Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

tips.ariyh.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 510 posts

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#91

Post by xenocratus »

diarrhea wrote: post #2

People vastly undervalue good audio quality. It also often makes the difference (given equal visuals) between great amateur and pro in e.g. the YouTube scene. I didn't have data to back this up before, but I bought a good microphone specifically for this purpose. People will simply like the audio, and by extension what I am saying and also me as a person, better. Meanwhile, my ears will continue to bleed from the awf…

> my ears will continue to bleed from the awful audio people broadcast into this world. I wonder, most people must notice how terrible everyone in e.g. video conferences sounds;

If it is physically hurting your ears or being difficult to follow then it's understandable, but otherwise (as you mention with the masks) this sounds very superficial. Do you also complain about people wearing the wrong kind of clothes (and I don't mean tailored confederate flags)?

I hope to one day see the day when most people realise it's none of their business how others present themselves.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#93

Post by acqq »

ruph123 wrote: post #24
arbitrage wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pimps aren't admirable people.

I am not a native english speaker, to me "pimp up" means to "upgrade" something. Sorry if that came off wrong.

I even know where your environment got that belief. Blame MTV, since 2004:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimp_My_Ride

A lot of non-natives then miss that the meaning of the word is not about an "upgrade" but about:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procuring_(prostitution)

which was on MTV glorified as the part of the "Afro-American" "pop culture" which is also... not a really nicest approach. But... it was supposed to be a "fashion." And relativised as "the thing of certain culture." Postmodernism and all that. And therefore....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandu...

...and "acceptable" for MTV.

Edit: also, 2008:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/msnbc-reporter-begrudging_n_8...

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#94

Post by Macha »

darkerside wrote: post #55
wombatmobile wrote: post #46

Audio carries 80% of the intellectual content on television. That's why when the news does a live cross and the sound doesn't work, they go back to the studio until the technical problem is resolved, even though the vision is faultless.

Does the opposite hold true? Do newscasts that carry audio but have lost video tend to continue? Just realizing I've never really seen that that I can think of.

Yes, all the time. You get a static picture of the reporter, or shots of the presenter or studio, or b-roll, or an animation of a waveform.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#95

Post by jmkr »

I picked up a GLS es58 on Amazon a while back because I got an audio interface and figured might as well get a mic. Chose it because it's a shure 58 clone.

It's made quite a difference and importantly it makes you feel better to use.

I've been convincing my friends to pick up dynamic mics to lower their surrounding noise and sound clearer.

There's an Audio Technica that's usb/xlr. So you can start with usb and upgrade to xlr when you get a preamp.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#96

Post by tnzm »

AdamCraven wrote: post #57

If you’re on Mac a fairly cheap way (around $300/£250) to get a great sounding voice is to buy an ok microphone and Logic Pro. This will sound better than buying a microphone of the same price. In Logic add an equaliser to counteract microphone and room deficiencies. Then finish off with a compressor to add extra “warmth” Once done, output logic audio to a virtual sound card (eg sound flower) and use that as an input…

That's neither "fairly cheap", nor is going to sound better than buying a microphone at the same price and using free EQ and compressor plugins, nor is adding extra "warmth" the main benefit from using a compressor. (A compressor can help with making the the quiet and the loud parts more equal in volume, at the cost of amplifying background noise.)

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#97

Post by tnzm »

Mauricebranagh wrote: post #77
AdamCraven wrote: post #57

If you’re on Mac a fairly cheap way (around $300/£250) to get a great sounding voice is to buy an ok microphone and Logic Pro. This will sound better than buying a microphone of the same price. In Logic add an equaliser to counteract microphone and room deficiencies. Then finish off with a compressor to add extra “warmth” Once done, output logic audio to a virtual sound card (eg sound flower) and use that as an input…

I have been playing around with this using Ableton live - windows really needs a native way of doing this like sound flower. I experimented using a second sound card and routing the out of my main to that - but I had ground loops. I wanted this for TTRPG streaming so I could treat my voice to fit with the character better.

>windows really needs a native way of doing this like sound flower.

https://vb-audio.com/Cable/ might interest you.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#98

Post by gbrown »

xenocratus wrote: post #91
diarrhea wrote: post #2

People vastly undervalue good audio quality. It also often makes the difference (given equal visuals) between great amateur and pro in e.g. the YouTube scene. I didn't have data to back this up before, but I bought a good microphone specifically for this purpose. People will simply like the audio, and by extension what I am saying and also me as a person, better. Meanwhile, my ears will continue to bleed from the awf…

> my ears will continue to bleed from the awful audio people broadcast into this world. I wonder, most people must notice how terrible everyone in e.g. video conferences sounds; If it is physically hurting your ears or being difficult to follow then it's understandable, but otherwise (as you mention with the masks) this sounds very superficial. Do you also complain about people wearing the wrong kind of clothes (and…

This isn’t an issue of fashion, it’s an issue of cognitive load. Bad audio is distracting, and requires more mental work to process. It’s fatiguing, and as someone who spends an absurd amount of time doing video conferencing, it makes a huge difference.

I’m also a teacher, so I bought a nice microphone and some acoustic panels to help my students focus on the material.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#100

Post by elwell »

AdamCraven wrote: post #57

If you’re on Mac a fairly cheap way (around $300/£250) to get a great sounding voice is to buy an ok microphone and Logic Pro. This will sound better than buying a microphone of the same price. In Logic add an equaliser to counteract microphone and room deficiencies. Then finish off with a compressor to add extra “warmth” Once done, output logic audio to a virtual sound card (eg sound flower) and use that as an input…

Interesting idea, would it noticeably eat into my CPU? (e.g., cause the fan to crank up) (MBP 16" 2020)
Post reply on HN