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Compressor Question

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#61
taurus1 said:
3dB is the smallest perceivable difference to the human ear.
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I was not able to find any reference that says that, or in fact that links any dB number to that description. I was able to find this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel):

"A change in power by a factor of two is approximately a 3 dB change."

The dB is a mathematical construct, not a measure of what is audible or discernible by human hearing. I have always heard that an increase of 6dB is roughly equivalent to a doubling of apparent volume, but I didn't see that, either.
 
#62
Stone Soup said:
No, I think you're talking out your butt. You claim to make an 'inaudible 3dB change to help the singer'. I want to know where your measurement is coming from. How do you know the the adjustment is 3dB? Or are you just throwing out numbers?

I'm not embarrassed, at all. Teach me something, swami.
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you're getting confused, I never made that claim.
I'm just letting you know, it is common knowledge that 3dB is the smallest perceivable difference in audio to humans.
you and georgestrings have blown this way out of proportion and turned this into a personal attack against me,
I don't really care.
you seem to have an interest in sound though so see my post about the Yamaha book.
 
#65
ggunn said:
Common knowledge is frequently wrong. Can you cite a reference?
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Never mind; I will. I hauled out my EE Acoustics Engineering textbook and looked it up. It says, "...under controlled conditions, the ear can barely detect a 3-dB difference in level, and with normal everyday background level present, a change of 5 dB requires careful listening." Source: Industrial Noise Control - Fundamentals and Applications, Lewis H. Bell, 1982, p.38.

Apparently you are at least qualitatively correct.
 
#66
taurus1 said:
y
you and georgestrings have blown this way out of proportion and turned this into a personal attack against me,
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It's not a personal attack on you. You're just the one who kept answering.

It's my strong belief, because I sing all the time, that your method of getting more volume out of a vocalist is a poor one. Advising anyone to play with monitor levels to force a singer to sing louder is not a good way to go about things. Not quite sure why you think it is, other than some guru you respect told you it was okay.

My voice doesn't come with a built in volume control. I sing how I need to, to get the notes out and to keep my voice working properly. An engineer forcing me to sing louder, or outside of my comfort zone, might be doing damage.

It's not for YOU to decide how loud I am supposed to sing. It's for you to make whatever I'm giving you work. It's really that simple.
 
#67
ggunn said:
Never mind; I will. I hauled out my EE Acoustics Engineering textbook and looked it up. It says, "...under controlled conditions, the ear can barely detect a 3-dB difference in level, and with normal everyday background level present, a change of 5 dB requires careful listening." Source: Industrial Noise Control - Fundamentals and Applications, Lewis H. Bell, 1982, p.38.

Apparently you are at least qualitatively correct.
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There are different sources with different information. OSHA seems to think 3dB is pretty significant.
 
#68
Stone Soup said:
There are different sources with different information. OSHA seems to thing 3dB is pretty significant.
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Apples and oranges. OSHA is concerned with the magnitude of SPL. At very high SPL, 3 dB may indeed make a difference to the damage it can do to your ears, as it is a doubling of the power, but that doesn't mean you could necessarily hear the difference. You get into temporary threshold shift and all bets are off, anyway.

BTW, the source I cited is an upper division university engineering school textbook. I made an A in the class, but it was many years ago. Some of you probably weren't born yet. :D
 
#69
ggunn said:
Apples and oranges. OSHA is concerned with the magnitude of SPL. At very high SPL, 3 dB may indeed make a difference to the damage it can do to your ears, as it is a doubling of the power, but that doesn't mean you could necessarily hear the difference. You get into temporary threshold shift and all bets are off, anyway.
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So what is considered very high SPL? I'm asking; not arguing. Many of us regularly work at around 95dB stage volume or better.
 
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