Technical Background, Psycho-Acoustic Background

5. TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

5.1 Design Concept Of The ULTRAFEX PRO

The BEHRINGER ULTRAFEX PRO...

sincreases presence and transparency. The program material will sound lively and natural again.

simproves the intelligibility of speech: voices become clearly articulated, text easily intelligible, the transpar- ency of the vocal increases.

sprovides a distinct sound improvement, particularly for instruments played in a percussive style - “slapped” guitars or drums will sound incredibly “funky”.

sprovides better stereo imaging: the sound becomes more differentiated, speaker setup poses less problems, yet the signal remains fully mono-compatible.

sdoes not require any decoding process, since sound enhancement with the BEHRINGER ULTRAFEX PRO is not created independently of the signal itself, and remains available even during numerous processing or copying stages. Even digital recordings or CD replaying will gain from the use of the BEHRINGER ULTRAFEX PRO.

sincreases the listener’s awareness. Even with low sound pressure levels, the ULTRAFEX PRO avoids listening fatigue.

sfinds useful application in Hi-fi systems by providing better resolution of the sonic image, due to its suitability for the studio and its outstanding specifications. In particular, the processing of old analogue recordings (disks and tapes) proves to be very efficient with the ULTRAFEX PRO.

sproduces a more powerful and fuller bass which does not sound muddy. All recordings will benefit from the “dry” and precisely defined bass contouring.

sproduces an improved spatial enhancement and stereo effect intensity with the surround processor without audibly colouring the sonic image.

5.2 Psycho-Acoustic Background

The term psycho-acoustics refers to the psychological aspect of hearing - in contrast to the physiological transfer of impulses (transmission of nervous impulses). Psycho-acoustics examines the effect of sound on the listener and the reasons for certain sonic impressions. How a sound is interpreted is influenced by a lot of factors, most of them can hardly be measured yet are fairly important. For instance, those portions which are responsible for the spatial localization of a sound. Nevertheless, they determine the quality of a recording to an extraordinarily large extent.

There are also portions of the audio spectrum which we perceive as “presence” or “naturalness”. If this kind of information is missing, the recording suffers from a loss in “freshness”, “liveliness” and spatial transparency.

Furthermore, natural harmonics are essential components of the sound. Often enough, they only represent a minor portion of the signal and are easily lost. It´s the harmonic structure that makes a tone colour unique. Without this structure, different instruments would not be distinguishable. When comparing acoustic musical instruments, for instance acoustic guitars, you will note that even two instruments from the same series have a different sound. Numerous factors determine the sound of an instrument: the design and materials to name but two, but with such bearing on the eventual sound produced by that instrument.

From a physical point of view, a guitar produces a tone by means of a vibrating string which, in turn, sets air in motion. The subsequent propagating sound waves reach the ear and are identified by the brain as a tone. Since the string vibrates within itself, the tone consists of not only the fundamental oscillation but also innumerable upper harmonics which are based on the fundamental wave.

The complex vibrations of the string are transferred to the body which, in turn, is also set in motion. The combination of string and body produces the sound of the instrument. For example, certain harmonics may be amplified due to resonance effects in the body, while other frequencies may be canceled due to the properties of the wood.