Laser-Accurate microphone proves once and for all that everything is better with lasers
By Paul Miller 
posted Sep 21st 2009 2:28PM
posted Sep 21st 2009 2:28PM
THE NEXT SOUND YOU HEAR: LASER-ACCURATE ® TECHNOLOGY -- THE NEXT EVOLUTIONARY LEAP IN MICROPHONE TECHNOLOGY -- DEBUTS AT THE AES CONVENTION IN NEW YORK
Laser-Accurate technology revolutionizes the very concept of the microphone, trading mechanical parts movement for the patented and incredibly precise measurement by a laser of the movement of particulates suspended in air
Proof-of-concept will be demonstrated by Laser-Accurate inventor and digital audio pioneer David Schwartz at the Schwartz Engineering & Design booth on the AES show floor
New York, New York (September 21, 2009) –- There have been several key milestones in the evolution of the microphone, from the development of the basic transducer in the 19th century, to the introduction of the condenser microphone in the 1920s, followed by FET microphones in the 1960s and the more recent multichannel microphones used for surround audio applications. The next step in this evolutionary procession will be introduced at the 127th Audio Engineering Society Show, Oct. 9-12, 2009, at the Javits Center in New York City. Laser-Accurate® technology, from Schwartz Engineering & Design (SED), the leader in optical microphone design, represents a revolution in microphone technology: instead of the conventional diaphragm whose resonance creates electrical impulses against a coil or a back plate, Laser-Accurate technology uses a laminar stream of air in a chamber in which microscopic particles are suspended. When excited by changes in air pressure, the movement of these particles is detected by a laser beam that continuously passes through the chamber aimed at a photoelectric cell opposite the laser source. As a result, Laser-Accurate will produce the most accurate and precise transduction of any sound. It is, in essence, the Perfect Microphone, capturing sound unadulterated by the mechanical motion of the diaphragm and the inevitable time lags caused by that movement. All that is eliminated by Laser- Accurate's design. All you get, for the first time ever, is pure sound.
Conventional microphone design has numerous inherent idiosyncrasies: the speed with which a traditional diaphragm can react is innately limited by its physical size and shape, and the variety of those mechanical elements inevitably adds tonal coloration – distortion -- to the sound it's recording. In the design of Laser-Accurate, the diaphragm or plate is replaced with microscopic particles dispersed in a gas-filled chamber in which the laminar flow of the gas is constant. Detection of the displacement of the airstream and particles by a laser and optical receiver creates a completely non-intrusive method by which to measure the movement of air. This arrangement means no significant mass stands between the source of the sound and the transduction of it to a recording media.
An entire professional audio culture has been built upon the colorations that various microphones bring to music. Laser-Accurate does not threaten that culture in any way; rather, in addition to providing an absolutely pristine transduction process, it also acts as the ultimate standard by which all microphones can be evaluated. David Schwartz, developer of Laser-Accurate technology and a holder of six critical digital audio patents, including one that is the basis for the MP3 file format, is himself an audiophile. "The color that certain microphones bring can be fantastic," he says. "The problem is, you can't have all of them, all of the time, meaning that all music recording is a compromise of some sort. With Laser-Accurate technology, all the tonal processing would take place after the sound is converted to a voltage, not during the act of recording it." A pristine signal offers a new world of possibilities, including the potential to create "plug-in"-type chip-based processors that mimic the characteristics of classic microphones and pre-amps, much as modeling guitar amplifiers routinely do now.
Laser-Accurate technology will be demonstrated throughout the four days of the AES Show. It will provide a completely new tool for microphone developers to create the next generation of how we capture music and sound.
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Laser-Accurate technology revolutionizes the very concept of the microphone, trading mechanical parts movement for the patented and incredibly precise measurement by a laser of the movement of particulates suspended in air
Proof-of-concept will be demonstrated by Laser-Accurate inventor and digital audio pioneer David Schwartz at the Schwartz Engineering & Design booth on the AES show floor
New York, New York (September 21, 2009) –- There have been several key milestones in the evolution of the microphone, from the development of the basic transducer in the 19th century, to the introduction of the condenser microphone in the 1920s, followed by FET microphones in the 1960s and the more recent multichannel microphones used for surround audio applications. The next step in this evolutionary procession will be introduced at the 127th Audio Engineering Society Show, Oct. 9-12, 2009, at the Javits Center in New York City. Laser-Accurate® technology, from Schwartz Engineering & Design (SED), the leader in optical microphone design, represents a revolution in microphone technology: instead of the conventional diaphragm whose resonance creates electrical impulses against a coil or a back plate, Laser-Accurate technology uses a laminar stream of air in a chamber in which microscopic particles are suspended. When excited by changes in air pressure, the movement of these particles is detected by a laser beam that continuously passes through the chamber aimed at a photoelectric cell opposite the laser source. As a result, Laser-Accurate will produce the most accurate and precise transduction of any sound. It is, in essence, the Perfect Microphone, capturing sound unadulterated by the mechanical motion of the diaphragm and the inevitable time lags caused by that movement. All that is eliminated by Laser- Accurate's design. All you get, for the first time ever, is pure sound.
