Sunday, February 5, 2023

Sunday morning sound duty...




Yesterday Linda commented that the black and white picture looks atmospheric.  Liking the sound of that, but not really understanding what that meant, I looked it up. 

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Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages
at·mos·pher·ic
/ˌatməsˈfirik/
adjective
  1. 1.
    relating to the atmosphere of the earth or (occasionally) another planet.
    "atmospheric conditions such as fog, snow, rain"
  2. 2.
    creating a distinctive mood, typically of romance, mystery, or nostalgia.
    "atmospheric lighting"

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Yes!  The second definition is what she was referring to.  The black and white photos definitely give (me, anyway) a sense of nostalgia.   As if these pictures are from a time in the past.  

So now I'm wondering...  Do we simply feel nostalgic when when see a modern photo in black and white because it reminds us of an early time?  

Or...   How much is the quality (or other characteristics) of modern-day picture changed when the same picture is shown in black and white?

Your thoughts are welcome.  I think I'll be looking into this more...

19 comments:

  1. This is a really important service in the church!!!

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    1. We used to do it more often (more folks are volunteering lately, which is good), but at least once a month lately hubs and I run the computer and sound board at church. Even for a small church (like we attend) these things are helpful for the worship and sermon time.

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    2. So true. Volunteering is vital to the success of so many organizations and helps to hold the line on costs. Independent Sector now rates the average value of a volunteer hour at $29.95. It typically provides even more intrinsic value to the volunteer. Awesome that you guys do that! Sherri

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  2. I feel that all that color can distract from the main 'idea' of the photo. I think of photos I have seen of people with weathered faces. When I see them in B&W I feel something but when the same photo is in color, to me, it is just another photo of a person. Does that make sense? To me, B&W is a definite art form and should be used as such. Nothing wrong with color but sometimes it just distracts from what needs to be seen.

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    1. Marsha, I was thinking the same. That with a color photo there is more to distract us. From what, I'm not sure - because most photos have more than one important thing. And the whole often provides context for each part of a photo. Fascinating what you've observed about weathered faces in B&W vs color. I don't know that I've thought of that before, but yes, I can see that.

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  3. Good question. I think it makes me nostalgic. I remember I had a power point made of a picture of my son and our dog in color and in black and white to show that we need to add color or descriptive writing in our work when I taught 4th grade. So for me, it is more nostalgic. Hmmm...maybe we are more attentive to the details in the black and white photos. I will have to pay attention more.

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  4. So please explain what is a sound board? And what is its function?

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    1. Gladly, Liz. When you have musicians and singers or people who speak in a large enough space you need to amplify the sound. In a most basic explanation, the instruments and microphones are plugged into a sound system on one end, and speakers (that the sound comes out of) are on the other end. In between those two opposite points of the sound system are receiver(s)s, amplifier(s) and transmitter(s). And in the middle of all that is a sound board. Every instrument and mic is plugged into a channel on the "stage" that corresponds to a channel on the soundboard. Sound boards can do all sorts of things to the sounds that come into it, but below is a most basic explanation of what most affects the audience. If an audience can't hear nicely what's coming out of the house speakers, all the good stuff done on stage, and the manipulations done on the sound board can't be appreciated by the audience.

      In the picture above, the concave boxy things that go up and down are called sliders and they control volume that comes out of the house speakers (every channel's volume is individually controlled, and then there is master slider that controls the volume of all the combined sounds).

      On this digital board there are also a series of buttons, used along with the master slider, that control volume on smaller speakers (usually called monitors) on the stage (or sometimes, instead of stage monitors, musicians and singers wear earphones - I'm sure you've seen that in many performances). Anyway, stage monitors or earphones allow musicians and singers to hear themselves along with whatever else they need to hear to sing in the correct rhythm, keep in tune, etc.

      The knobs (at the center top of the SB pictures above) control the Gain (that is the strength of the signal [think volume, though that term isn't used, and may not be technically correct]) of every instrument and mic that comes through the sound system. With these knobs one can also affect EQ's (frequencies that shape sound) and other fun (important) stuff.

      And there are buttons (in different places) that do a variety of things like mute channels, select channels to be adjusted, filter out extraneous noise, direct volume to stage monitors (or earphones), all kinds of stuff.

      A sound person works with all those components to first make an instrument or voice sound as pure and clear as they can (or a sound person can also intentionally distort sound) and then blend those sounds into a cohesive and pleasant (of course, this is subjective) sound for the hearer.

      That's the most basic thing that is done with a soundboard. There are a lot of functions that would take pages to explain, and some things I have no clue how to do.

      If this was way more than you wanted to know and something as simple as "a soundboard controls and directs sound", I apologize for dragging you through a tome.

      And let me just finish by saying... a professional sound engineer (or simply someone more trained than myself) my cringe reading my amateur explanation here, but I think what I've written (as basic as it is) is pretty correct.

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  5. I did Google it but none of the references explained its actual function. They were all about choosing, setting up, assuming the reader already knew what they were describing!

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    1. I hope my explanation above helps. Since my technical understanding of a sound system is pretty basic, I hope I've explained it in a way that someone who has no experience with these things can kind of begin to understand or even visualize.

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  6. Sound boards look confusing in color and black and white. I seldom actually like a black and white photo as it comes across as too stark, but there are exceptions. I do not like photos of people in black and white, especially old people, like me.

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    1. After Leftycrafter's comment above I went looking for B&W pictures of older people and you're right! B&W seems to show every single crease and bump and age spot. I started reading an explanation as to why B&W pictures are like this, but I got called away and didn't finish it. It had something to do with B&W actually being grayscale, and the grays in the picture only being representative of the colors in the image captured, as opposed to being a true copy of the original - if I understood correctly. So a B&W photo of a person is going to look different from the person, or even a color picture of the person.

      I hope I got that right. Sounds like a fascinating study.

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  7. Now this is a job (running the sound board) that would stress me out! :-)

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    1. lol. Some mornings are stressful. But when I solve a problem, or the sound is great, it's a terrific feeling. I can't imagine the stress that professional sound engineers endure. OTOH, the endorphins they experience over a successful sound experience probably balance out the stress of making it happen.

      I find in church (ours anyway) even the worst mistakes (and really, they're never all that bad) are forgivable, and people love you anyway. Truthfully, I don't think most people in the congregation even notice the mistakes. Sometimes I think about retiring from it (mostly because I have trouble sleeping in general and I have to get up pretty early on the Sundays I do this), but sometimes I think I should do it as long as I'm able to for the benefit it probably gives my brain and spirit. I just hope I'll know when it's time for me to step down before everyone else does.

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  8. Black and white, I believe, zones in on the dramatic mature side of life.

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    1. That sounds metaphoric, May. But yes, I can see that indeed happens in B&W photography.

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  9. Interesting discussion in the comments about the use of b&w and I like what Leftycrafter said. There's just something about b&w that makes it look artistic. Perhaps that's because it isn't the 'norm' these days and thus makes us stop and take notice.

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    1. Interesting thought, Mary Anne. Makes me wonder if people studied or focussed on B&W photographs (back in the day when B&W was all they knew) the same way we do today.

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