At 8:38 AM -0500 8/17/09, Curt Olson wrote:
>
>
>We've discussed sample rates here before. If I remember right, some
>people claim they can hear a difference between 44.1/48 and 88.2/96 or
>192, but others say no.
>
>My question is not about that, but about the future. In cases where we
>might be documenting soundscape data for future reference, do you all
>think we should we make an effort to capture the highest possible
>sample rates -- just because we can? Or can we be confident we're
>serving future users well with 44.1/48 recordings?
>
>Curt Olson
>
Hi Curt--
Yes, we drove a semi-truck through this basic topic not too long ago.
It got me thinking too.
Baring societal derailment, I think it reasonable to expect that
folks will have equipment that "understands" the flaws in older gear
and can reconstitute better stereo imagery, reduce or enhance masking
elements and infer other details to improve fidelity. That's what out
brain's do, so they'll have a good model to build-upon. ;-)
If scientific method is a guide, consistency and correlated data are
usually key. In addition to high res audio files, I would think of
variables like exact time, exact location, compass direction, the
exact dimensions of the mic array and frequency response plots of the
mics used, air temperature, wind conditions and a diagram or map of
the reoccurring man made sound sources in the area, vegetation
surveys, panoramic photos, etc.-- any one of these could prove to be
just as important as bit depth and sample rate. If artistic method is
a guide, I'm sure others would enjoy descriptions of the in-depth
human experience using all the media one is comfortable with.
We know what a kick it would be for us be able to hear things like
horses trotting down main streets, cafes of conversation before
refrigeration and owls converse through the night uninterrupted. All
of us are living through drastic changes in the soundscapes around
us. For some applications, documenting change will be more important
than capturing isolated, "states." These additions make recording
more arduous, but they might become important. One can see web
efforts to correlate our recordings so that aspect will probably
expand too. Rob D.
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