Ancient Audio Makes Debut 150 Years Later

An “ethereal” 10 second clip of a woman singing a French folk song has been played for the first time in 150 years. The recording of “Au Clair de la Lune”, recorded in 1860, is thought to be the oldest known recorded human voice.

A phonograph of Thomas Edison singing a children’s song in 1877 was previously thought to be the oldest record.The new “phonautograph”, created by etching soot-covered paper, has now been played by US scientists using a “virtual stylus” to read the lines.”

When I first heard the recording as you hear it … it was magical, so ethereal,” audio historian David Giovannoni, who found the recording, told AP.

“The fact is it’s recorded in smoke. The voice is coming out from behind this screen of aural smoke.”

The short song was captured on April 9, 1860 by a phonautograph, a device created by a Parisian inventor, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville.

The device etched representations of sound waves into paper covered in soot from a burning oil lamp. Lines were scratched into the soot by a needle moved by a diaphragm that responded to sound. The recordings were never intended to be played. It was retrieved from Paris by Mr Giovanni, working with First Sounds, a group of audio historians, recording engineers and sound archivists who aim to make mankind’s earliest sound recordings available to all.

To retrieve the sounds scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in California made very high-resolution digital scans of the paper and used a “virtual stylus” to read the scrawls. However, because the phonautograph recordings were made using a hand-cranked device, the speed varied throughout, changing the pitch.

“If someone’s singing at middle C and the crank speeds up and slows down, the waves change shape and are shifting, Earl Cornell, a scientist at LBNL, told AP.

“We had a tuning fork side by side with the recording, so you can correct the sound and speed variations.”

Previously, the oldest known recorded voice was thought to be Thomas Edison’s recording of Mary had a little lamb. The inventor of the light bulb recorded the stanza to test another of his inventions - the phonograph - in 1877.

“It doesn’t take anything away from Thomas Edison, in my opinion,” Mr Giovannoni told Reuters.”

But actually, the truth is he was the first person to have recorded [sound] and played it back.”

The new recording will be presented on 28 March at a conference of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections at Stanford University in California.

Source: BBC News

Alltel Wireless Offers More Voice Over Perks with Voicemail MAX

Alltel Wireless has announced that it will offer Voicemail MAX™, an application designed to enable customers to personalize outgoing voicemail greetings with the voices of Hollywood stars, comedians, celebrity impersonators, and top-selling music artists.

Voicemail MAX has been developed by 9 Squared, a Zed Company and provider of mobile content in the U.S. This solution features content from Larry the Cable Guy, Steve Harvey, Orlando Jones, T.I. and popular voices from Comedy Central’s Reno 911.

“With Voicemail MAX from Alltel Wireless, our customers now have a fun way to personalize their wireless service,” said Kristi Crum, director of multi-media content for Alltel Wireless, in a Thursday statement.

“With hundreds of messages to choose from, customers can select voicemail greetings that match their personalities for incoming calls from friends, family and colleagues.”

Available on select phones and providing access to more than 500 audio clips recorded by premier voice talent, Voicemail MAX can be downloaded and previewed for no additional cost through the phone’s main menu.

A greeting may be purchased for $2.99 and customers have the option to choose from a wide variety of content categories that include Hip Hop Celebrities, Rock Stars, Sports, Business, Holiday , Cartoon, and many others.

“Voicemail MAX establishes a new category for mobile personalization. Our unique content from providers like Warner Music Group and MTV Networks allows Alltel Wireless subscribers to customize their voicemail greetings with entertaining clips from the worlds of comedy, music and pop culture,” said Brian Casazza, Chief Executive Officer for 9 Squared, in Thursday’s statement.

“We are pleased to team with Alltel Wireless, a leading provider of cutting-edge, fun and engaging solutions for their subscribers.”

Alltel Wireless provides customers with choice and control when it comes to their wireless experience. This concept is further promoted with the company’s expansion to “My Circle” which provides customers with the freedom of unlimited calling to and from five, 10 or 20 numbers on any network for free.

