White Noise vs Pink Noise: Audio Engineer's Guide

[@haedrichowen]

This is the best lesson I have seen on the difference between white and pink noise. Concise and accurate. The waterfall noise vs electrical noise was a great illustrstion. Highly recommended!

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks!

[@mattdudamusic]

This is such a concise lesson on the comparison between white and pink noise. I have explained this to many folks over the years but now I can simply send a link to your video. Thank you!

[@AudioUniversity]

Thank you!

[@Xtn1Insecticide]

Best audio channel by far

[@AudioUniversity]

Wow! Thanks!

[@dimitrioskalfakis]

very good. pink noise is the model of music assumed to build commercial loudspeakers as far as picking power wattage for the various drivers, such as tweeters, midranges and woofers so as to make it economical and not overengineer the product thus making it too expensive for competition.

[@yousifaldailami4241]

Don't stop ever

[@Fulviovas]

Just a great explanation Kyle. Wonderful lesson about white and pink noise. Bravissimo!

[@AudioUniversity]

Thank you!

[@Fix_It_Again_Tony]

Excellent! Having used REW to tune my home system using pink noise I was familiar with the concept, but this explanation is very well done and is better than explanations I have given. Understanding how humans perceive sound is crucial to any discussion about audio.

[@steebie_c]

Love your work, dude! You explain things very clearly and concisely. I love the technical side of audio :)

[@atthebakesale]

No one is talking about the nuance the way this gentleman is good on you

[@viniciusandrea3251]

Your videos and lessons are great, Kyle!! Thanks for this one, very didactic!

[@payman_azari]

what a great explanation, bravo!

[@AudioUniversity]

Thank you!

[@qua1ntZz]

Great video, had fun watching, thnx)

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jayantjrathod]

Thank You So Much For The Awesome Information 😊

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad to help!

[@korkenknopfus]

In Audio University there is always something new to learn, even about thing one can already know. Maybe it would be worth mentioning that with a continuous spectrum analyzer white noise will show a flat graph and pink will show a graph with a (negative) slope (as shown), but with a 1/3 octave spectrum analyzer pink noise will show a flat bar graph.

[@Daniela77111]

I’m not a sound engineer, but I am a normal person who finds all about sounds very very interesting. I love your channel, it is so exciting to learn more about sounds even though there are a lot of things I don’t understand what it means. 🙈 I often see videos on KZbin with white noise, pink noise, brown noise, blue noise etc. for people to fall asleep on it. I cannot understand how people can sleep on that noises, but that’s another story… 🙈 My question is: how does someone actually create/generate this kind of noises?? 🤔

[@AudioUniversity]

There’s a section on that toward the end of this video. It’s either resistor noise or randomly generated by a computer.

[@Daniela77111]

@@AudioUniversity thank you for your answer. I guess I missed that part in the video because it’s to late here… 🙈 I’ll rewatch the video again tomorrow. ☺️

[@gvsd3]

Wow that's basically what I do all this time when I balance the frequency in my mix, I try to shape the frequency in my mix similar to what you shown about the pink noise form in the video, because it sound more pleasing and it's true.

[@DoyleFM]

After listening to all the different frequencies explained, my brain hertz. 😊 I'm kidding, actually. This is a very interesting & informative tutorial. 👍🏻 🇺🇸

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

Great explanation, thanks

[@AudioUniversity]

Glad you liked it!

[@ADDIKTION]

This is great as usual, although I would have expected a mention of the 3 dB/Oct attenuation of energy. 😊

[@costrio]

Note to editor: "perceive" not Precieve" int the text, fyi. Good informative videos, IMO. Thanks.

[@AudioUniversity]

Oops... I missed that one! Good eye.

[@KevinRollandTV]

Thanks for video !!

[@hermask815]

I liked the mixing aspect of your explanation. Never knew the implications before. Don’t look up the Wikipedia article on colors of noise. It will drive you mad. 🤪The colors not mentioned here are barely explained in a musical context. My Opsix synth has a blue noise, too.

[@davidasher22]

Damn! I’ve never heard the bit about generating noise with and without mass. That’s interesting.. gotta look into that more.

[@jimknopf705]

Super Bericht, danke dafür.

[@YoureNowOnTV]

I learnt something 😊👍

[@FreeWhiteNoise66]

When life gives you a lot of heavy pressure about work and family... you should also give yourself some relaxation time to rebalance yourself, then turn on the noise. Going white and closing your eyes will give you pleasant moments... I wish you wonderful moments of relaxation and love your life because you are only born once ! love you forever.

[@TheUglyGnome]

3:30 Just nitpicking:: There are 11 notes BETWEEN 440 Hz A and 880 Hz A. To get 12 notes you have to include one of the A:s.

[@Platinum_XYZ]

I had a question about this topic. when use a stock synthesizer in FL Studio to generate white noise, when I check my EQ, I don't see an even spread. I see a downwards trend, as if it were pink noise. I checked even on Span, with the same results. I thought it may be my synth, so I downloaded a few white noise samples from various sources and they all read the same. why might this be? how do I view a spectrum that displays it with equal energy across the spectrum?

