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

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

Education Podcasts

Welcome to WolfTalk, a podcast ever about audio programming. My name is Jan Wilczek. I am an audio programmer and a researcher. In this podcast you will learn how to build your career in programming or research related to audio, meet programmers and researchers from all around the world, and learn about the intricacies of sound. All resources referenced in the podcast are at www.thewolfsound.com/talkXXX, where XXX is the episode number. Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.thewolfsound.com/newsletter/ I sincerely hope you'll find the information here useful for your own development!

Location:

Poland

Description:

Welcome to WolfTalk, a podcast ever about audio programming. My name is Jan Wilczek. I am an audio programmer and a researcher. In this podcast you will learn how to build your career in programming or research related to audio, meet programmers and researchers from all around the world, and learn about the intricacies of sound. All resources referenced in the podcast are at www.thewolfsound.com/talkXXX, where XXX is the episode number. Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.thewolfsound.com/newsletter/ I sincerely hope you'll find the information here useful for your own development!

Twitter:

@wilczek_jan

Language:

English


Episodes

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

3/4/2024
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: This episode was recorded on January 19, 2024.

Duration:01:23:48

How To Secure Your Audio Code Using Rust With Chase Kanipe | WolfTalk #019

2/12/2024
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Chase Kanipe: a cybersecurity professional, a musician, and an audio programmer (formerly C++ with JUCE, currently Rust). Chase is most widely known through his incredible Audio Developer Conference talks: Tips From a Hacker on License Checking at ADC22 Both were really insightful and of incredibly high quality. One could not overlook Chase’s personal culture and the depth with which he explained the concepts. Not to mention that both of his talks made it into my “Top 10 ADC Talks” videos for both ADC22 and ADC23! Chase is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Machine Learning at the University of Maryland. At the same time, he’s working on his breakthrough audio project in a self-grounded company Procedural Audio. In the podcast, we discuss his path of being a classically trained musician, a passionate cybersecurity specialist, and then transitioning into audio programming with Rust and into AI. He’s an incredibly inspiring individual and I have learned a lot from interviewing him! 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: This episode was recorded on January 3, 2024.

Duration:00:53:30

How To Transition From Live Sound To Freelance Audio Programming With Ruurd Adema | WolfTalk #018

1/25/2024
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Ruurd Adema: a freelance audio developer from the Netherlands working primarily in JUCE and C++ (but not only). I met Ruurd at the Audio Developer Conference 2023 and I believe his story is incredibly inspiring; he went from being a live sound engineer doing front-of-house (FOH) mixing at the biggest events in the Netherlands to contracting as a freelance audio developer. In the interview, he shares his story and a ton of useful resources and tips to help others follow his footsteps. If you’re looking for inspiration and a clear learning path to become an audio developer this is an episode for you! 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: This episode was recorded on December 13, 2023.

Duration:01:36:42

How Can a Mixing Engineer Become an Audio Programmer with Linus Corneliusson | WolfTalk #017

1/18/2024
In this podcast episode, I was very pleased to guest Linus Corneliusson: a mixing engineer and editing assistant at Fascination Street Studios who has shifted towards audio plugin development. I met Linus (and his colleague Jacek) at the Audio Developer Conference 2022 and he’s definitely one of the most friendly and funny people in the community. What is even more amazing, he’s worked in the studio with top-notch heavy metal bands, like James LaBrie, Soilwork, DragonForce, Haken, Leprous, Dark Tranquility, Between the Buried and Me, and Fates Warning (basically most of the major names in the progressive metal genre). In the podcast, we discus how Linus started creating simple audio plugins on the side which led him to pursuing a full-blown career as an audio programmer for Bogren Digital. We also discuss tools, tips, and resources he used and recommends for starting in audio programming. Are you a mixing engineer looking for a way to transition into audio development? Are you seeking advice on which path to take and which resources are the best to reach out for? Do you need inspiration and motivation? Then this episode is for you! 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: This episode was recorded on November 29, 2023.

