How To Learn Audio Signal Processing And Audio Circuit Modeling With Eric Tarr | WolfTalk #020

WolfTalk: Podcast About Audio Programming (People, Careers, Learning)

Eric Tarr is a professor at the Belmont University where he teaches Audio Signal Processing. In the audio programming community, he’s most famous for his book “Hack Audio” on the basics of digital signal processing using Matlab and his point-to-point modeling library for analog audio circuit emulation.

Eric’s work has definitely been an inspiration for starting the WolfSound blog and the YouTube channel so it’s really exciting to have him on the show!

In the podcast, we’ll delve into his story, how he learned audio signal processing, how he managed to work with some amazing audio companies (Sennheiser, Epic Games, Skywalker Sounds), and top tips on how to learn DSP coming from Eric’s teaching experience. We also discuss in detail how to model analog audio circuits for audio plugins (so called virtual analog modeling). Here, Eric describes which state-of-the-art methods are available and how you can learn them. He also shares the details of this point-to-point modeling library which allows you to easily emulate analog audio circuits.

As a special feat, I’d asked my coachees who follow Eric’s work to provide questions to him concerning a variety of different topics, including the impact of AI on the virtual analog modeling space.

All in all, it’s an episode that you don’t want to miss!

Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏

Episode contents

In this podcast episode, you will learn:

• how Eric learned digital audio signal processing based on his passion for music and electronics,
• how he became a professor for Audio Engineering Technology at the Belmont University,
• how he wrote the famous “Hack Audio” book,
• why he uses Matlab instead of Python in his teaching,
• how he was able to deliver numerous audio-related projects to various companies worldwide,
• how he developed his point-to-point audio circuit modeling library,
• how you can learn digital signal processing (even if you’re just starting out),
• what is the go-to language and technology stack for creating commercial audio products,
• what are the state-of-the-art methods to model analog audio circuits,
• is it worth going to the Audio Developer Conference?

This episode was recorded on January 19, 2024.