Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Sound

Converting .SND Files

RavinDave — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:17:42 -0800

Need a cheap way to convert .SND to .MP3 files. I'd never even heard of .SND files until today -- and I only have a handful of'em that need to be converted (ie: so I wanna avoid commercial solutions as much as possible -- if possible). Most all of my media players and sound software choke on'em. Audacity threw a fit. Nero never heard of'em either. Windows will play'em, but won't convert anything (as far as I can tell).

Disappearing sound when I try to watch videos. Why is this?

jenfullmoon — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:58:07 -0800

Disappearing sound on the computer. ONLY on Hulu, YouTube, playlist.com, but not mp3's. Complication: not having administrator privileges to deal with it. When trying to watch/listen to Hulu, YouTube, and online music players, sometimes the sound just stops working on the computer (running Firefox, happens both on Linux and Windows boxes). I haven't changed a darn thing on the settings, and playing mp3's works fine. But there will be no sound on anything video-related when it was working fine before. The only thing that fixes this is rebooting the computer. Happens on all of the ones I use regardless of platform.

Anyone have any idea why this happens, what causes it, fixes I can do without rebooting or being able to install fixes for it myself?

Where can i find a cheap dB meter?

ilike — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:56:45 -0800

Where can i find a cheap dB meter that can meter a low dB? (say 30-50 dB) Hi I recently moved in to an appartment that has a few sound sources that annoy me a lot.

The first problem is that the front door is paper thin and located close the main entrance to the house and that each time someone enters the house I hear the front door slamming very loud. The thing that annoys me the most however is that it gets very noicy when my neighbour use his kitchen faucet.

I have spoke with the local building enviroment regulator that recommended me to try to find a dB meter I can use to see if I am anywhere close to the levels where I can demand that my landlord fix this. According to him between 35-50 dB is the maximum threshold depending on type of sound.

I understand accoustic metering is something that should be left to professionals but I would like to see if I am anywhere close to the threshold levels before spending money and time on a accoustic engineer. Maybe I am just overreacting.

Are there sound meters that can be had reasonably cheaply and can handle low noice. It doesnt have to be to accurate, just enough for me to get an idea if there is any point going forward with this.

Bonus point if I can order it from an EU country.

Champion Sound

murtagh — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:57:21 -0800

Why does music on my MP3 player sound better with small earphones than with big headphones? I have a Samsung YP-U5 MP3 player. Music on it sounds great when I listen with the earphones that came with the player, but if I connect my large Philips (SHP2000, if it matters) headphones to the player, music sounds quite poor. Why is that?

(There's nothing wrong with the Philips headphones, just to be clear.)

Sound Compression

Yakuman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:31:14 -0800

Is there an audio plugin that will emulate the mono sound compression used by AM radio stations?

Creak-creak-creak

pised — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:27:18 -0800

What's this creaking sound my car is making and how long should I wait to get it fixed? My car ('07 Jeep Compass) has been making a creaking sound when it goes over speed bumps and into driveways -- basically anywhere there's potential for a bump. It's been doing this for about a month or so now. My next service is the 3rd week of November, but I'll drive about 600 km before that. What's the likely source or problem that's causing the creaking? Shocks? Struts? Suspension? Should I bring it in for service right away or can it wait the 3 weeks and 600 km?

The car is regularly serviced (last time was late August) and it has over 25000 kms on it so far. There have been no other problems with it since I've had it. It's parked outside most of the time, on a very slight incline (always with the parking brake on), if that matters.

Adding ADDITIONAL audio to an avi file

Charlie Lesoine — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:23:01 -0800

How do I add an additional audio track to a .avi movie file in OSX? I downloaded a full length movie, it had stereo channel audio, but one of the audio tracks was still missing, possibly the center channel that was lost from a surround sound mix when it was bounced to standard 2 channel audio. I now have the missing audio file and need to add it to the other two. I could just remove one of the existing tracks, or turn the existing two tracks into a mono track and then add the 3rd missing track. It doesn't need to sound amazing...but I don't know what software to use to do this. Any ideas?

How do movies fake party conversation noise?

srboisvert — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:43:45 -0800

I recall reading in a thread about a trick used in movies to simulate the background noise of a crowd engaged in a number of separate conversations - like a party - by having a small number of people repeat a few syllables out of sync with each other. What were the details of this?

Sound advice

Zenabi — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:55:12 -0800

I am looking for recommendations for a recording interface and self-powered monitors. The Firebox gets rave reviews but I recall reading somewhere that there are now newer/better alternatives. Is this the case?

Living in South Africa doesn't help as the price for the Presonus Firebox is truly insane ($250-00 in the US - $759-00 here!)

Equipment:

- Quad core Q9550 with 4 Gig DDR 3 RAM - Audigy 4 sound card (could this be used for anything later?) - SONAR 7 - Behringer Eurorack MX1604A - Rode NT1-A

Due to the pricing here, it looks as if purchasing in the US via credit card and having the items shipped over here seems to be the way to go - any dealer recommendations or advice? Also, any other advice regarding the equipment/assembly of a home studio would be most welcome.

At this stage, I am uncertain whether I should use the Behringer mixer or how best to wire it in to break the pure digital setup (more advice required!) TIA

Car/Sound practical/meta (u choose) question.

Jiff_and_theChoosyMuthers — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:15:20 -0800

What is this mechanical (automotive in this case) sound called? Does it have a name? I'm trying to describe a sound that is happening in the suspension of my car...

The only way I can describe it is:

If you make a circle with thumb and pointer finger,

Place other pointer finger inside the circle,

Now (in 5 year old speak) "pretend your hands are metal"...

what's the sound it makes?

a warble, a clanking, a wobbling clanking, the sound of a worn/broken "widget"?

Thoughts... either on the sound's name or WTF is wrong with my front drive, "independent" strut, 2000 Ford Focus?

Speaker Cables?

god particle — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:46 -0800

I have a Sonic Impact T-Amp 2 that works really well but I'm wondering what kind of cables I'm supposed to get for it. I don't know much about sound systems, so I don't know exactly what kind of cables I need to plug into the amp. Right now I have a pair of banana-plug cables that plug fine into my speakers, but on the amp end I had to cut off the plugs and basically shove the raw exposed copper cable into the amp. The problem is the cable is too thick to fit in properly and I have a lot of connection problems with the sound cutting out. It frequently requires me messing around with cables until the sound starts working again (which is really frustrating in the middle of a party). So what sort of cables should I be looking for?

Here's what the back looks like.

total immersion gaming question

konono — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:13:53 -0800

Has anyone heard of http://www.totimm.com/? TIS recently offered me a position, but i can not find much additional information about them. Please let me know of any experience you may have had with this company?

Magic Chord-O-Matic Machine!

phrontist — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:04:20 -0800

I was playing around with a keyboard at a Guitar Center that had an auto-harmonize feature. Below a certain note pressing a key would play a chord instead of a single tone. What was interesting was that playing chromatically (white and black keys) it played chords that retained a firm sense of key (C major) - if you jumped around randomly or did chromatic runs it didn't sound like there were a bunch of modulations taking place. What formula do you think it used to do this?

Turn Off That Loud Music!

czechmate — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:55:11 -0800

I have a problem with hearing bass music vibrating through my windows and walls into my home. It literally echos through my every vein and makes me feel insane. Is this a sign of age? Is something wrong with me? We live in a neighbourhood where the houses are fairly close together, and primarily Hispanic. The neighbours (and when I say neighbours, I mean anywhere within 7 houses around us) like to hold parties from time to time or they just play their music loud while doing whatever it is that they do.
My problem is the bass that I can hear through the walls of my house. The music may not be that loud, but I can still hear the "thump thump" and it really sends me into a cloudy, high-blood pressure induced grumpy mood. I can feel the thump thump going through every single vein... and I feel like a pacing tiger. I can't think, I can't do a single thing because my entire mind is obsessed with this thump thump. I literally "shut down'.

I don't think I'm so much looking for a solution on how to get rid of the thump thump (i.e. headphones, just leave and go shopping, call the cops, etc...) but I am wondering if this is a normal reaction.

Is it just a sign of age? Am I next going to yell at kids to get off my lawn? Or is something wrong with me in relation to that particular sound? I know it's an odd question, but none of my friends (or husband) seem to mind the noise.. I can hear it even when it's low and it affects me.

This only started happening to me about 3 years ago. I used to live in apartments and I don't remember ever *really* being bothered by other noises. Headphones isn't an option to "fix" it. I have a 4yr old. Thanks.

The Call of the Mole

misteraitch — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:47:05 -0800

Where can I find a recording of the cry or call or shriek or squeak of the common European mole, Talpa Europaea?

How to quiet my creaking loft bed?

raygan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:30:48 -0800

How can I minimize creaking/cracking noises from my new IKEA STORÅ Loft Bed? So, it's my first real New York apartment, and my room is pretty small. Not a closet, but pretty small. I knew I still wanted a full size bed (I'm a tall guy) and that a bed that size would take up most of the room, so I opted for a loft bed, so I'd still have room for a desk.

I picked this bed, the Stora bed from IKEA.

Three days later, I have the loft bed built, and it's my maiden voyage up the ladder. Ceiling height checks out; so far so good, and then...

Every motion I make, going up the ladder, getting under the covers, rolling over, is met by a loud cracking noise. We're talking about more than a simple creak; it's a series of loud, sharp cracks, with every motion of the bed.

So this is why they don't let you go up the ladder of the one in the store! I expected the bed to make some amount of noise, but this is rather more than I can deal with. I'm afraid my housemates are going to be woken up by it.

Is there any way to lessen the noise? I've tightened the bolts to no avail. Should I lubricate the joints somehow? Put carpeting under the legs? Cover it in duct tape and foam baffling? Please help, before I have to take a saw to this thing and turn it into a regular bed!