Duration:00:42:18

Rust Audio Programming with Ian Hobson | WolfTalk #016

1/4/2024
For this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Ian Hobson: a former DJ who transitioned to audio programming, worked at Ableton, and then launched a successful freelancing career. Ian is well-known in the community for his talks on Rust at the Audio Developer Conferences and on YouTube. He’s also created his own programming language: Koto. We met at the Audio Developer Conference 2022 and he was kind enough to agree on recording an interview with him. I must say that after recording the podcast, I respect his drive to continuously learn and improve even more! Ian shares a ton of useful knowledge on I highly encourage you to listen to the podcast in full! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn: The episode was recorded on November 3, 2023.

Duration:01:34:49

Oli Larkin: Creator of iPlug2 and Web Audio Modules | WolfTalk #015

11/9/2023
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Oliver Larkin: an audio programming legend from the UK. Starting with a passion for music, going through Max, SynthEdit, PureData, then C++ to JavaScript and others, there is no audio technology that's not known to him. He has worked on projects with Arturia and Focusrite (among many more) and nowadays works for Ableton. He has conducted research in spatial audio, and has created successful plugins, like the Casio CZ-101 synthesizer emulation. He is most widely known as the co-author of Web Audio Modules and iPlug2: an C++ framework for creating audio plugins and web-hosted audio apps. It allows you to have a single codebase that builds various plugin formats out of the box, e.g., VST, AAX, and AU. Sounds familiar? That's because it is an alternative to the JUCE framework. With 20 years of experience in audio programming, he can be a role model for aspiring audio programmers. All this and more, including Oli’s learning path is discussed in this podcast episode! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:01:47:16

Web Audio Programming Basics With Christoph Guttandin | WolfTalk #014

8/28/2023
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Christoph Guttandin: a web audio developer from Berlin, Germany. Chris is a self-taught programmer with a formal training as an audio-visual technician. He’s a freelancer who deals with playing back sound in the browser, sometimes on multiple computers simultaneously. He’s a member of the W3C Audio Community Group where he gives feedback regarding the new standards. He’s especially careful about the compliance of browsers to standard updates. He regularly answers questions regarding web audio on StackOverflow. He was a speaker at the Audio Developer Conference 2022. In the podcast, we not only discuss his background and his story of how he became a web audio developer but we also uncover how you can become one. I specifically ask him about the best resources on web audio programming and which languages, tools & frameworks to use. Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:00:52:01

How To Create Accessible Audio Software With Jay Pocknell | WolfTalk #013

6/19/2023
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Jay Pocknell; a production and mixing engineer from the UK. Not only is he a skilled sound engineer and a lovely person to talk to but also a proactive member of the audio community. He founded the Sound Without Sight organization and currently works at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) advocating for music software, music hardware, and music instruments accessible to everyone: including musicians and sound engineers with disabilities. Basing on his lived experience with sight loss, he gives invaluable advice on how any audio programmer can make their software accessible. This is a gold mine of first-hand information! In the podcast episode, we discuss his path to becoming a sound engineer, which obstacles he needed to overcome, and how we as the audio community can remove some of these obstacles permanently. Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn: This podcast was recorded on April 5, 2023.

Duration:00:51:32

Meinard Müller: Professor in Music Information Retrieval | WolfTalk #012

5/3/2023
In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:01:04:56

How To Run Your Neural Networks in an Audio Plugin with Andrew Fyfe | WolfTalk #011

3/13/2023
In this episode, I was honored to interview Andrew Fyfe; a musician, a software engineer, and a researcher in the field of deep learning applied to audio. In particular, Andrew is working on an exciting new technology, Neutone. Neutone allows quick deployment of trained neural networks to audio plugins and running them in the digital audio workstation for verification, testing, up to full-blown product releases for users. At the same time, Andrew is wrapping up his PhD while working full time from Japan. He was kind enough to share his story and his journey to becoming an audio researcher. Don’t forget to submit your plugins for the Neural Audio Plugin Competition until March the 17th of 2023! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn: Episode notes: https://thewolfsound.com/talk011/

