Trace-book.org | Actionable Audio Data

Nathan Lively of The Sound Design Live Podcast recently launched an independent, non-profit community at trace-book.org. The goal of the project is to enable an open exchange of loudspeaker system reference data, measured for audio professionals, by audio professionals. Currently the database holds 40+ approved measurements, with more user submissions pending approval. And best of all, you can start using it right now.

It is free to sign-up and start working with the data. You can also become a contributor by uploading your own measurements. The program encourages manufacturers to submit measurements as well. However, all submissions must use the same outlined measurement procedure. All submissions are then verified by moderators prior to approval for use on the site.

Trust?

The idea is a neat one. It would be great to have a central database for measurements that everyone can share. However, can you trust the data to be as meaningful, or as actionable as the program hopes? Thankfully, there are policies in place already to ensure things don’t go off track. At the moment two moderators must approve each submission before it goes live to the public. As well, moderators are not able to approve their own submissions, which is smart. But how will this all work at scale with more users? Only time will tell. In the video above, the team talks about these challenges and how they are working through them.

It does beg the question, whether a paid service could be more effective. A central lab with trusted experts & repeatable conditions seems like what you’d do for something like this. But, would there be enough interest to support one central authority (like Nathan & the team working on trace-book) to take all of the measurements? Perhaps not. Without some sort of additional backing, or neutral industry player taking the project under their wing, it could be very tough.

Community or bust?

These days, it seems every aspect of life involves building some type of community. It can be hard to keep up with, and some might prefer to just pay a monthly or yearly fee to know that Nathan & his team (whomever he trusts and chooses to work with) are taking all of the measurements & providing consistent data. They’re building the library, why not support them with the resources to maintain and grow it into the future? The desire to invite everyone to participate is laudable, as is the free to access platform. It will be exciting to follow their progress in the coming months and watch the database grow.

At the moment, you can sign up today. It is free, it’s useful and it is an awesome effort by some very generous and skilled people.