowhere comes a car. What’s different is that it didn’t come roaring at you but rather it snuck up on you, sidled right on up next to you without you noticing. Then you realize it’s a hybrid or maybe even a fully electric Mini E or a Tesla (not likely but possible). This is where elvin comes in…
Engineers at the University of Warwick created elvin to experiment with sounds for electric vehicles. On the one hand, since hybrid/electric cars are quiet at low speeds, as they become more popular there could be a significant reduction in environmental traffic noise levels. On the other hand, sound from vehicles can alert pedestrians or cyclists of oncoming traffic. Also, the sound a particular car makes or doesn’t make also adds to the branding and buyer’s perception of a vehicle.
elvin would like your opinion on how he sounds and has an online interactive evaluation. Check him out.
The voice of transportation
Ever since the New York City Subway started broadcasting automated voice announcements a few months ago, people have noticed a striking but hard-to-place familiarity in the voice behind the announcements. If you couldn’t put your finger on it, the New York Times has interviewed Carolyn Hopkins, the voice artist behind not only the subway announcements, but also those at all three NYC airports (LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark). Not to mention subway systems in Chicago, Washington, and Paris, and many other subways and major airports in the US and worldwide!
Despite the ubiquity of her voice here, Ms. Hopkins does not live in New York City, and though she visits occasionally has not used the subway here since 1957. She works from her home studio in Maine, recording the announcements in “a windowless room in her house with sound-absorbing material on the wall — a tapestry, hung like a painting but covering foam.” Even improvised absorptive treatments like these can go a long way toward improving audio quality in basic studios and recording booths—and the benefits are are no less in any room with so much as a speakerphone.
Of course, some might not be surprised that Ms. Hopkins provides the voice of the subway from the Maine countryside. No one that had to use the subway regularly could be so calm and composed when delivering your wait for the next train!
musical acoustics: a pneumatic 24 string tree guitar
Clippard Instrument Lab has built a 24-string pneumatic guitar “tree” combining sculpture and music with a bit of engineering thrown in. 16 different tubes, seven to eight percussive instruments, and 24 strings. note: this is brought to you by machinedesign.com, whose motto is ‘by engineers for engineers’. click on the image below to see the performance…
