Image is nothing, sound is everything!
In a studio or in a concert control room, where professional people work, there are no useless things. Any electronic component can be put to good use by a skilled specialist. However, the essence of such things as microphones, mixers, amplifiers and speaker systems is clear even to people who are not particularly versed in the engineering of audio systems. Why do we need reverberators and effects processors, suppressors? feedback and splitters? The sound that is heard from the speakers of home audio systems or sound reinforcement systems of concert halls undergoes multi-stage pre-processing, otherwise it would not have the attractiveness and power that turns ordinary people into music connoisseurs, regardless of their musical preferences.
Some of the devices that make music attractive include compressors and limiters. It is known that a sound signal consists of sounds of varying volumes. The same composition can combine both very quiet and very loud harmonies. Compressors and limiters make weak sounds louder and strong sounds quieter, eliminating the need for the listener to listen and protecting him from the discomfort that deafening sounds can bring. Essentially, compressors and limiters, in a sense, normalize the audio signal by compressing its amplitude, forcing it to be within certain threshold limits.
Equalizers. Frequency response under strict control
There are equalizers in any studio or at any concert venue. Even sound-amplifying conference hall complexes very rarely do without them. The task of such a device is to correct the amplitude-frequency characteristics sound signal. Typically, an equalizer is a set of many frequency filters, which are usually called bands. Professional equalizers that offer subtle work with sound can have dozens of such bands. To control the bandwidth of the bands, equalizers are equipped with slide controls. The control knobs, set in a certain order, seem to clearly demonstrate the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the sound signal. For this reason, such devices are called graphic equalizers. Professional graphic equalizers can have 15 or 31 filters, and in addition they are often equipped with spectrum analyzers.
In addition to the graphic one, there is also a parametric equalizer in nature. Analog devices of this type characterized by a smaller number of adjustable bands, but offer more opportunities for precise adjustment of the frequency response of the signal. Currently, digital parametric equalizers are widely used. They offer three adjustable parameters: operating frequency in hertz; signal quality or operating bandwidth around the operating frequency; gain level of the selected operating frequency in decibels.
Reverberators. Ideal sound in less than ideal conditions
Reverberation is a natural component of high-quality sound, and without it it is impossible to imagine high-quality sound. But it is characteristic of enclosed spaces: the effect of continuation of sound after the end of the impulse or vibration itself is formed by sounds reflected from various types of surfaces - from walls, floors, ceilings. And if you need to get high quality sound outside the walls of the room? Today, concerts and mass shows are held on streets and squares, in stadiums and simply in open fields, and everywhere music and voice, amplified many times over by modern equipment, should sound equally high quality. And they sound, and a special device – a reverberator – saves the situation.
A modern digital reverb is a complex device that solves a single, but difficult task - it recreates the effect of natural reverberation where it is very difficult to obtain it in the usual way. The whole difficulty of the task lies in the fact that the natural effect consists of very complex sequences of reflections and re-reflections. Only the best expensive reverbs can recreate it.
Even the best reverb has at most five reverberation algorithms, but they can have hundreds of sound options created by changing many parameters. In order to make working with such devices as easy as possible, manufacturers include kits in them. standard settings for indoors various types and sizes.
Exciters and enhancers. The sound of noble blood
These two instruments were invented in order to give music a special noble gloss. If an equalizer is needed to correct the frequency characteristics of a sound signal, then exciters and enhancers can not only change the tonal qualities of the sound, but add new harmonics to it, and in exactly the quantity required. There is not much difference between these two instruments: the first is a proprietary name that costs money, and other manufacturers have made their own version of the device with an alternative name.A rotating head is a modern type of lighting equipment designed to create spectacular lighting accompaniment for various festive concerts, events, parties, etc.
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Here you will find both the most affordable models and the most advanced, expensive rotating heads suitable for use in the professional field. Selected rotating models G tins can not only create a luminous flux of any color, but also project color photographs onto any surface. Thanks to such equipment, it becomes possible to organize truly exciting light shows.
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This section presents devices for professional studio or concert sound processing, as well as auxiliary equipment, without which it is difficult to imagine modern concert venues. Let's look at the main types of devices in this section:
Di-box (direct-box, di-box) – allows you to connect musical instruments to mixing consoles or other audio equipment. The DI box converts an unbalanced high-impedance signal from an electric or bass guitar into a low-impedance balanced one, which allows it to be fed to the microphone preamplifiers of the mixer and radically reduces the level of interference when transmitting the signal over long distances.
Compressors, limiters - the most popular effects dynamic processing sound. The compressor compresses the dynamic range, making loud sounds quieter, and quiet ones louder. The limiter only attenuates sounds that are too loud. These effects are often paired with each other, as well as with a gate and expander, but can also be found separately.
