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Thread: dB A

  1. #1

    Default dB A

    A client has asked me to deliver files for a medical device and has asked for dB A. Does SAW Studio output dBA files as opposed to B or C? I'm guessing yes, but thought I should check it out. I've never been asked this before!

    TIA,
    Bill
    " It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life … that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Bill Corkery Productions
    Studio for Creative Audio

  2. #2

    Default Re: dB A

    Quote Originally Posted by bcorkery View Post
    A client has asked me to deliver files for a medical device and has asked for dB A. Does SAW Studio output dBA files as opposed to B or C? I'm guessing yes, but thought I should check it out. I've never been asked this before!

    TIA,
    Bill
    Excuse my ignorance, here, Bill, but... what the heck are you talking about? Never heard of this stuff. Unless you mean A-weighted decibels. A file doesn't embody that, it's a way of measuring relative loudness of a sound source, as I understand it. Maybe he specified an RMS level in A-weighted dB? I guess that would be a thing.
    Dave "it aint the heat, it's the humidity" Labrecque
    Becket, Massachusetts

  3. #3

    Default Re: dB A

    Dave,

    That's it exactly. It seems, if you push the track compression or levelizer too hard, you'll go into B or C weighted files and I understand it and as I look further into it. Can somebody verify that this is the case? Or is there more to it than meets the ... eh, ear?
    " It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life … that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Bill Corkery Productions
    Studio for Creative Audio

  4. #4

    Default Re: dB A

    Bill - "dB A" is NOT a file format - it is a method of calibrating metering for sound pressure levels (aka "SPL")
    More info on the common weighting systems (e.g, "A" and "C") is here - https://www.noisemeters.com/help/faq...-weighting.asp

    Please note that a digital sound file when played back can have the resultant measure of the SPL's varying greatly - depending on the material in the file, how the DAC is calibrated, any attentuation in line, and the amplifier, speakers and room. SPL is measuring the specific sound levels being output in the room - not any level that is inherent in the sound file!

    Seems to me that the people providing you the request are confused themselves and need to provide you a complete specification of what they wish -- or more likely figure out what they really are requesting.

    Best regards,
    Steve Berson
    Last edited by TotalSonic; 07-02-2018 at 10:39 PM.

  5. #5

    Default Re: dB A

    Thanks Steve. I realize that it's an SPL thing and looking at the different curves, I'm guessing they just don't want too much compression going on. The B and C curves look very processed so I'll steer clear of that. I think you're right about just throwing a bunch of tech at me.

    I have time to implement whatever adjustments they'll need.

    Thanks for your expert knowledge,
    Bill
    " It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life … that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Bill Corkery Productions
    Studio for Creative Audio

  6. #6

    Default Re: dB A

    Quote Originally Posted by bcorkery View Post
    Thanks Steve. I realize that it's an SPL thing and looking at the different curves, I'm guessing they just don't want too much compression going on. The B and C curves look very processed so I'll steer clear of that. I think you're right about just throwing a bunch of tech at me.

    I have time to implement whatever adjustments they'll need.

    Thanks for your expert knowledge,
    Bill
    Bill, it's not about processing. The different curves are different ways of measuring loudness of a source. (Not compressing or processing a source, but listening to it in a space.) Again, it's not something done to a file, it's a way of checking the sound pressure level of something playing back acoustically.

    I may not be saying it well. Hopefully, Steve will massage my verbiage.

    Regardless of what you do to a sound file, anyone can measure it's SPL playing back through a sound system using any of the weightings. It's out of your hands. Your client is not making sense.

    Your processed sound file will have no such inherent weighting. How someone measures it's playback loudness will. By definition.

    It's kinda like the Fletcher-Munson curves, but for robots.

    I'll stop talking, now.
    Last edited by Dave Labrecque; 07-03-2018 at 09:49 PM.
    Dave "it aint the heat, it's the humidity" Labrecque
    Becket, Massachusetts

  7. #7

    Default Re: dB A

    This thread reminds me of a lunch stop in a McDonalds about 25 years ago - which for me was a very rare occurrence.
    It was near the end of lunch hours, but when I sat down it was still busy mostly with mothers juggling demands of various kids - loud lunchroom. By the time I was done eating the place had mostly cleared out - but there was still a considerable amount of the sound of kid chaos. I realized that it was coming from the sound system along with some background music. The next realization was that the restaurant - or entire chain was probably practicing some Orwellian technique developed by their psychology consultants to move people in and out of their seats during busy hours to maximize utilization.

    This would be an occasion to specify dbA between the musics average dynamic range, its ratio to noise...

    Be careful not to listen to the mix too long Bill - you might become the next Manchurian Candidate! On the other hand, our civilization might already be a lost cause due to fast food exposure.

    John

  8. #8

    Default Re: dB A

    OK, thanks for the clarification. I'll just go along doing my regular thing. I'm still trying to recover the erased sections of Nixon's cassette tapes!
    " It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life … that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Bill Corkery Productions
    Studio for Creative Audio

  9. #9

    Default Re: dB A

    Quote Originally Posted by bcorkery View Post
    I'll just go along doing my regular thing. I'm still trying to recover the erased sections of Nixon's cassette tapes!
    Cool gig. You are a great American.
    Dave "it aint the heat, it's the humidity" Labrecque
    Becket, Massachusetts

  10. #10

    Default Re: dB A

    " It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life … that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Bill Corkery Productions
    Studio for Creative Audio

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