Audio language
by Paul McGowan
When we talk about sound, what do adjectives like, dark, wooly, bright, spacious, or edgy sound like on our stereo systems? Hard to say, because words build pictures in our heads that have no literal equivalent in sound. "Wooly" forms an image of "thick", but how can sound be thick?
Just today I was trying to describe the sound of two products and used the same words to describe both: full, rich, solid, and musical, but different words to describe the differences between the two: dark, wooly and somewhat blurred, relative to the brighter, thinner, more focused sound of the other.
Auditioned in a vacuum, I use nearly the exact same terminology to describe both. Compared to each other, a new vocabulary arises.
The lexicon changes depending on what we are trying to show. Broad relationships to real events, or minute differences between units.
I don't envy reviewers their task.
Paul McGowan
Founder & CEO
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