Controllers and processors. This section presents monitor controllers - used to route sound in the studio, distributors - distribute the signal to several outputs, as well as various sound processors designed to process the signal before sending it to the amplifier. These may include dynamics processing, graphic and parametric equalization, and protection against volume jumps and feedback.
Crossovers – professional active devices, connected in front of power amplifiers and dividing the signal into several frequency bands.
Feedback suppressors are multi-channel devices that can automatically or manual mode scan each channel, find frequencies at which resonance occurs, and promptly reduce their level.
Psychoacoustic processors. This includes various enhancers, exciters, maximizers and vitalizers to make the sound more vibrant and vibrant. This happens due to the synthesis of new harmonics and various other clever manipulations with sound. This group also includes the de-esser effect, which reduces the level of sibilants in vocal parts.
Equalizers. Professional devices for adjusting signal amplitude depending on frequency characteristics. There are two types: parametric and graphic. Parametric ones allow you to adjust the frequency, width and gain level of each band, while graphic ones regulate a certain number of bands with fixed parameters.
In the POP-MUSIC online store you can buy professional studio and concert equipment from the world's leading brands: ART, BEHRINGER, DBX, EUROCOM, PRESONUS, SM PRO AUDIO, SOUNDKING and others. We have the best prices, competent consultants, convenient payment methods and delivery throughout Russia!
A person hears sounds with a frequency of 30 to 20,000 hertz, and a bat hears sounds up to 100,000 hertz, although the lower limit is approximately equal to ours. So this tiny flying ball, covered with fur, lives in a real world of sounds. Just like the dolphin, this creature finds the food it needs using an echo locator. Scientists have been studying bat sonar for a longer time than dolphin sonar. Back in 1793, the outstanding Italian researcher Lazzaro Spallanzani established that bats navigate and find their prey using hearing. However, it took about 150 years to realize that they do this using ultrasonic location. And here one cannot help but appreciate the work of American scientists G. Pierce, D. Griffin and R. Galambos, who made an invaluable contribution to deciphering the operation of the ultrasonic locator in bats.
Like dolphins, bats have an ultrasound generator and echo receivers. Both devices have achieved perfection in the process of evolution. The larynx of bats is very wide. It, like a resonator, allows you to amplify the ultrasounds created by the whistle. But mice emit not just a whistle, inaudible to our ears, but a series of ultrasonic clicks. Before takeoff, the mouse sends 5-10 signals per second, the search begins - the frequency increases to 20-30 clicks, and the mouse catches the insect at 250 signals per second. How a mouse produces a continuous series of squeaks is not yet known.
U different types Bat generators differ in structure. In some, the smooth-nosed bats, sounds, as we said, are made by the larynx, which is why such a bat flies with its mouth open. Most smooth-nosed mice live on the North American continent, but we also have their representatives. The smallest of them - bats - are found in the Moscow region and almost throughout central Russia. At dusk you can easily see them hunting for insects against the backdrop of the still undimmed sky. By creating a series of signals, the pipistrelle, like all smooth-nosed bats, sends ultrasound in all directions and then picks up the reflected signal. Another group of bats, horseshoe bats, which can be found, for example, in the Caucasus, generates ultrasonic signals not with their mouths, but with their noses. Around their nose is a fleshy projection resembling a horseshoe, which allows them to reflect ultrasound and collect it into a narrow bundle. The horseshoe bat flies with its mouth closed, the pulses last a thousandth of a second (100 ms), and in smooth-nosed bats it is a click of only one millisecond (Fig. 5). Therefore, if the horseshoe bat goes to a low frequency, its signals resemble the ticking of a wristwatch.
The receiver of reflected signals in bats is also a perfect device: after all, it is capable of hearing an echo that is 2000 times weaker than the signal sent by the generator. It is understandable that large ears are needed to pick up such weak signals; and in some species they reach almost half the total length of the head and body. So, eared ears are 8 centimeters in size and have ears that are 4 centimeters long. The inner ear also has a special structure. Let us remember that vibrations are transmitted from the middle ear to the inner stapes, and the part of the bat's ear located next to the stapes is greatly expanded.
