White noise or Pink noise?
Home > Home Recording Forum > Live Sound Reinforcement > White noise or Pink noise?
Posted on Sep 21, 2008 01:54 am
afireinside
Member Since: Jan 11, 2007
Hey guys! I just need to know what the difference is between white and pink noise, or better yet, what type of noise I should use to eq a room.
Thanks!
[ Back to Top ]
Sep 21, 2008 02:58 am White noise is random noise that includes all frequencies of the audio spectrum. It's called "white" because, like light, it contains all wavelenghts. Pink noise is weighted to accommodate the frequency response of the human ear. Use the pink.
Sep 21, 2008 05:16 am Ah...i was under the impression that white noise generated all frequencies evenly at a given amplitude. thanks for clearing that up! i knew i can count on you guys.
monmixrIf 50hz 60 will kill ya.Member
Since: Jan 08, 2009
Jan 08, 2009 03:33 am you are both right. White noise is equal energy per frequency and pink noise is equal energy per octave. While you most certainly could use white noise to eq a room, it would most likely kill small dogs, and at least be painful to you. for the game we play, just forget white noise exists. Pink noise decreases at 3db per octave. see where im going with this ? so you eq your rig to white noise.... the drummer plays the high hat and your eyebrows fall off.
Jan 13, 2009 08:10 am How does one generate pink noise?
Jan 13, 2009 08:36 am With a pink noise generator.
Seriously though - Most every DAW has one, there are discs available, hand-held generators, almost any decent console, etc.
Jan 13, 2009 10:57 pm Quote:
so you eq your rig to white noise.... the drummer plays the high hat and your eyebrows fall off.
Best line ever!
monmixrIf 50hz 60 will kill ya.Member
Since: Jan 08, 2009
Jan 14, 2009 09:48 pm old and new sound tech sittin together in the nosebleed section, new tech says lets go down and show em how its done, old tech says , bring me a beer when you come back
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jan 15, 2009 08:15 pm LOL
Mar 23, 2010 08:48 am Just like fighting fire with fire, you can combat noise with noise. White noise, sound frequencies spread equally across a given bandwidth, can be used to block out everyday sounds.
www.speechprivacysystems.com/white-noise
Mar 23, 2010 01:19 pm It's not really blocking sound. It's just adding to the noise floor of a room.
By raising the noise floor, smaller noises around a room does not seem as loud. I have installed such systems in Banks and offices around the area. But, we do not use White noise to do so, we use Pink.
White noise tends to fatigue your ear after long exposure. Pink, is not as harsh.
But, it's not combating sound. It's not true cancellation. To get true cancellation, you need to look at a company called "Goldline"
Goldline puts measurement mics around the space, then the signal is inverted and played back through the sound system.
Another company using this technology is Jawbone. Which is a Bluetooth ear piece for your phone. And works on the same cancellation principles.
Mar 23, 2010 10:25 pm (I have a feeling that post was spam -- Or at the very least, a really odd and ambiguous way to open a year-old thread for no reason)
Mar 23, 2010 10:34 pm Either way, I think that I shut him down. HAHA! :)
Jan 28, 2012 01:41 am Pink noise or 1/ƒ noise (sometimes also called flicker noise) is a signal or process with a frequency spectrum such that the power spectral density (energy or power per Hz) is inversely proportional to the frequency. In pink noise, each octave carries an equal amount of noise power.