9 Squared is an independent distributor of mobile content. The company is equipped with a catalog of premier mobile content and extensive wireless distribution partnerships. Offering best-in-breed mobile distribution technology, direct response marketing and content programming and merchandising expertise, 9 Squared’s capabilities span the value chain.

Zed develops and markets mobile and online entertainment and community products and services. The company is present in 38 countries, including Europe’s largest markets, the U.S. and China. Zed holds agreements with more than 100 mobile network operators and employs 1,400 staff.

Consumers are continuing to demand more and more from their mobile experience and Alltel Wireless understands that it must be able to offer its client base personalization that incorporates fun and is a reflection of their personality.

This approach to customization enables the customer to reflect their unique persona through their voicemail. The huge demand for such customization will help to drive revenue for Alltel Wireless, while also drawing in customers to add to the base.

Source: TMCNet.com

Can Microphones Block Out a Diesel Locomotive’s Roar?

I don’t claim to be any kind of expert in this arena… I’ve recorded on lots of different mics and thought I sounded better on some than others, but a lot of it has to do with what I was reading and how I was reading it.

Yesterday, I posted about a job where I had to voice match myself, replacing audio I recorded two years ago. One of the interesting things about this job was the microphone I used.

The studio where I recorded has no traditional sound booth. In fact, my recording was done sitting at a desk with a bunch of computer and audio equipment on it. About 4 feet behind me was a big window, looking out to a Chicago street, just a few blocks away from one of the biggest train stations in the city.

At one point, I was recording and I stopped as a train was passing nearby. The clack-clack-clack of the train wheels over track seams and the engine roar were pretty loud, so I stopped reading.

A few seconds later, the producer, who was listening from another room where he was actually laying the audio down to a computer, asked “Is something wrong?”“I just figured I’d wait for the train to pass,” I said.“Oh, I didn’t hear it. I’m still rolling… just go on when you’re ready.”

So how is this possible? How could I record “clean” audio in a non-sound treated room with a diesel locomotive passing by just a few blocks away?

The answer is in the microphone we were using. A handheld job from a company called Coles - the 4104 Commentator’s Noice Cancelling Ribbon Microphone.Designed in the 1950s by Dudley Harwood and D.E.L. Shorter of the BBC, the 4104 is a pressure gradient ribbon microphone with a lot of acoustic dampening. What this means is that it’s very good at picking up the speaker but little else.

While the technical aspects of how this is achieved are beyond my knowledge (and, perhaps, understanding), it becomes a little easier to understand once you see the microphone and how it’s used.

The XLR connection for the mic is at the base of the handle, so the mic needs to be hand-held. Notice, though, that the business end of the mic is covered by two screen filters: There’s an oval filter across the front of the mic and a second filter, this one rectangular, that covers the top of the mic and protrudes from the front of the mic by about 1/2″ with a rounded, concave leading edge.

The purpose of this leading edge is that the speaker is supposed to rest this up against his or her upper lip. Yes, the mic is actually designed to touch your face while you’re speaking, which seems odd compared to the use of most mics, but doesn’t really create as much of an issue as it might seem like it would just by reading about it. This funky usage style has led to the 4104 being called “The Lip Mic” by some.

And I have to say, the mic works really well. It seems to have a pretty flat sound, which to me means that it doesn’t add much in the way of presence or brightness… it just reproduces what the speaker sounds like. And it picks up very little, if anything else. The Coles product literature for the 4104 claims that it can be used outdoors in winds up to 20mph with no noticeable decrease in the vocal quality of the user. That is pretty darn cool.

Do a little research on the mic and you’ll see it’s been used to record at sporting events, in big crowds, during hurricanes, in taxi cabs and in plenty of other environments where an ordinary mic would require the voice talent to shout just to be heard.The 4104 sells for about $650 - $700 and would seem to be a good mic to investigate if you frequently find the need to record in loud places or spaces that haven’t been acoustically treated.