Well, now about the most interesting thing - the design of the bat sound receiver, which allows you to protect it from the scream-impulse sent by its own locator. After all, the sent impulse, as we said, is 2000 times stronger than the received reflected sounds. The mouse can deafen itself with such a sound and then not hear anything. To prevent this from happening, before the ultrasound pulse, the stapes is pulled away from the window of the cochlea of the inner ear by a special muscle. The vibrations are mechanically interrupted and do not enter the inner ear. Essentially, the stapes also makes a click, but not a sound, but an “anti-sound” one; it immediately returns to its place after the cry-signal, and the ear is ready to receive the reflected signal. You’re simply amazed at how quickly a muscle can contract and relax, turning off the mouse’s hearing for the duration of the scream-impulse sent! When flying high, this is only 5 pulses per second. At a lower flight altitude - 10-12 pulses, and when chasing prey - 200-250 pulses per second. Of course, with the most high frequency the muscle does not have time to turn off the ear every time, but the echo is so strong that even with the stirrup retracted, the bat most likely hears signals reflected from an insect located a few centimeters from its muzzle.
You can’t say anything, the echo-location system of a bat is a perfect radar installation operating in the ultrasonic range. Its mass is no more than 7.5 grams, and it contains both a transmitter, a receiver, and a computing device - the brain. Let us remember that a man-made radar installation weighs tens of kilograms and to transport it you need a truck or a car specially equipped for a radar installation. Of course, the radar operates on radio waves, not ultrasound, and its range is significantly superior to the ultrasonic bat locator. Their location principle is the same, but the living system is much more efficient, given its tiny mass.
One can only be amazed at the ingenuity of nature and the evolutionary mechanisms that formed ultrasonic devices in living beings. Bats hear ultrasonic vibrations with a frequency of up to 100,000 hertz, and the moths and lacewings they hunt perceive ultrasonic signals with a frequency of up to 240,000 hertz. Their “ears” resemble the hearing organs of the grasshoppers discussed earlier. As soon as the insects hear that a bat is locating them, they begin to perform aerobatic maneuvers, spirals and loops so that the bat misses and does not grab them. And since insects are more agile than bats, they often manage to dodge their pursuer. But the relationship between butterflies and bats does not end there. It has recently been established that some butterflies themselves are capable of producing ultrasonic pulses. As soon as the insect discovers that the bat is following its path with localizing signals, it itself begins to emit ultrasonic pulses. Moreover, these impulses have such an effect on the pursuer that he flies away, as if frightened.
What makes bats stop chasing an insect that emits ultrasonic signals?
There are only assumptions on this score for now. According to one of them, ultrasonic clicks are adaptive signals of insects, similar to those sent by the bat itself, only 1000 times stronger. Expecting to hear a faint reflected sound from his signal, the pursuer hears a deafening roar, as if a supersonic aircraft is breaking the sound barrier. According to other ideas, held by the famous researcher of animal senses R. Burton, moths emit warning ultrasonic signals for bats. If you want, this can also be called mimicry, only not visual, but ultrasonic. Many insects strive to blend in with their environment and acquire appropriate protective colors. A number of poisonous insects, on the contrary, are dressed in the brightest colorful “suits”. This is a coloring warning. But for bats that hunt at night, bright colors don't matter. Poisonous insects use ultrasonic warning signals. Perhaps harmless butterflies have learned the protective role of these signals and frighten bats with them. So it turned out to be a kind of mimicry.
How, in a long evolutionary process, did insects develop the ability to perceive ultrasonic signals and instantly understand the danger that the “signals” of a bat carry? With ultrasonic signals of bats it is even more difficult - no screams and signals from fellow tribesmen (and sometimes over 20,000,000 of them gather in one place, like in the Bracken Cave in the southern USA), no artificial ultrasonic signals created by humans using equipment interfere with hunting bats. They recognize their echo among millions of voices and other sounds, and playing the signals created by the butterfly causes the mouse to fly away. These signals are perfectly matched to the locator of the flying animal, and perhaps their clicks are heard exactly at the time when the bat turns on its ear to hear the echo. If this is so, then the moth manages to receive the frequency of the impulse locating it and send a response, taking into account the approach of the hunter, exactly in unison with him. Such a device cannot be formed gradually, through the process of selection and improvement. The insect receives it immediately in finished form, only then will it save its life. This is how a complex sound locator poses a new mystery in the evolution of living things, which scientists have not yet solved.
Bats produce ultrasound sounds not through their vocal cords, but through whistling. It’s just not clear how you can whistle with clicks. But the capabilities of ultrasonic location are higher than location at the frequency of audible sounds. Firstly, ultrasound propagates in a directed beam, and secondly, the location improves as the wavelength decreases - the reflected echo from small objects is less distorted. High-frequency sounds emitted in the laboratory by clicks, like those of dolphins or bats, allowed blind people with well-developed hearing to recognize objects and the material from which the objects under study were made, although they, of course, were far from the capabilities that “living” people are capable of. locators".