Duration:01:02:46

How To Process Sound On The GPU With Sasha Talashov And Jonathan Rowden From GPU Audio | WolfTalk #010

1/30/2023
In this episode, I was lucky to interview two members of GPU Audio: Jonathan Rowden and Alexander “Sasha” Talashov. GPU Audio is a software company that promises to deliver real-time audio processing capabilities to GPUs in the form of an easily usable Software Development Kit (SDK). It’s their goal to allow audio programmers to utilize the power of all GPU cores for faster and more performant audio processing. If you are interested in why it is not easy to process audio on the GPU and how it can be done, then this episode is for you! Don’t forget to submit your impulse response for their IR Competition until February 23, 2023! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:01:14:48

From Audio Research To Own Audio Software Company With Stefano D’Angelo (Orastron, Ex-Arturia) | WolfTalk #009

12/20/2022
In this episode, I was incredibly excited to interview Stefano D’Angelo: a freelancer in the field of audio programming. Episode notes: https://thewolfsound.com/talk009 Stefano comes from Italy and is well known in the field. He’s completed his PhD thesis at the Acoustics Lab of the Aalto University, then worked for Arturia for some time, and then decided to start his own freelance gig, which eventually led to him grounding the Orastron company. During this time, he’s been incredibly active in the programming field as well as in the research field. Many WolfTalk listeners ask “how to become an audio programming freelancer?” Well, in this podcast episode, you will learn a way of how this could be done 😉 Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:00:44:21

Building Audio Teams and Audio Products with Prashant Mishra | WolfTalk #008

12/4/2022
In this episode, I was fortunate to interview Prashant Mishra, an Audio Director who is now building audio products and creating awareness about audio tech and game audio. Prashant is an audiophile who has worked as an Audio Director for educational games and videos in collaboration with Disney to create IP-specific sonic experiences, during which he created voice based apps. He helped in setting up and scaling the sound department at an India-based ed-tech since 2015 for their entire catalogue of projects. He is now building audio products with companies such as Soundly, and hosts games, spatial & interactive audio training sessions. Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:00:51:08

Spatial Audio Basics with Dr Tom McKenzie | WolfTalk #007

11/12/2022
In this episode, I was fortunate to interview Dr Tom McKenzie, a researcher in the field of spatial audio and acoustics and a musician, who is currently working at the University of Edinburgh as a lecturer in Acoustics and Architectural Acoustics. At the time of the interview (November 2021), Tom was a postdoctoral researcher at the Aalto Acoustics Lab at the Aalto University in Finland. He was the last member of the lab interviewed by me. Previous interviews included: Leonardo FierroJon FagerströmAlec WrightPlease, if you are enjoying the podcast, leave it a review on Apple Podcasts. And if you’re looking for a simple checklist on what is needed to start writing code to process sound, download my free audio plugin developer checklist! Many thanks to Aalto Acoustics Lab for letting us record this interview in their office. Episode Contents In this podcast episode, you will learn:

Duration:00:15:39

How Can a Musician Become an Audio Programmer with Moritz Schaller | WolfTalk #006

10/13/2022
In this podcast episode, I had the privilege to interview Moritz Schaller: a professional musician who turned programmer and successfully transitioned into a software engineering position. Moritz is a colleague of mine from Loudly GmbH. Not only is he a skilled and smart programmer but also a great person who is extremely likeable. I am sure that if you are considering a change in your career paths, Moritz’s story and tips will provide you with inspiration and guidance on how to do this.