The official product page for the 4104 can be found here.

Source: Lou Zucaro’s Blog

CeBIT Enthralled By IVONA’s Voice

The stand of IVO Software, the manufacturer of one of the best text to speech systems in the world, was among those attracting the largest numbers of visitors at this year’s CeBIT. The opportunity to enter texts and listen to IVONA reading them out aroused the biggest interest.

CeBIT is one of the most prestigious IT events in the world, organized in Hannover, Germany. This year it took place from 4 to 9 March. IVO Software’s stand was in the “future parc” which enjoyed an enormous popularity among the visitors. The most frequently tested voice was that of Jennifer - an American English voice generated by the text to speech system IVONA.

“People testing our text to speech system were hugely impressed by the natural sound of the speech and the intonation of questions. IVO’s stand was also frequently visited by the representatives of other companies present at CeBIT, who showed vivid interest in IVONA’s potential” - says Lukasz Osowski, the President of IVO Software.

At the fair IVO presented its IVONA text to speech system and products based on it: IVONA Telecom - for telecommunications applications such as Call Center or for IVR systems; IVONA SDK - for hardware and software manufacturers who want to implement the text to speech system in their products (e.g. mobile devices, GPS, etc.); IVONA Professional - for enterprises, e.g. allowing to prepare text to speech voice overs (for applications such as presentations, audiobooks, announcement systems, voice prompts in elevators) or for converting texts into audio files; IVONA Desktop - for individual users and for small business (SOHO).

“Anybody who wants to test IVONA and find out more about its applications should visit our new website - www.ivona.com. We also invite private computer users to visit www.expressivo.com - a website presenting software reading books, documents, news and notices with IVONA’s natural human voices” - encourages Mr. Osowski.

The speech generation technology developed by IVO Software is regarded as one of the best in the world. This is confirmed by the numerous honors and awards it has won. IVONA’s voice quality was also recognized at the prestigious international Blizzard Challenge. Two times in a row, in 2006 and 2007, it was considered one of the closest to a natural voice. IVO Software was established in 2001 and since then it has been involved only in creation and development of speech synthesis products.

To find out more about IVO Software visit: http://www.ivosoftware.com.

Source: NewsBlaze.com

iXMF File Format Available for Public Preview, Sony onboard to Adopt for PS3 Tools

The Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (IASIG) has announced the release of a public preview draft for its Interactive XMF File Format Specification (iXMF), hoping to ease cross-platform development, with Sony onboard to adopt the format in its PS3 tools.

The iXMF specification is an open, non-proprietary file format for interactive audio content, created with the input of composers and designers of interactive systems and content. It combines audio and MIDI data with scripting that describes intelligent or adaptive playback behaviors.

Previously, IASIG explains, audio development for interactive entertainment platforms has relied on proprietary tools and middleware, each of which requires a specialized knowledge base not transferable among the different platforms.

iXMF aims to resolve this by supporting typical interactive audio system functions and representing them in a standardized way, to the exchange of data among other tools and platforms. The standardized file format, adds IASIG, also makes iXMF suitable for game audio production.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Michael Kelly pledged his company’s support for the format: “We’re supporting iXMF in our new audio tools so sound designers can take advantage of the incredible audio processing power of the PS3,” he said.

Interested parties may download the draft document with reviewers’ instructions at http://www.iasig.org/pubs/ixmf_draft-v091a.pdf.

Source: Gamasutra.com

Flashpoint Installs P-SOLO Preamps to Sound-for-Film Suites

Flashpoint, The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, has purchased two TRUE Systems P-SOLO single-channel microphone/instrument preamplifiers and installed them in two sound-for-film suites in its new 32,000 square-feet production/post complex.