Cats also hear ultrasounds. Our “kiss-kiss” contains a whole chord of ultrasounds, and perhaps in it cats hear a series of whistles in a wide range. Dogs are not inferior to cats; they can even be trained to come running to their owner when an ultrasonic whistle sounds. The upper limit of hearing varies among people. Children can hear higher pitched sounds compared to adults. A case is described when a four-year-old boy woke up at night, woke up his parents and began to insist that “it” was screaming and squeaking. The parents didn't hear anything. At first they thought that the child had seen something in a dream and began to calm him down. After a while, the child screamed again that “it” beeped and that there was someone in the room. The parents, in order to calm the child, began to search the room and found... a bat clinging to one of the curtains. To be fair, it can be noted that the child would still not have heard the ultrasounds on which the bat locates insects; most likely, these were signals sent by other bats at low-wave ultrasound frequencies, somewhere in the region of 25,000 hertz.
Not all animals have such a complex and perfect echo-location apparatus as bats and dolphins. Some animals only use their sonar to navigate dark caves. Thus, in Southeast Asia, swiftlets live in caves. They are famous for their nests of thick, congealed saliva. In oriental cuisine they are used to make soup and are called “swallow’s nests.” In caves, swiftlets make clicking sounds up to 5-10 times per second and use the echo to determine where the walls are and where the nests are. Another bird, the guajaro from South America, also spends all day in dark caves and only flies out at night to feast on the fruits of trees. In a dark cave, she navigates with the help of sonar, emitting piercing, abrupt screams with a frequency of about 7000 hertz.
One evening at the dacha I heard thin and sharp squeaks. What could it be? I took a flashlight and headed towards the source of the strange sounds. In the beam of a flashlight stood my cat, and in front of him, as it seemed to me at first, was a tiny mouse. After some time, it was possible to see that this was a shrew - the smallest insectivorous mammal of our fauna. Whenever the cat tried to move forward and grab the shrew, she made such piercing squeaks that the surprised cat jumped back. The whistles, of course, were produced in the ultrasonic range, which frightened the cat even more.
It is known that shrews are great specialists in reproducing ultrasound. But shrews not only use ultrasounds to scare away their enemies, they also use them for echo location. Biologists had to work hard before they discovered the echo-location system in these mammals. The experiments had to be carried out in complete darkness, and the animals had to be observed using night vision devices.
The scientists took two platforms, washed them thoroughly to eliminate olfactory orientation effects, and moved the platforms apart different distances. If the jump was successful, the shrews received their favorite food. As usual, the animal ran to the edge of one platform, examined it, and then with a precise jump moved to another platform, from which a path led to food. If the distance between the platforms was 17 centimeters, the shrews easily found the second platform and jumped onto it. As soon as the distance was increased to 25 centimeters, the jumping stopped, the animal rushed along the edge of the first platform, felt where the second one was, but it was very difficult to overcome the huge “abyss” for it. These experiments helped scientists establish that shrews use ultrasound to locate them.
We met the inhabitants of the air, caves, land creatures and inhabitants of the deep sea, who have ultrasonic echo locators that amaze with their perfection and show ways of creating new locating devices.
Designed for sound processing, which can be divided into four main groups: Dynamic processing devices, Frequency processing, Modulation processing, and Spatial and temporal processing devices. Devices for dynamic sound processing: Compressor, Limiter, Expander, And Gate. Compressor- A device that compresses the dynamic range of a signal. Compressor weakens the sound volume in cases where the signal exceeds a certain, predetermined level. Limiter- A device that prevents a signal from exceeding a set volume level can be implemented using a compressor. Expander- A device whose operation is opposite to that of a compressor. Expander expands the dynamic range of the signal. Gate- a device capable of cutting a signal below a set threshold. Used to eliminate noise in pauses between useful signals. Gate, is able to cut off the “tail” of the signal, which will make the sound clearer. Frequency signal processing devices:Graphic equalizer,Parametric equalizer. Graphic equalizer- a device with sets of frequencies specified by the manufacturer, at each of which the signal can be amplified or weakened. Parametric equalizer- the most common device for frequency processing of sound, allowing you to select a frequency band, and in this frequency range, weaken or strengthen the signal. Modulation signal processing devices: X orus,Flanger. Horus- a fairly common modulation processing device, the principle of which is based on a floating time delay of the signal, Horus Creates the effect of multiple instruments when only one is playing. Flanger- a device that operates similar to Horus, but with a slight difference, which is the use of feedback and the appearance of additional resonant frequencies. Temporary sound processing devices:Delay,reverb. Delay- a device with an echo effect, with the ability to adjust the time delay. Reverb- a frequently used device, the essence of which is to attenuate the signal by repeatedly reflecting this signal from obstacles, achieving a surround sound effect. Effects of mountains, a large concert hall, underwater sound effect, etc.
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