{"id":381922,"date":"2019-05-15T14:01:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T18:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=381922"},"modified":"2019-05-15T16:56:55","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T20:56:55","slug":"adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making Their Mark<\/strong><\/a> is a Newscenter series of profiles celebrating members of Rochester\u2019s graduating class of 2019.<\/em><\/h4>\n

A lot of the music that Ben Schmitz \u201919 likes was recorded on four-track cassette tape recorders back in the 1980s and \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were do-it-yourself musicians who couldn\u2019t afford studio time,\u201d says Schmitz, an audio and music engineering (AME) major<\/a> at the University of Rochester\u2019s Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences<\/a>. \u201cFor them it was a necessity. The only way for them to record their music was by buying these cheap tapes that didn\u2019t sound that great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warble. Wow. Flutter. These are the typical pitch changes associated with irregular tape motion during recording or playback.<\/p>\n

The practice was used so widely, by artists with such different perspectives, that it led to a \u201clow-fi (fidelity) musical aesthetic that a lot of artists are still trying to recreate,\u201d Schmitz says.<\/p>\n

Hence the intriguing senior design project by Schmitz and three other AME seniors: a software program dubbed SketchCassette that can digitally recreate these distortions as creative special effects when mixing musical tracks in a digital audio workstation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn much the same way, people can use sepia tone filters when they post images to Instagram,\u201d says team member Daniel Fine \u201919. \u201cPeople like this nostalgic, old-time feel to things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, Schmitz says, audio engineers are so good at using the digital tools now available to them, that it\u2019s \u201cpretty easy and commonplace to create recordings that sound clean and amazing and perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like the easier direction to go in terms of breaking new ground is making things sound worse \u2013 but in a pleasing way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going for a low-fi look<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are already plug-ins on the market that attempt to emulate this low-fi aesthetic by capturing distortions directly from tape recordings. What\u2019s different about the team\u2019s approach is that the sound effects were created digitally, \u201cso you can have more control over them, and tweak them to sound exactly the way you want them to,\u201d Schmitz says.<\/p>\n

\"hand-drawn
In keeping with the low-fi aesthetic of the plug-in, Daniel Fine \u201919 came up with this fanciful graphical user interface.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The team started on the project last fall. The initial technical challenge, Fine says, was to determine how much of the work would be based on profiling and modeling the sonic properties of different types of cassette tapes, how much could be achieved by creating the effects with C++ code.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we found a good balance,\u201d Fine says. For example, the team used frequency profiles from the tapes to create a filter to emulate overall sound quality. Wow and flutter were emulated by using delay lines to digitally vary the playback rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a great deal of signal processing and mathematical modeling involved in this project,\u201d says Michael Heilemann, the assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering who supervises the audio and music engineering projects.<\/p>\n

Team members also spent a lot of time reading and taking tutorials to master the use of RACK AFX, a platform for creating plug-ins that they had not used in prior classes.<\/p>\n

In keeping with the low-fi aesthetic of the plug-in, Fine even came up with a fanciful graphical user interface (GUI).<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the plug-ins that create reverbs, or that are used as compressors or equalizers, base their GUI on images of the actual hardware that was used in the \u201970s and \u201980s,\u201d Fine says. \u201cSince we\u2019re not trying to perfectly emulate cassette tape technology, but to come up with something fun and minimalistic and low-fi, I decided to hand draw all of the elements of the graphical user interface with sharpies and colored pencils.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201chand-drawn look helps this stand out from anything else that\u2019s available,\u201d says team member Josh Hyde \u201919.<\/p>\n

And of course, Schmitz says, \u201creal cassette tape decks look pretty boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mixing and mastering engineering and art<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The project is a good example of how the audio and music engineering program at the University of Rochester enables students to combine technical skills with artistic sensibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a fascinating degree,\u201d says Fine. \u201cThere have been times when it has very much appealed to the creative side of me. I\u2019ve had classes where I\u2019ve composed music for film, or where I\u2019m mixing and mastering recording projects. But I\u2019ve also had classes that reflect the engineering side, classes like signal and systems. So, it\u2019s been very thorough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plug-in was running on a couple of computers so people could interact with it during the annual Hajim School Design Day on May 2, when more than 80 teams of engineering and computer science students displayed their capstone projects in the University\u2019s Goergen Athletic Center.<\/p>\n

The plug-in is probably novel enough to be patentable, Schmitz says. \u201cBut we\u2019re also not really worried about monetizing it. For us, this has been an educational, fun project and we hope, after we\u2019re done with this, to distribute it freely online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more important to us to get it out there and have it on our resumes and let people use it, as it is to make money off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

More from Design Day<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
\n\"students<\/a>
\nStudents make assembly line more accessible for workers with disabilities<\/a>
\nThe graduating seniors behind THOR Designs are the first all-female engineering team to compete in a state-wide competition to bring assistive technologies to New Yorkers in the workplace.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\"student<\/a>
\nHuman powered vehicle offers \u2018so many things\u2019 in one project<\/a>
\nMembers of the Human Powered Vehicle Challenge Team can take their senior engineering capstone project on the road, competing nationally with other student engineers to design, build, and race a new off-road vehicle.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\"student<\/a>
\nTranslating Nobel-worthy science for a broad audience<\/a>
\nFor their capstone project, a senior design team has built a demonstration model for museum audiences of the Nobel Prize-winning laser technology developed by Rochester alumna Donna Strickland \u201989 (PhD).<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warble. Wow. Flutter. A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back these irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings of the 1980s and \u201990s with a digital plug-in. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":381932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31972,26692,15792,18632],"class_list":["post-381922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-audio-and-music-engineering","tag-class-of-2019","tag-hajim-design-day","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back the irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings with a digital plug-in.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back the irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings with a digital plug-in.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-15T18:01:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-15T20:56:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"headline\":\"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-15T18:01:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-15T20:56:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1002,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Audio and Music Engineering\",\"Class of 2019\",\"Hajim Design Day\",\"Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Campus & Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/\",\"name\":\"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-15T18:01:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-15T20:56:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"description\":\"A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back the irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings with a digital plug-in.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Ben Schmitz \u201919 demonstrates audio effects created with the SketchCassette plug-in he and his teammates developed as their capstone project for audio and music engineering. (University of Rochester photo \\\/ Bob Marcotte)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\",\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/bmarcotte\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings","description":"A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back the irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings with a digital plug-in.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings","og_description":"A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back the irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings with a digital plug-in.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2019-05-15T18:01:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-15T20:56:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Marcotte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Marcotte","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Marcotte","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"headline":"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings","datePublished":"2019-05-15T18:01:18+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-15T20:56:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/"},"wordCount":1002,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg","keywords":["Audio and Music Engineering","Class of 2019","Hajim Design Day","Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences"],"articleSection":["Campus & Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/","name":"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-15T18:01:18+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-15T20:56:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"description":"A team of audio and music engineering graduates is bring back the irregular, low-fi sounds from four-track cassette recordings with a digital plug-in.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/fea-hajim-design-day-audio.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"Ben Schmitz \u201919 demonstrates audio effects created with the SketchCassette plug-in he and his teammates developed as their capstone project for audio and music engineering. (University of Rochester photo \/ Bob Marcotte)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/adding-a-vintage-feel-to-modern-audio-recordings-381922\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Adding a vintage feel to modern audio recordings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b","name":"Bob Marcotte","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/bmarcotte\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381922"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382342,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381922\/revisions\/382342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}