I got to thinking about the pro audio products I’d like to see invented after reading a similar story on home theater audio.
When you think about it, we’ve all gotten pretty comfortable with technology that no one could ever consider as cutting edge.
Even though core recording products exist in the following areas, there’s plenty of room for growth.
Let’s take a look at a pie-in-the-sky wish list:
1. A new loudspeaker technology. We’ve been listening to recorded and reinforced sound with the same technology for about 100 years now. Sure, the loudspeaker has improved and evolved, but it’s still the weakest link in the audio chain.
What we need is a new loudspeaker technology that improves the listening experience and takes sonic realism to the next level.
2. A new microphone technology. Something is seriously wrong when the best and most cherished microphones that we use today were made 50 years ago. Just like loudspeakers, the technology has improved and evolved over the years, but it’s basically the same in that it’s still based around moving a diaphragm or ribbon through a magnetic field or changing the electrical charge between two plates (that’s a condenser mic, if you didn’t know).
There has to be a new technology that takes a giant leap to getting us closer to realism than what we have now.
3. Get rid of the wires. Studios have been pretty successful at reducing the amount of wiring in the last 10 years or so, but there’s still too much. We need to eliminate them completely. Think how much different your studio would be with wireless speakers, microphones, connections to outboard gear, etc.
Much of this is possible today, but the real trick is to make the signal transmission totally lossless with zero interference.
