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Soundcloud waveform question...
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SCircuit
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
66
Posted : Dec 30, 2011 13:54:30
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OK so I've noticed that when I hear a really well mixed track, that the waveforms kind of make an "overlapping sine wave pattern". Tracks like these sound really clean on the bottom end and just clear throughout the whole mix. On mixes that clearly have low end frequency issues, these patterns are missing. I can recognize now when i'm going to hear something clean just by seeing the waveform.
Any clue what this is called or why it's happening?
  http://soundcloud.com/short-circuit
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Short-Circuit/446249920482?ref=nf |
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orgytime
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
120
Posts :
1703
Posted : Dec 30, 2011 15:26
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SCircuit
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
66
Posted : Dec 30, 2011 16:07
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Colin OOOD
Moderator
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5380
Posted : Dec 30, 2011 17:25
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That's nothing to do with the tonality of the sound, I'm afraid. It's visual aliasing: the waveform display is calculated using a much lower sample-rate than the actual audio (because the pixels are bigger than a single audio sample) and those overlapping sine waves that you see are the result; they don't actually appear in the tracks themselves.
I'm sorry to say that your peception that this is somehow related to the clarity of the track is most likely just a placebo effect.
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faxinadu
Faxi Nadu / Elmooht
Started Topics :
282
Posts :
3394
Posted : Dec 31, 2011 01:52
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splikz
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
287
Posted : Dec 31, 2011 02:12
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SCircuit
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
66
Posted : Dec 31, 2011 02:21
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Thanks Colin, might just be a placebo effect but I had just started noticing those waveforms.
So this aliasing is just how it was converted during upload? Does the phasing have anything to do with how these waves come out in the end product? If it's a visual thing, why does it look like 3 sine waves 180 degrees off-phase from each other? Some tracks have none of this and just look flatter.
http://soundcloud.com/short-circuit
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Short-Circuit/446249920482?ref=nf |
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Upavas
Upavas
Started Topics :
150
Posts :
3315
Posted : Dec 31, 2011 03:37
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Quote:
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On 2011-12-30 17:25, Colin OOOD wrote:
That's nothing to do with the tonality of the sound, I'm afraid. It's visual aliasing: the waveform display is calculated using a much lower sample-rate than the actual audio (because the pixels are bigger than a single audio sample) and those overlapping sine waves that you see are the result; they don't actually appear in the tracks themselves.
I'm sorry to say that your peception that this is somehow related to the clarity of the track is most likely just a placebo effect.
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I like the way you describe exactly why and what this wave form depiction is... 
Thank you C
Upavas - Here And Now (Sangoma Rec.) new EP out Oct.29th, get it here:
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http://soundcloud.com/upavas-1/ |
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