Time Compression

While we’re on the subject of time, in my audio software I have a tool called ‘Time Compression/Expansion.” Oh, if it only did what the name says. Imagine something that would compress or expand time as you needed. Boring events could fly by, while moments of pleasure could last longer, deadlines would never be missed, and other things could be postponed indefinitely. (Of course, if other people had access to this time-warping tool as well, things could get complicated.)

We discussed deadlines last week, and how we try to speed up our workflow. Essentially we are attempting to compress time. My audio software does this by cutting out little tiny slices of audio throughout the track – so small as to be inaudible. Any one slice has no significant impact on the timing of the track, but put them all together and you can speed up a track significantly before you start to hear bad things happen to it.

In our work, every click and keystroke saved, every quicker way of doing things, every more efficient search adds up into our ability to compress time. The trick is to not go too far so the quality of what we’re doing suffers. It’s a balancing act we’re always trying to achieve here at Omni. Speed things up, but not at the sacrifice of quality.

This is particularly evident in the audio production department. We’re always trying to find ways to release more music, but we refuse to sacrifice quality to do it. We don’t think that serves anyone well in the long run, although it may look good on paper. Speed is only good if it still achieves the desired results in the end.

Bt myb ths blg wld gt dne qckr wtht vwls.

-Dave Hab