Duration:00:58:28

How to Build Your Own Audio Hardware Company with Steve Barile | WolfTalk #005

6/15/2022
In this podcast episode, I was happy to interview Steve Barile from Conductive Labs. Steve was a 9-5 employee of Intel, until he and his best friend Darryl, started experimenting with building their own audio hardware. First prototypes led to concrete product ideas, which led to a crowdfunding campaign, which led to founding a successful business... but let's listen to him tell the story! In this podcast episode, you will learn: Special thanks from Steve to the Conductive Labs crew: Jesse, Cantrell, Paul, Nick, Ben, Chuck, Blake, Shashi, Kelly & SOs: Joyce and Lisa Episode notes: https://thewolfsound.com/talk005

Duration:01:35:22

Deep Learning for Virtual Analog Modeling with Alec Wright | WolfTalk #004

1/28/2022
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview another member of the Aalto Acoustics Lab of the Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. He is involved in research applying deep learning to audio, for example, in the context of Virtual Analog modeling of guitar amplifiers. He was also the advisor of my Master Thesis. In this podcast episode, you will learn ✅ how to transition from mechanical engineering to audio processing, ✅ how to apply deep learning to music processing, for example, virtual analog modeling, ✅ challenges of deep learning in audio, ✅ how to use neural networks in real-time audio, ✅ what makes a good audio dataset, ✅ how to fuse traditional DSP and deep learning, ✅ typical neural network architectures in audio, ✅ generative models in audio, ✅ how transition from the Master's to the PhD mindset, ✅ challenges of remote research collaboration during pandemic, ✅ transition from Scotland to Finland. You can find all referenced resources at https://www.thewolfsound.com/talk004/ 📝 Note: if you like the podcast so far, please, go to iTunes and leave me a review there. It will benefit both sides: more reviews means more outreach on iTunes and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. Thank you for doing this 🙏 All podcast episodes: https://www.thewolfsound.com/podcast/ Buy a coffee if you want to support this podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/janwilczek Sign up for the WolfSound newsletter to master audio programming: https://thewolfsound.com/newsletter/

Duration:00:33:34

Challenges Of Beginner Audio Researchers & How To Overcome Them With Jon Fagerström | WolfTalk #003

12/19/2021
In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview another member of the Aalto Acoustics Lab of the Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. Jon Fagerström is conducting his PhD research in the domain of audio signal processing, specifically, sampling synthesis and artificial reverberation. We are discussing what challenges beginning researchers face, how to find your niche in audio research, and what interesting ways there are to end up as an audio researcher. Episode notes: thewolfsound.com/talk003.

Duration:00:38:13

How To Start a Career In Audio Research With Leonardo Fierro | WolfTalk #002

11/18/2021
In this episode, I had the privilege to interview Leonard Fierro, a PhD student at the Aalto Acoustics Lab of the Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. Leonardo comes from Italy and transitioned from Communications to Audio Signal Processing. He's currently (as of 2021) in his third year of the doctoral studies. His focus is on time-scale modification (as in YouTube's 1.5x or 2x speed buttons) and transients. In this episode, we are discussing his background and also what is needed to carry out research in the domain of sound processing. Want to learn more about audio? Sign up for WolfSound's newsletter: https://www.thewolfsound.com/newsletter/

Duration:01:07:53

How I Got Started With Audio Programming (And How You Can Too!) | WolfTalk #001

10/28/2021
WolfSound is all about making it easy for you to learn audio programming. We remove the requirements to read thick books, pay for expensive courses, and attend universities for years. This podcast episode is meant to give you an example way to learn audio programming: my way. I want to share my story with you so that you can relate and believe that you can do it too! In this podcast episode, you will learn > how mathematics and music led me to study the field of acoustics, > how I learned programming from scratch, > how I handled two study programmes and a part-time software engineering job, > how I learned audio programming basics within and outside of the university, > which books I read to learn programming and sound synthesis, > why I decided to pursue a research-focused master's degree in signal processing, > why I created WolfSound, > where I am going next 🧐.

Duration:00:40:55