The educational facility, which opened in the heart of Chicago’s Loop in September 2007, offers two-year courses in digital arts and entertainment technologies at its campus, which features multiple sound stages, graphics bays, Avid edit suites and audio rooms outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment.

“We bought the P-SOLOs specifically to install them in our mini suites,” says Bernie Mack, a Chicago-based recording engineer and educator for over 15 years and a Flashpoint Academy Recording Arts faculty member. “They have everything we were looking for - features, controls, design and performance. They’re perfect, especially for the price.”

Flashpoint Academy chose the TRUE P-SOLO preamps after a lot of research, explains Mack. The physical form factor played a part in the decision, he says. “It was the fact that they are tabletop - they’re heavy, solid boxes - and they have all the functions we were looking for: 48 volts, a pad and a nice big knob.”

As for the sound quality, John Murray, Chair of the Recording Arts, comments, “The reason we purchased the TRUE P-SOLO is that they are very transparent and also the noise floor is significantly low. When we first plugged it in, we turned it up and said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty quiet.’ But we really love them for the transparency. They’re mostly for doing voice over work, so we wanted something that wasn’t going to color the sound a lot.”

Murray elaborates, “In our Recording Arts program we have a large recording room, two post control rooms for sound design and four mini suites. Two are built out right now and two more will be built out in the future. The mini suites are for doing sound for film, with Pro Tools|HD, a small control surface, a plasma television and a pair of nearfields. They’re connected to a narration booth where students can record voice overs.”

The two P-SOLO preamps were installed in December, he says, and although they have only been used for voice overs, it may only be a matter of time before they get used in other rooms, perhaps with visiting guest musicians, who have, so far, included Michelle Shocked and Rob Fetters, former frontman of The Bears, Psychodots and Raisins. “We have a main music control room where we do a lot of our tracking,” says Murray. “We’re impressed with these preamps, so we’re potentially going to be looking for more in the future for other rooms. The P-SOLOs have been rock-solid so far and I can only say good things about them.”

A total of approximately 150 students were accepted for the inaugural year at Flashpoint Academy, which offers two-year programs in Film, Game Development, Visual Effects & Animation, and Recording Arts. “The concept is that everyone works together,” explains Mack. “What’s awesome is that, for instance, the film students produced a two-minute film and were paired up with a Recording Arts student who did all the location audio as well as sound design and editing.”

The academy expects the total student population, which this year includes about 45 on the Recording Arts program, to rise to about 250 next year, he says. “Our goal is to cap out at 1000 students. We never want to get larger than that. We have selective admissions and a big screening process. We look to make sure that our students are engaged and passionate about what they want to do, and that they have drive and a good work ethic.”

Source: Flashpoint Blog

Harlan Hogan’s Porta-Booth Provides Mobile Studio Solution

 

 

Voice actors typically record their audio projects in their own home studio – a space with quality equipment and dead quiet. New jobs arrive daily from clients via email or phone and require quick turnaround.But sometimes, a business trip or vacation beckons, creating a dilemma: How to provide quality voice-over recordings while on the road?

“When you’re on the road, you’ll often find yourself in less-than-perfect recording environments,” says veteran voice actor and author Harlan Hogan. “Even a very quiet hotel room can sound like a big, boomy box to your microphone.”

Hogan wants to keep busy on the road. “I love this work!” he says. And it shows. As one of America’s favorite voices, Hogan has pressed many commercial slogans into our memories, including “Kills bugs fast. Kills bugs dead,” “The cereal even Mikey likes,” and “Hey Culligan Man!” We also hear him today in countless promos, narrations and documentaries.

Hogan describes his solution for eliminating “road noise” from recordings in an article featured at VoiceOverXtra.com.

He devised the Porta-Booth, a collapsible box lined with 2’-inch thick insulating foam, into which the microphone happily sits in dead quiet.

“It’s a simple, practical and inexpensive way to sound good anywhere,” Hogan says, “at home or on the road.”

