Forums Music Sound Engineering Girls *are* louder than boys…

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  • #1058257
    General Lighting
    Moderator

      I deliberately chose two older pop songs as they would not have as much soundprocessing on them than modern music; and checked that the average level being sent to the LS was the same. The sound meter is a type C rather than type A (wider frequency range measured).

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECEYJYy-tBw

      #1278981
      cheeseweasel
      Participant

        I’ve never really been sure why ‘C’ weighting isn’t more commonly used for SPL measurement – it’s certainly more suitable for the types of SPL found in typical listening environments.

        So what’s the conclusion then? That the vocal is louder on the second track? It’s certainly a lot less compressed.

        #1278979
        General Lighting
        Moderator

          @cheeseweasel 702364 wrote:

          I’ve never really been sure why ‘C’ weighting isn’t more commonly used for SPL measurement – it’s certainly more suitable for the types of SPL found in typical listening environments.

          So what’s the conclusion then? That the vocal is louder on the second track? It’s certainly a lot less compressed.

          peak levels are a lot louder on female voices even after considering different production techniques of 1970s NL and 1980s UK (1980s era Schlager is of less interest to me as it was more often sung in English or French even if the singers were from other European countries – by that time I’d heard plenty enough of it (you had to listen to it in French at my high school)).

          I’ve noticed the same on some VOIP equipment – earlier IP phones and analogue terminal adapters need the sound level to be set correctly otherwise a clipped 8-bit signal gets sent through various DSP at the other end to remove echo, noise, and then put noise back in – that either sounds rough, causes the acoustic shock protection circuits at the telephone set to activate (which goes silent) or gets sent down the line as DTMF tones.

          Newer kit is better at automatically setting levels; especially when designed in a smaller North European country and built (and therefore also used) in a SE Asian nation where the middle classes (in spite of whatever their dominant culture or religions might claim) have a matriarchal society. That is not just a coincidence….. 😉

          #1278982
          DaftFader
          Participant

            @General Lighting 702384 wrote:

            peak levels are a lot louder on female voices even after considering different production techniques of 1970s NL and 1980s UK (1980s era Schlager is of less interest to me as it was more often sung in English or French even if the singers were from other European countries – by that time I’d heard plenty enough of it (you had to listen to it in French at my high school)).

            I’ve noticed the same on some VOIP equipment – earlier IP phones and analogue terminal adapters need the sound level to be set correctly otherwise a clipped 8-bit signal gets sent through various DSP at the other end to remove echo, noise, and then put noise back in – that either sounds rough, causes the acoustic shock protection circuits at the telephone set to activate (which goes silent) or gets sent down the line as DTMF tones.

            Newer kit is better at automatically setting levels; especially when designed in a smaller North European country and built (and therefore also used) in a SE Asian nation where the middle classes (in spite of whatever their dominant culture or religions might claim) have a matriarchal society. That is not just a coincidence….. 😉

            I’ve noticed that it’s more socially the norm for female vocalists to really test their range of vocal frequencies, where as male vocalists on the whole tend to side on the “sounding cool” area of singing, hence sticking to one or two octaves, maybe three at most (unless they are a proper skilled singer), and with the relative lack of pitch variation, there’s going to be less likelihood of DB spikes due to spectral dynamic fluctuations,even after being passed through a compressor.

            However, I think it’s more likely to do with the frequency range male and female vocals fall into. Female vocals are inherently higher pitched then males, and you can get away with compressing higher frequencies (to a certain point) a bit more then lower ones, without totally wrecking the waveform, and in modern day pop music, where they can compress, they will.

            #1278980
            General Lighting
            Moderator

              this is also why many telephone operators and call centre workers are female.

              Coincidentally it tends to be in 1970s/80s era Europop and Schlager that males do have a wider octave range, the most famous example of this (to English speakers) would be “Take on Me” by AHA from 1985 (lots of English blokes try to sing along with Morten; but find it is near impossible).

              Being able to alternate between deeper voices and falsetto is an essential part of yodelling; which is popular everywhere in Northern Europe (even NL where it is flat)

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            Forums Music Sound Engineering Girls *are* louder than boys…