Archives For decibel levels

What sound effects can your gear capture? Last week’s post presented a chart of decibel levels for common sound effects. The article explored how equipment selections affect capturing sound subjects at different loudnesses.

The chart is revealing for other reasons, too. Of course, it shows the level of sound created by things around us. It’s common sense that a power saw is louder than library crowd chatter. However, the chart becomes more interesting the narrower we look at these numbers. For example, a chainsaw is 10 dB louder than a power saw. Thunder is louder than a power saw, and about as loud as the chainsaw.

Why does this matter? Well, of course the list gives us a guide of how loud things are so we can judge if field recording equipment can capture sounds cleanly. It also invites us to think about sound more generally, too. The chainsaw is louder than the power saw by 10 dB. That is what the numbers show us. But what is it like to experience that difference? What does a 10 dB difference feel like?

So, today’s post will explore the chart with a different slant: how do sound effect levels affect hearing?

Continue Reading…

I recently purchased some hi-fi earbuds for recreation listening when using my iPhone. While the headphones themselves are great, what I found particularly interesting was a flyer included in the headphones packaging.

The flyer includes a chart that lists the decibel level (dB) of various sound effects. We’ve seen these charts before. This one’s a bit different. I wanted to include this particular chart in a series to consider two important ideas. The first: how does gear affect field recordings you capture?

Continue Reading…