On Monday, I received a rather peculiar Moodle message calling for test subjects for an audio quality test on Wednesday from two SMT (Sound and Music Technology) students (Kerry Smith, and Will Owen); specifically, they wanted males between 16-40. I was happy to oblige, so I texted Kerry on the number she included and said I could take part.
Now, in the message, it did mention test subjects would get free wine/beer and chocolate; I just shrugged that off as a joke added in by Tom Freeston, the staff member who sent the message out. But it turns out they were serious! When everything was set up, there was a table full of the aforementioned. Unfortunately for them, I was the only person who turned up, which was a shame. They waited around for hours, but nope, it was just me in the end.
The test they had me do was to listen to a short sample of "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay (specifically, 1:10 to 1:23 in that link) and tick off boxes on a questionnaire sheet, asking about certain aspect of the sample, like the clarity of the vocals, the church bells in the background, the balance of the instruments, etc. They had six versions of the sample, all in varying qualities (I wasn't told the qualities), and they had me listen in four different ways: cheap hi-fi speakers, professional monitors, monitoring headphones, and cheap in-ear headphones.
The test took about half an hour in total (after the initial set up, which took over an hour). They got everything they needed, and I walked away with several chocolate bars and a bottle of cider. It's been a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment