KVR Audio

Megazoid · Post by **Megazoid** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:32 pm

I've heard in the news that alot of bands are going to be looking into using mobile based "itunes" equivilents in the near future for new material.

This is essentially split into two categorys. Full tracks which can be played back on mp3/wma enabled mobile devices via stereo headphones (or loud-speaker) and 'trimmed' shorted 30second realtones.

Take ringtones for example. A phone is limited by a mono speaker and limited frequency domain for playback. Taking a track mastered for CD and using it as a ringtone will in most cases have a huge effect on the high and low end frequencys the device is incapable of reproducing. This will result in the bass being incorrectly reproduced with a distorted appearance.

With mobile technology and media being the future for the commercial music market, will different approuches to mastering and production be essential for quality playback? What kind of changes will be have to be made to the mastering process?

I am intrested in this, becuase i believe that another source of revenue for music will be in the realtone/truetone ringtone format and providing content for mobile devices.

isdjan · Post by **isdjan** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:40 pm

i copied a bunch of mp3s to my SE k750. from a plain user-point-of-view, they just sound great via headphones, i don't expect any special mastering needs there.

(by the way, even the built-in speaker could be worse...it's not great, but i heard dozens of uglier ones...)

tetraplan · Post by **tetraplan** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:40 pm

Ringtones are the invention of the devil,

Groet, Erik

Hanglow · Post by **Hanglow** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:09 pm

They can be fairly amusing in the right context, now phones can play mp3's as ringtones. I've had the kaiser chiefs "I predict a Riot" on my phone for a week now, in anticipation of this weeks festivities here in edinburgh :)I am easily amused though.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:14 pm

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orangenut · Post by **orangenut** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:00 am

We use a small gehtto blaster in the studio hot-wired to one of the spare monitor outputs so that we can quickly check what the mix would sound like on a portable radio. Makes for easier selection of sounds up front.

I'm wondering whether it be feasable to hot-wire a phone up to a soundcard? or maybe a small portable speaker with similar dynamics to a modern phone. That way you'd have realtime monitoring to experiment with.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:06 am

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IIRs · Post by **IIRs** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:31 am

I use this:

speccyteccy · Post by **speccyteccy** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:48 pm

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/812.html

IIRs · Post by **IIRs** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:51 pm

speccyteccy wrote:http://www.kvraudio.com/get/812.html

Thats just for SP-MIDI

speccyteccy · Post by **speccyteccy** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:54 pm

IIRs wrote:
speccyteccy wrote:http://www.kvraudio.com/get/812.html
Thats just for SP-MIDI

" The Auralisation tool plug-in simulates the acoustics and digital signal processing of target devices when reproduced through a high-quality loudspeaker or headphone. The plug-in can be used as an effect during the playback of audio and MIDI files."

IIRs · Post by **IIRs** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:16 pm

speccyteccy wrote: " The Auralisation tool plug-in simulates the acoustics and digital signal processing of target devices when reproduced through a high-quality loudspeaker or headphone. The plug-in can be used as an effect during the playback of audio and MIDI files."

Yeah. It is intended to emulate the speakers of various handsets while using the MIDI engine emulator.. I wouldn't reccomend mastering audio files with it (even if they are ringtones)!

IIRs · Post by **IIRs** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:17 pm

Its pretty cool for telephone vocal effects though!

Megazoid · Post by **Megazoid** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:25 pm

thanks for the reply's folks.

the headphone idea sound's like a good one or some kind of cheap speaker. I guess it's possible to emulate (to a degree) the output using convolutional reverb + eq.

IIR - What plugin is that? Fancy letting me study your preset for 'truetones'? Look's like a good plugin for emulating playback of a mobile device.

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:41 pm

Jesus, moblie ringtones sound worse than mp3's, and i dont even listen to those anymore, they sound crap even at the highest rates. Just have a normal ring like a house phone, after al, thats all it is.

what you are trying to do is put foot technology into an inch technology unit, and its not going to convert well

Mastering for mobiles?