Archive 'Isophonic curves'

Towards the end of the 1960s it became necessary to employ Noise Reduction systems on home systems whose main characteristics included having magnetic tapes whose rolling-speed was very slow and therefore made a lot of whirring noise. The Dolby A system being too expensive and only accessible in professional work-contexts, a simpler version was created called Dolby B.

When we listen to our mix, this ought to take place through the near-filed monitors, in that they represent our reference sound source. Seeing that our mix will be played on all kinds of systems (household hi-fi's, compact systems, car radios, pocket radios, night-club systems) it will be in our interest to create a mix that would potentially sound well-balanced on any system.

Generally they are built with a very sensitive microphone inside and they are calibrated so as to capt sound pressure with a response that mimes that of a human ear.

We have said how the frequencies audible by the human ear go from 20Hz to 20KHz. Lets now try and label these frequencies so as to have a better idea of where to place the sounds we listen to.

Isophonic Curves are very significant graphs that allow us to have a better understanding of how the human ear responds to different frequencies. They have been created by elaborating data on a statistical sample that has undergone a series of sounds produced in an anechoic room