I’ve always found melodies played on a music box haunting for some reason. Especially if played in a quiet room by myself. I’m not sure where this feeling originates, but I love to wind up music boxes and let them play whenever I see them. This music box melody, however, does not quite have the same effect as other melodies, and its probably because the local ice cream truck churns out the same melody in its own not so pleasant fashion.
Download Audio: Music Box Melody
Reading “Essentials of Music Technology” by Mark Ballora, I came across a section that explains one reason why CD Audio has the sampling rate it does, 44.1kHz. I’ll just post the passage here:
When digital audio recording began, audio tape was not capable of storing the density of digital signals. The first digital masters were stored on videotape as a pseudo video signal in which sample values represented as binary numbers with digits of one and zero were stored as video levels of black-and-white. The sampling rate was determined by the format of videotape. Video pixels are drawn left to right in horizontal lines starting from the top of the screen and moving down. First the odd-numbered lines are drawn, then the even-numbered lines. Thus, each frame of video has two subsets: the odd field and even field. The fields lie adjacent to each other on the videotape in a diagonal orientation. There are two video broadcast formats:
1. USA (NTSC): 525 lines, 30 frames per second, minus 35 blank lines, leaving 490 lines per frame, equals 60 fields per second, 245 lines per field.
2. European (PAL): 625 lines, 25 frames per second, minus 37 blank lines, leaving 588 lines per frame, equals 50 fields per second, 294 lines per field.
With the pseudo format of black and white pixels, three samples could be stored on each line, allowing:
NTSC: 60 x 245 x 3 = 44,100 samples per second
PAL: 50 x 294 x 3 = 44,100 samples per second
Although videotapes are no longer necessary for storing digital audio, 44.1kHz remains the standard sampling rate for CD audio.
Interesting isn’t it? The premier audio medium still in use today is technology that is over 20 years old, and its quality is based on the sampling rate that could fit on a videotape.
My wife and I live close to campus and we often walk there together for various events (especially since my wife is still a student there for graduate studies). The closest route there is down Robins Street, a rather busy street populated by many noisy and ever so annoying dogs. One in particular is a smallish mutt who barks and barks and barks the moment he sees you until well after you are past his territory. I decided to go rile him up a bit and see if he wouldn’t perform for me. He certainly didn’t disappoint, but I’m afraid I underestimated the volume level of his bark and the recording I made is a weee bit distorted in places. Ah well. You can still get an idea of just how enthusiastic this guy is when it comes to barking at passerby.
Download Audio: Noisy Doggy
On the same walk I witnessed the sick squirrel, I recorded today’s sound byte of a sprinkler in somebody’s yard. Although it does sound mostly like rain, it was only the sprinkler hitting the trees, sidewalk, and plants. And lest we forget we live in an ever more populated world, you can hear the slightest roar of the interstate in the background.
Download Audio: Sprinkler, not Rain
Japan = Good
Japanese Food = Very Good
Japanese People = Mostly Good
Japanese niece crying for her okasan (mother) = Not So Very Good
Download Audio: Ryoko Crying