Source: OpenPR.com

Animated Goodness and Voice Actors Rewarded at Annies

The Annies brought the animation industry together honoring the year’s best productions, including awards for voice actors in animated feature films and animated television production.

A gourmet rat was the big cheese at the 35th celebration, winning 9 Annie Awards. Honoring the best in animation for 2007, the annual gala event was held on February 8, 2008 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

“Ratatouille,” Pixar Animation’s tale of a rat who wants to become a chef, won the award for best feature production. Other nominees in the same category were DreamWorks’ insect story “Bee Movie,” Sony Pictures’ penguin-powered “Surf’s Up,” Sony Pictures Classics’ coming-of-age chronicle “Persepolis” and 20th Century Fox’s “The Simpsons Movie.”

Below is a listing of the two categories consisting of the finalists and winners of each category honoring voice actors.

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

* Janeane Garofalo – Voice of Collette – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios
* Ian Holm – Voice of Skinner – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios (WINNER)
* Julie Kavner – Voice of Marge Simpson – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox
* Patton Oswalt – Voice of Remy – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios
* Patrick Warburton – Voice of Ken – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production

* Scott Adsit – Voice of Clay Puppington – “Moral Orel” – ShadowMachine
* Madison Davenport – Voice of Sophianna – “Christmas is Here Again!” – Easy To Dream Entertainment
* Tom Kenny – Voice of SpongeBob – SpongeBob SquarePants “Spy Buddies” – Nickelodeon
* Eartha Kitt – Voice of Yzma – The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” – Walt Disney Television Animation (WINNER)
* Eddie Murphy – Voice of Donkey – “Shrek The Halls” - DreamWorks Animation

Source: AnnieAwards.org

Voice Actors Can Take Virtual Tours of Home Studios

Voice actors who want to know what voice-over equipment their colleagues are using can now peek into those studios, in a new series of articles and photos on VoiceOverXtra.com.

Located in the web site’s Home Studio section, these virtual Home Studio Tours reveal the equipment, studio layouts, soundproofing and other factors that are crucial to providing clients with quality voice-overs.

The articles also provide insight into the studio owners’ reasons for buying certain equipment.

For instance, the current online tour explores the West Palm Beach, Florida studio of voice talent Ed Victor. He was recently hired to do all voice-overs for the Florida Lottery – a job that takes him to a Miami studio for recording.

In his first visit to that studio, “The booth was dead silent, and the microphone was the same one the big movie guys use in Los Angeles,” Victor says. “I couldn’t help myself, and broke into my best ‘Don LaFontaine’ (the premier voice of movie trailers).

“The door was open and the ad agency in the next room overheard my impromptu – and called me for an audition right there on the spot!” Victor says. “So I had to get that microphone for my own home studio, and bought one the next day.”

Stories abound from the growing slate of other voice actors whose studios are profiled in the series, including (in alphabetical order) Colin Campbell, Cookie Colletti, Mitch Collins, Luis Garcia, Joan Hovey Hall, Diane Merritt and Alan Varner.

The Home Studio section also features advice on constructing home studios, equipment to use, a voice-over bookstore, and an expansive Home Studio Super Store for quality equipment purchases.

Source: OpenPR.com

ISDN and Source-Connect Explained for Voice Actors

As explained in a new article penned by voice artist Jennifer Vaughn at VoiceOverXtra.com, ISDN - or Integrated Services Digital Network - and Source-Connect are tools that allow two-way, high fidelity, real time communication and recording from a home studio to high-end studios, stations and networks elsewhere, all over the world.

“With an ISDN connection, it’s like being right in the client’s studio,” explains Jennifer Vaughn, author of the article, “What Are ISDN and Source-Connect? Do I Need Them?”

In this process, the voice actor records and transmits in real time, while receiving direction from the external studio. However, these high-tech tools involve rather costly equipment and monthly subscription charges (ISDN) or software (Source-Connect).

To read the full article, click here.

Source: OpenPR.com

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