Conventional microphone design has numerous inherent idiosyncrasies: the speed with which a traditional diaphragm can react is innately limited by its physical size and shape, and the variety of those mechanical elements inevitably adds tonal coloration – distortion -- to the sound it's recording. In the design of Laser-Accurate, the diaphragm or plate is replaced with microscopic particles dispersed in a gas-filled chamber in which the laminar flow of the gas is constant. Detection of the displacement of the airstream and particles by a laser and optical receiver creates a completely non-intrusive method by which to measure the movement of air. This arrangement means no significant mass stands between the source of the sound and the transduction of it to a recording media.
An entire professional audio culture has been built upon the colorations that various microphones bring to music. Laser-Accurate does not threaten that culture in any way; rather, in addition to providing an absolutely pristine transduction process, it also acts as the ultimate standard by which all microphones can be evaluated. David Schwartz, developer of Laser-Accurate technology and a holder of six critical digital audio patents, including one that is the basis for the MP3 file format, is himself an audiophile. "The color that certain microphones bring can be fantastic," he says. "The problem is, you can't have all of them, all of the time, meaning that all music recording is a compromise of some sort. With Laser-Accurate technology, all the tonal processing would take place after the sound is converted to a voltage, not during the act of recording it." A pristine signal offers a new world of possibilities, including the potential to create "plug-in"-type chip-based processors that mimic the characteristics of classic microphones and pre-amps, much as modeling guitar amplifiers routinely do now.
Laser-Accurate technology will be demonstrated throughout the four days of the AES Show. It will provide a completely new tool for microphone developers to create the next generation of how we capture music and sound.
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That guy looks like he has a Predator laser honed in on his neck.
no, its from a taser
Don't taze me, bro.
So now you can pew pew record some Pavarotti...
TESTING? PEW PEW
TESTING TESTING? PEW PEW PEW !
Yea but when are we going to be able to get fricken sharks with fricken laser beams on their fricken heads?
Are these a soda straws inside the laser mic?
That is most likely to create a laminar (as opposed to turbulent) flow of air.
What is the silver paint on the muffin fans for? Does that make it look more scientific?
I was just wondering the exact same thing...Got to love prototypes...
As anyone who's done any audio engineering or produced anything in the studio, accurate sounds are not the best sounds. The golden tones of your favorite shock jock or political commentator are as much a function of the mic and pre-amp as the speaker's voice. (It's a shock to many to meet a DJ in person for the first time, or on the phone.) Ditto instruments... match the mic to the source. 100% accurate is not a good or reasonable goal outside a laboratory.
did you read the press release:
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"The color that certain microphones bring can be fantastic," he says. "The problem is, you can't have all of them, all of the time, meaning that all music recording is a compromise of some sort. With Laser-Accurate technology, all the tonal processing would take place after the sound is converted to a voltage, not during the act of recording it." A pristine signal offers a new world of possibilities, including the potential to create "plug-in"-type chip-based processors that mimic the characteristics of classic microphones and pre-amps, much as modeling guitar amplifiers routinely do now.
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So basically start with the best sound, then model it to your heart's content as desired. Makes sense to me.
but mic modeling, at least up to this point, has been really terrible.
I can see both sides of it. Digital modeling has a ways to go to get accurate analog/tube tone, but when it does catch up, this microphone will be there to support it. You gotta build the technology where you can. It sounds like this guy is building the technology that will support digital modeling for future generations of music tech.
I wouldn't rush out to spend a bunch of money on one of these right now, though.
"but mic modeling, at least up to this point, has been really terrible."
A lot of that has to do with inconsistent sounds. Every mic model has to work with hundreds of different microphones, each of which has its own natural variance due to production.
If you can start from a pure tone that is the same from laser mic to laser mic, then any modeling has a much greater chance to work effectively.
If this proof-of-concept can be made into an actual product, I will officially feel like I am living in the right decade. This sounds incredible and would be nothing short of revolutionary microphone technology if it is anything close to what is written here.
