Feb 07, 2010

Did everyone notice that Baylen Brees was fitted with a set of Peltor hearing protectors during the Super Bowl XLIV trophy award ceremony? I'm pretty sure they were the Peltor H7A Over-the-Head Earmuff.

Best Father Ever.

Update, Feb 8, 2010:

Consumer Reports offers its kudos.

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Feb 04, 2010

There's a scene in the the The West Wing episode "18th and Potomac" where a television network executive asks White House Press Secretary CJ Gregg "Is the water over your head?" and CJ responds "No. The water is exactly at my head." Given the projects I'm juggling at the moment, that pretty much sums up what I'm feeling.

Anyway, two interesting articles that caught my eye:

• The Wall Street Journal attempts to explain "Why New Restaurants Are So Noisy" - it's actually a suprisingly good article, with some relevant advice (such as treating parallel surfaces) and, above all, advising designers to hire an acoustical consultant.
• MIT's OpenCourseWare is offering material from a class on the The Anthropology of Sound (Tip o' the Hat to Latoya Burnell-Moore)



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Jan 08, 2010

I know that James Cameron hasn't had a blockbuster in the last 15 years, so I felt sorry for him and decided to do my part to contribute to his bank account by seeing Avatar 3D last night. Verdict? First 100 minutes: meh. Last hour: cliché, predictable… and had me totally hooked. Although it would have been nice if the corporate bad guy was at least 1.5 dimensional.

Anyway I saw it at the HPS-4000-equipped theater in Framingham which supplied Real-3D glasses for the performance:



(BTW, last week's HT Guys podcast had a good discussion of the various 3D glasses that are used for Avatar showings at theaters across the US.)

The big talk in home theater circles is the imminent arrival of 3D television. I'm skeptical of this for reasons that I'll write about in moment, but given Avatar's reputation as a game-changing 3D movie, I was prepared to re-evaluate my thinking. After seeing the movie, I haven't changed my mind - I still see 3D as a gimmick.

As for why I don't think 3D TV will be success anytime soon, it comes down to two reasons. Reason #1: 3D TV will generally require new televisions. However we (Americans) just got finished buying new TV's as part of the digital switchover. We're not about to dump these for new TV's, at least not for many years, for a gimmick.

Reason #2: the glasses. All of the 3D technologies I am aware of require specialized glasses for viewing (either the anaglyph-type or polarized glasses). Glasses are pain to deal with, especially for the 51% of Americans like me that wear actually vision-correcting glasses. 3D glasses are bulky, they will break, they will get lost, they will get scratched and so on. Unless these glasses are dirt cheap (as in you can go to your local drugstore and pick up a couple of dozen for $5 or so) I don't think people will bother. The anaglyph-type glasses are cheap enough that they're typically given away, but the polarized pair are more expensive and that alone will be a turn off. In my opinion of course.

If 3D has a future in the home, it will be for video games, specifically multi-player spit-screen/overlaid polarized graphics to allow each player to see different images. Barring some advance in technology that allows viewers to see 3D with existing televisions without using glasses (or at least very inexpensive glasses), 3D in the home will continue to be the rare novelty that it is today.

After all, do you know of anyone who is demanding 3D in the home? Didn't think so.




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Dec 23, 2009

I don't have the most normal taste in music, but I like what I like. That taste in music extends to my Christmas iPod playlist (in no particular order):

• Do They Know It's Christmas? &mdash yeah, I'm a child of the '80s and if nothing else, this song screams "80's nostalgia." Along with NWA.
• We Need A Little Christmas &mdash A classic holiday song with the Kunzel flair (meaning plenty of subwoofer-rattling timpani).
• All I Want For Christmas Is You &mdash we've been over this, I love Mariah Carery.
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Soundtrack &mdash Mavis Staples + Chevy Chase = win.
• Nutcracker Suite, Op.71a - 3. Waltz of the Flowers &mdash Unfortunately I tend to picture ice-skating fairies rather than the nutcracker of the title when I hear this piece.
• We Three Kings &mdash I love the mood set by this performance, it reflects the fear and tension surrounding the Nativity and the Massacre of the Innocents. Well done Patti.
• Snoopy's Christmas &mdash Snoopy (aka, the world's coolest dog) vs. the Red Baron. You had me at "Snoopy."
• Hark The Herald Angels Sing &mdash C'mon, it's from A Charlie Brown Christmas ! That alone gives this track legitimacy.
• The Night Santa Went Crazy &mdash Santa Claus, automatic weapons, and the line "And he took a big bite and said 'It tastes just like chicken!'" What's not to love?
• Hallelujah, recorded by moi at Sudbury's Memorial Congregational Church using Crowley & Tripp microphones. Great job if I do say so myself (except for the one guy who kept singing into the microphone).

So, what's on your holiday playlist?




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Nov 22, 2009

A town in Michigan decided to have hire an acoustical expert to write a noise ordinance rather than have lawyers write it:

The board previously relied on attorneys to draft the new language, and board members said attorney fees would quickly surpass that dollar amount.

Township Supervisor Mark St. Charles said the sound expert will have a better understanding of sound dynamics, and will be best suited to write an ordinance that stands up in court.

I'm glad someone out there gets it.

Update, Dec 22, 2009


Mr. Savant was kind enough to pass on this link:

Bossier and Caddo are hiring an acoustical engineering firm from Atlanta to measure sound in the two parishes and help craft new noise laws in anticipation of continued drilling in the Haynesville Shale natural gas formation.

As he put it: "Can two points a trend make?"




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