I love Jay-Z, but autotune is still alive and well. For now.

anildash — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:30:32 -0800

What's a good (and not terribly expensive) portable setup for adding AutoTune to live vocals? This would be in NYC, and the world needs to experience AutoTune karaoke. I don't have ProTools on my laptop, but I'd be open to renting some gear or buying some software if it weren't prohibitively expensive. My ideal setup would be that we could run vox through a laptop rig, and have the karaoke venue just plug in to the laptop's output. Bonus points if it can be done with the basic autotune feature built in to Garage Band, and a Mac-based solution is preferred.

How can I duplicate this synth sound in Reason?

neilkod — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:00:08 -0800

What's this synth sound called and how do I make it in Reason? The sound in question begins at :14. For all I know it could be in one of the million Reason synth presets, but which one? If there is a word to describe it, maybe I could google it. Bonus points for helping me create it in Reason.

disclaimer: i have NOTHING to do with this game I just want to make this funky-ass sound

How to make the Sound of Music sluttier?

Sully — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:55:40 -0800

Most Halloweens I have a small Rocky Horror Picture Show party at my place. But this year I wanted to screen a different musical. Still, I want people to dress up, and I want the night to carry the same raucous, raunchy tone. How can I "slutify" The Sound of Music?

EV RE50N/D-B mic + Olympus LS-10 recorder = hollow, tinny sound

BugsPotter — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:03:19 -0800

Recordings made using an ElectroVoice RE50N/D-B microphone with my Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder sound quiet, tinny and hollow. Why could this be? I have an Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder and a ElectroVoice RE50N/D-B microphone which I use to record interviews for a show I do that airs on a college radio station. When I transfer the audio from the recorder to my MacBook, the audio sounds hollow, tinny and very quiet. However, the strange thing is, if I shift the balance on the internal speakers to the left or right (not centered), it sounds much much better. Recordings made with the Olympus LS-10's internal microphone (without the EV mic) sound just fine. This same problem existed with another EV mic that I used, so I don't think it's the particular mic I'm using now.

For a while I thought this could be a problem with my MacBook, but then I played one of the interviews on the air and it sounded the same. The audio sounds fine on some computers though. So, basically, I'm at a total loss. Anyone have anything like this happen before or have any thoughts as to why it could be happening? Thanks!!

no noise

theyexpectresults — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:04:32 -0800

Macbook pro sound problem. Some sounds only heard through headphones. On my macbook pro (early 2008 model), the sound generally works fine, both through the built in speakers and through headphones. However, when I tried to run certain programs, I can only hear their sound output if I have headphones plugged in (while other sounds still function normally).

The programs were the white/pink noise generators noise and noisy. I was just mucking about with them, but now I am curious as to what is going on.

Can anyone help to explain what could be causing this? The likely candidate is that I did have a trial of Audio Hijack Pro installed, but I removed it when it screwed up Skype. I am using the latest version of Leopard.

Low Audio on Bootcamp Windows XP

strangememes — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:03:06 -0800

I have a few Macbook Pro systems at work that we've installed Windows XP via Bootcamp on. We've done this with previous Macbook models in the past. This time, however, there is an audio problem: the audio on the XP side is so low it's close to non-existent. Is anyone familiar with this problem? Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? I've been googling this and checking the Microsoft help but have come up short.

Some pertinent information:

Macbook Pro
Windows XP
Audio Hardware: Cirrus Logic 4206
Current Audio Driver: Cirrus Logic HD Audio

Hoping to listen to the Singalong Sound of Music with audience participating.

Sully — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:12:39 -0800

Can anyone help me find an audio version of the Singalong Sound of Music with the audience participation included in the recording? I am not looking for a short clip (the only things I've managed to find so far) but rather, the entire show. Thanks.

Cockadoodle STFU!

@homer — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:13:43 -0800

I need some earplugs to block out rooster crows while I sleep. Help! The neighbors a couple houses over decided it would be just dandy to have a rooster. The damn thing crows day and night. I did talk to the neighbors and they don't care. They got the rooster to have fresh eggs. Yeah, dumb as a box of rocks.

What kind of earplugs would block out the crows? I've tried the orange foam plugs fom Walgreens and some 3M earplugs that looked the same and worked about as well which is to say not very. While low frequency sound is blocked the high frequency stuff comes through pretty loud and clear. Clear enough that I wish Hawkeye was here with his powers of persuasion.

Does anyone have any earplug recommendations so I can sleep again?

Source of rising locomotive sound?

Mapes — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:51:30 -0800

What is the MMM ^{M^{M^M!}}sound an idling locomotive makes every few minutes? I used to live by a rail yard, and recently took a long train ride from Boston to Chicago. I've noticed a weird rising sound that idling locomotives make occasionally. It's very loud, has a rising pitch, lasts a second or two, and is so unusual and distinctive that it sounds like God's own spaceship being charged up. What is it?