I can't wait to hear more about this.
Yeah, but can this 'enhance" my capabilities of listening in on coversations from a block away?
No.
You'll need other things for that.. Of course, you can use them with this mic and have frequency-accurate spying, but this mic by itself won't help you at all.
This technology could help isolate your voice from surrounding noise, like the Jawbone bluetooth ear piece.
Well if you detect air that precisely then vibrations from all other soundsources would be picked up too, just like a normal microphone, which basically does the same, pick up air vibration.
Don't be fooled by the guy's mouth being near it in the picture, voice is limited and this would be more for instruments, those have the frequency range and dynamics you want to capture I imagine.
And then you can remove it all by compressing it in an MP3 upload it for a youtube version, which recompresses it into aac, for that quality double compression experience, lol
I'm sure there is a use for this thing (and good for him for working out this technology) but was the sound that we HAVE been getting all that bad?
Isn't this kinda like having your car park within 3 microns of dead center on a parking space?
Maybe. But it will probably also allow very high SPL without a care in the world for distortions, all the while faithfully recording the quietest sound. Then again maybe it's not that refined yet.
What I wonder about is:
* how will directional mics with off-axis rejection be made with this technology?
Lasers pointing at different bits then processed accordingly?
So many questions.
ya, but if you have monster cables you can hear the difference...
Nobody outside the industry knows since we all listen to poorly mastered stuff with reduced dynamics and pushed bass often triple recompressed audio, we have no concept of how it should sound really probably.
Not that it matters, a catchy tune is what most people are content with really.
All the need to do now is put them on the heads of sharks and I'll be happy.
Hooray, something to make autotuned voices sound even more digital.
Does this mean I'll finally be able to hear a recording of my voice and not say, "oh god, is that what I sound like?!?"
Not unless you implant this microphone inside your head. What you're hearing is the sound vibrating through your skull, and a little bit actually coming in through the ear canal. Sound vibrating through the skull is very similar to pressing your ear to a door. A lot of low-end, not much high-end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2K5LJHTouQ
testing testing....1...2.. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"everything is better with lasers"
Everything except Alderaan
this guy made a laser microphone from his own house!! check it out.
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/39206_how-to-make-a-laser-microphone.html
Next -- Speakers capable of producing pure sound...
Oh. My. God.
As someone who is taking audio recording right now - this has me VERY excited!
"A pristine signal offers a new world of possibilities, including the potential to create "plug-in"-type chip-based processors that mimic the characteristics of classic microphones and pre-amps, much as modeling guitar amplifiers routinely do now."
No more having to buy a shitload of extremely expensive mics!
The only problem I can think of is micing a drum kit... Would you need like 6-10 of these things for each drum? I can see that being expensive.
I can see why it might first seem ironic that one of the fathers of MP3 is working toward high-quality audio capturing, but really, MP3 was a solution to a 90s problem of getting sound across 28kbps in reasonable time without downsampling it to, well, "Atari". MP3 made things better.
Anyone else reminded of The Fifth Element. Ya know, Ruby Rod, and his laser mic that he carries around? Great show. Super cheesy.
So, what happens if there is a breeze? Will it work outdoors?
Uhm, you need laser accurate sound outdoors why exactly?
But yeah it'll work
is it me or is that thing made out of a kitchen funnel, a bunch of drinking straws, some plastic pipe and a couple of case fans?
It looks more like laboratory materials. This could go either way. It could either sound amazingly good, or it could be yet another exercise in cold, clinical accuracy at the expense of anything beautiful. I guess we'll soon see.
Hello, all.
I appreciated the comments above, especially the funny ones.
Yes, Prototype One does sound horrible. Just getting from hypothesis to theory was the BFD. It will be a year before we have the variables sorted out and a decent SN ratio.
As for soda straws, etc, not exactly, those are coffee stirrers to get the air/smoke mix all moving at the same velocity for laminar flow. Yes, that's a sawed off funnel for exhaust and low-noise muffin fans on top. But the cheesiest part of it has to be the $7 laser pointer from Target.
At the moment, it's all about building quick and dirty to zero in on the key factors. Once we have those lined up, it will be worth spending the bucks on better lasers, photocells, machined detection chambers, precision nozzles, recirculating vapor pump and all the rest.
Cheers,
Dave
I would see a lot of applications beyond the audible spectrum (i.e. ultasonic). As a biologist I would have given a lot for such a device years ago working on grashoppers ;-)
Kabe
maybe we have been wrong all along and lasers - not robots - are going to take over the world :o