[@AudioUniversity]

It's possible that the graph is logarithmic. So, pink noise would probably look flat on that graph. White noise looks flat on a linear scale.

[@Platinum_XYZ]

@@AudioUniversityI see. that makes sense thank you. I'll look into that

[@tbroekemeier]

@AudioUniversity - do you have a video on how to measure the frequency of a sound source? Like a musical instrument to ensure it's tuned perfectly to the Hz it needs to be? I'm building a small scale anechoic chamber just for the purpose of measuring primary frequency of different instruments but despite tons of research, the answer is still unclear to me on how to do this correctly and as accurately as possible. Can you point me to any resources you might know of please?!

[@AudioUniversity]

I just use a tuner. The specific Hertz value will likely vary over the course of a given note.

[@ES60Hz]

One question in mind, which I think you are the guy to ask, why do the frequencies move in the analyzer? Is there any way to create a static white noise? Because it seems that it is not accurately flat when it moves.

[@marcuspainter6861]

That is because white noise consists of random frequencies, not all frequencies at the same time. If you imagine flipping a coin, in theory they will be an equal number of heads and tails. But only after an infinite number of flips. So on average, white noise contains or will contain all frequencies equally. That is why audio analysers usually have an averaging function that will smooth out the response over time. Sine sweeps will give a flat response but not in real time.

[@NewDerseyBeats]

🔥

[@a1white]

Is pink noise the same as brown noise?

[@stx6671]

Now heres a question…where to get “good” pink noise because what i heard on youtube each sound a bit different

[@victimovtalent6036]

is there any device for eliminate/reduce feedback sound?

[@Yoda8945]

There are lots of feedback elimination devices. dbx, Behringer, Klark Teknik, and others make hardware for feedback elimination. Waves and others have software solutions.

[@Fix_It_Again_Tony]

@@Yoda8945 Would it be better to solve feedback issues with EQ? I suppose there must be advantages to the devices you listed, but just curious about what they are.

[@Yoda8945]

@@Fix_It_Again_Tony Those devices are mostly automatic and work in real time. Learning how to properly use a proper (parametric) takes time and experience. One thing not oftenmentioned is that feedback is really a time rather than gain issue.

[@Fix_It_Again_Tony]

@@Yoda8945 Thanks for the reply. Can you explain why feedback is a time issue or at least point me to some further reading?

[@Yoda8945]

@@Fix_It_Again_Tony Feedback is a resonant frequency between the speaker and the microphone.If the distance is greater, the feedback frequency becomes a lower pitch and only a few milliseconds of delay to the speaker may move it to a frequency that the microphone is not so sensitive.

[@beatskool101]

I found Blue Cat Freq Analyst has a pink noise spectrogram setting so you dont have to keep listening to pink noise.

[@Durkhead]

Has Anybody used different color noise to make ir or reverbs?

[@tralfamadorebombadil2186]

White noise does not look flat on a logarithmic EQ visualiser, pink noise does, as the graph is already skewed to this "musical" subjective.

[@cassettedisco6954]

Amigos traduzcan sus videos al español ❤ mucha gente de Latinoamérica los ve espero lean este comentario saludos desde México 🇲🇽 la tierra del taco 🌮

[@SiegelBantuBear]

😊Asante 🙏🏼👍🏼

[@AudioUniversity]

Happy to help!

[@PaulEubanks]

I thought Pink noise was generated with a tilt shift filter at -4.5db/oct?

[@jorgepeterbarton]

It is 3dB and could be made like that

[@PaulEubanks]

@@jorgepeterbarton Oh you’re right, maybe I’m thinking of brown noise that has the steeper tilt?

[@robfriedrich2822]

I also heard red noise.

[@shangrilaladeda]

💯

[@AudioUniversity]

Thanks for watching!

[@Skradgee]

I’m pretty sure brown is the combination of all colors.

[@AudioUniversity]

I believe all colors of light mixed will result in white and all colors of pigment will result in black. But I’m an audio person, so… not 100% sure 😉

[@MarcusWerner13]

Brown is orange...with context.

[@kierenmoore3236]

I remember being told that white noise is like having your head ABOVE water under a waterfall, and pink noise is like having your head UNDER water under a waterfall … ?

[@tommyapocalypse6096]

All this... science really "hertz" my giant dinosaur-sized brain..! lol

[@AudioUniversity]

I see what you did there, tommy. Nice.

[@whiteclash]

fletcher munson curve

[@tortillaman2491]

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???

In this video, your face looks AI generated... That's a new one.

[@DP13999]

I think it goes beyond human perception. What is one oscillation over one arbitrary period of time one second? It has no meaning at all. The meaning of an octave is beyond just human perception. Real question is what value does white noise have at all?

[@aledum1815]

Cheers.