Doing The Homework
Let me get back to audio for a minute. This is related to the first part, where I think equipment has been watered down and manufacturers are ever-tempted to cater to the lowest common denominator. As already stated, equipment is only half the issue.
What concerns me even more is that it has become increasingly rare to talk with someone who really understands the fundamentals of audio.
It seems a lot of folks have long-held beliefs about audio issues that are based on anecdotal information, an isolated personal experience, a less-than scrupulous manufacturer’s marketing literature – or parts of all of the above.
It leads me to posit (once again) that not enough people in our industry are learning the fundamental principles behind the work they’re doing.
There was an interesting post on ProSoundWeb recently that linked to an article about how “experts” quite often steer us wrong.
The only solution, really, is to think for ourselves. But before we can do that, we need to educate ourselves about the important issues. And to do that, we must first understand the fundamentals.
How many times have you heard someone say “Sorry, captain, but I can’t change the laws of physics?” (With or without a Scottish accent).
So, what laws of physics are we trying to break when doing our jobs? Inverse Square Law? The speed of sound? Ohm’s Law? The fact that latency is inherent in A/D conversion? Mismatched impedance?
O.K., maybe all of them aren’t laws of physics, and hopefully we know which is which. But still, they’re all based on those laws.
Hopefully, none of this causes you to lose sleep, but just as hopefully, all of this does provide something to think about. And maybe we can talk about it further, preferably over a glass of single-malt.
Karl Winkler is Director of Business Development at Lectrosonics and has worked in professional audio for more than 15 years.