The Audiophiles » sports

How to eliminate Vuvuzela horns when watching World Cup

nick — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:21:26 +0000

photo by Dundas Football Club, used under Creative Commons License

There’s been plenty of talk – rightfully so – of the annoying swarms of bees that are the Vuvuzela horns you hear during the 2010 World Cup. There reportedly have been more than one million sold since the Cup began last week.

Nothing short of a ban on the horns (it’s not going to happen) would help the players, broadcasters and fans at the matches, but as TV viewers, we thankfully have technology on our side. A German sound engineer has created a 45-minute sound file you can buy and play during broadcasts. It’s supposed to cancel out the sound using active noise control, the same way noise-canceling headphones work.

But thanks to another more industrious method, also originally posted by a German (Google translated page), you can just set your computer, stereo or TV equalizer to filter out the sound of the Vuvuzelas.

Apparently, all you have to do is duck your equalizer by at least 40dB at 465Hz and 235Hz. If you are using your TV equalizer and it doesn’t offer those specific Hz levels, you can probably get away with approximating.

If you really want to get nerdy with it, here’s a video from Lifehacker that shows the before and after results:

Special Olympics Live wins 2009 Horizon Interactive Awards

nick — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:31:01 +0000

Special Olympics Live, a project for which I served as coach and daily video producer, just won two golds in the 2009 Horizon Interactive Awards, in the categories of “public service/non-profit” and “College & University.”

From the Horizon Interactive Awards website:

In its 8th year, the Horizon Interactive Awards was created to recognize excellence in interactive media production worldwide. Since 2001, the competition has received many thousands of entries from countries around the world and nearly all 50 US States. Each year, those entries are narrowed down to the best of the best to be recognized and promoted on and international stage for their excellence. The judging process involves a Horizon Interactive Awards advisory panel, end user panel and a worldwide panel of judges consisting of industry professionals. Winning entries are dubbed the “best of the best” in the interactive media industry.

Special Olympics Day Five Highlights

nick — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:12:29 +0000

The fifth and final day of events at the World Winter Games. This final highlight reel includes an interview I did with Michelle Kwan, footage from the closing ceremonies and a documentary about an American skier who won three medals this year with the use of only one lung.

Special Olympics Day Four Highlights

nick — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:37:33 +0000

Day four of the World Winter Games, includes a narration I wrote for figure skater Michelle Kwan, an interview I did with gold medal gymnast Bart Conner and a documentary about Iceland’s only athlete here at the Special Olympics.

Special Olympics Day Three Highlights

nick — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 01:25:29 +0000

Day three of the World Winter Games includes an interview I did with the First Lady of Panama, and a documentary about a U.S. coach who is empowered to fight her own battles by the message of the Special Olympics.

Special Olympics Day Two Highlights

nick — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:40:30 +0000

Day two highlights from the World Winter Games in Idaho, featuring an interview I did with Olympic gold medal speedskater Casey FitzRandolph.

Special Olympics Day One Highlights

nick — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:56:16 +0000

Here’s a package I wrote and produced for the first day of action at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise, ID. The documentary stories and photos were created by student reporters. I did the various interviews you’ll see throughout the series. This first package includes Kenny G. and Kristi Yamaguchi, as well as narration by Olympic gold medal gymnast Bart Conner.

2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games is Live

nick — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:41:43 +0000

We are live!

I’m here in Boise, Idaho, as our team of about 150 students and coaches associated with the University of North Carolina, University of Miami and Boise State University is out shooting and producing video for the entire Special Olympics. Every day, we’ll feature new documentary stories on teams and athletes from around the world, plus coverage of every single event.

Our documentaries will be distributed by networks including ESPN, Versus and NBC’s Universal Sports. All documentaries and daily event coverage will be added to our site on a daily basis and will be searchable by athlete names, nationality, date, sport, etc.

Opening Ceremonies were on Saturday and events start on Monday, so stay tuned!