I hate to get technical, but is that going to stop me? No way.
The tools already exist. When talking in dB we must always state
the "reference" in the term. Thus we have dBm ; dBW; and all sorts of
other variations of energy change. The one in which we should be
interested is, in my humble opinion the dBA. Now unfortunately
in this case I can't recall the actual name of the "A" reference but
what does matter is that it is the threshold of "sound". A whisper
at x feet or a very quiet cricket in the grass. So that level is called
0 dBA. Pronounced zero dBA. The threshold of hearing.
The sort of loudness where you stand holding your breath
and cupping your hand over your ear to hear that soft sound.
And where will we find this awful term on an instrument?
Shudder! On noise measuring equipment!!!!! Next fact.
Every time the level rises by 3dB it is twice the _energy_ of what we
just had. OK, if it falls by 3dB from our original, it has halved.
Take particular note that we are talking in real bodily energy,
so if we sing with an inefficient technique, not only do we
threaten our vocal tone, but we threaten our very lives: and that
doesn't even include the threat from the audience.
So what is normal speech level. Guess....76dBA. 79dBA is twice
as loud. 82dBA is 4 times as loud as normal speech, so 85 dBA
is 8 times as loud. Get it? Of course we all understand that
this is a "log" scale so is simulating the stimulation that the
ear may experience from the same sound source. The dummy
human head with a mike in each ear hole and of course
the synthetic ears, can be used for directional approximations.
Of course I'd never dream of suggesting the use of such a device
in a blatently artistic endeavour, but I certainly have the
perception that when I'm singing well, the sound within my head
is smaller, while more energy is being radiated externally and Dre
was quite correct about the close mike technique giving deceptive
results. Personal vocal calibration is difficult enough without the
unnecessary intrusion of technology, but then I did say unnecessary.
Regards Reg.
ps In the situations where the letters are in upper case it's because they
are based on peoples names. Bell..Watt etc. Lower case m is milliwatt
into 600 ohms. Which should also be upper case, but never is.
Ohms I mean.
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