From Communications to Audio Signal Processing and Time-Scale Modification.
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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.
Episode Contents
In this podcast episode, you will learn
- who is Leonardo Fierro, what his PhD research in audio involves, and why he decided to pursue a doctoral degree in audio,
- how to transition from communications to audio signal processing,
- what is a PhD in general and what does it mean in the context of audio,
- what are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing a PhD,
- how is a PhD student involved in teaching,
- significance of audio research,
- what is the time-scale modification (TSM), methods to achieve it and its applications,
- what are transients in audio,
- what is the Digital Audio FX (DAFX) conference,
- how to write a scientific paper,
- how PhD students are involved in teaching at Aalto,
- how to learn audio processing well,
- difference between Finnish and Italian universities,
- how teaching helps you to organize your knowledge and write scientific papers,
- how to manage time as a PhD student,
- how to find the work-life balance as a doctoral candidate,
- what are the challenges of moving to Finland and overcoming the cultural shock,
- what are the differences between Fins and Italians 😉,
- the 2 approaches to writing a PhD thesis at Aalto,
- is PhD for everyone,
- what are the 2 things you need to do a PhD, and
- what is the purpose of Aalto Acoustics Lab YouTube channel and Aalto Acoustics Instagram.
Referenced Resources
Below are all the resources that are referenced in the podcast episode.
- People:
- Leonardo Fierro ([email protected], Instagram @himynameisfuego), a doctoral candidate at the Aalto University.
- Vesa Välimäki, head of the Audio Signal Processing group at the Aalto Acoustics Lab.
- Jussi Rämö, Principal Engineer (Audio) at Huawei Technologies, formerly a postdoc researcher at Aalto.
- Eero-Pekka Damskägg, Machine Learning Researcher at Neural DSP Technologies, formerly a researcher at Aalto.
- Antti Kuusinen, a postdoc researcher at Aalto.
- Emanuël Habets, a professor at AudioLabs: a joint institution of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität and Fraunhofer IIS.
- Places:
- Publications:
- State of the art time stretching by Eero-Pekka Damskägg and Vesa Välimäki on ResearchGate
- Sines + Transients + Noise (SiTraNo) by Leonardo Fierro:
- Abbreviations:
- TSM: Time-Scale Modification.
- TA: Teaching Assistant.
Have you ever considered a career in audio research? Is there anything that is holding you back? Please, let me know in the comments!
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