earshot: ears for an agent

You cannot hear. Never say how audio sounds, or that a sound "fits", without an earshot reading behind it, and quote the number when you report ("strong match, z +3.9; p_real 0.96; -14.2 LUFS"). earshot runs locally on CPU (audio never leaves the machine, except with the optional llm command) and caches every embedding and result on disk. Cost: each CLI call is a new process that loads the models first (~20-40 s on a busy laptop, even for a cached file); inside the MCP server or one Python script the models load once and repeat calls take seconds. For more than a handful of calls, use MCP or a short script (from earshot import api; api.find(...); api.realness(...)).

Setup (once)

pip install -e "/path/to/earshot[mcp,llm]"   # or the repo venv: /path/to/earshot/.venv/bin/python -m earshot ...
earshot doctor                           # packages, ffmpeg, models (pinned revision, cache state); --load times them

Two ways in, same functions:

• CLI: earshot <command> ... [--json] [--out result.json]. Text output starts with a plain summary; times are m:ss.ss in text and seconds in JSON.
• MCP (models stay loaded between calls): claude mcp add earshot --scope user -e EARSHOT_THREADS=3 -- /path/to/earshot/.venv/bin/python -m earshot mcp, or in any client's .mcp.json: {"mcpServers": {"earshot": {"command": "/path/to/earshot/.venv/bin/python", "args": ["-m", "earshot", "mcp"], "env": {"EARSHOT_THREADS": "3", "GEMINI_API_KEY": "${GEMINI_API_KEY:-}"}}}} (the key line only for the optional llm tool; Claude Code fills it from the user's environment, other clients may need the key set in the environment that launches them: never write a literal key into a project file). Tools: measure, describe, match, rank, find, compare, ab, realness, timeline, sheet, critique, doctor, llm_critique; the sound bank (no models): sfx_list, sfx_render, kit_render (Loop 5). Pass absolute paths; full=true returns all JSON. The server answers within a few seconds, longer on a cold or busy machine; if Claude Code shows no earshot tools, start it with MCP_TIMEOUT=60000 (PowerShell: $env:MCP_TIMEOUT=60000; claude). earshot mcp --warm preloads the models at startup. If the machine is shared, set EARSHOT_THREADS=2-3 (or --threads 2 on any command). The first model call of a process loads CLAP + AST (~20-60 s); later calls in the same process are fast. Any ffmpeg-readable file works, including the audio of an mp4 (a video with no audio track says so). Errors are one line on stderr: earshot <command>: error: ..., exit 1.

Loop 1: choose an asset

1. earshot rank "a soft felt mallet hit on a wooden block" downloads/sfx/ --top 5 - shortlist from a folder.
2. earshot find winner.ogg "a single clean mallet hit" --top 3 - the best moments as sample trims (start / end in seconds). Each segment has a kind: stroke (one onset until it decays) and event (strokes that belong together, e.g. a key's down + up) start 5 ms before the attack and end after the decay; window is a stretch whose edges find snapped onto the sound for one-shot queries (a plain stretch, to be crossfaded, for beds). head / tail = how loud the first 5 ms / last 10 ms are against the trim's peak (-30 dB or lower = clean); a trim marked 'head cut' or 'tail cut' starts or ends inside a sound: do not use it as is. --kind event returns onset-based trims only (hits, clicks, steps), --kind texture plain windows only (beds); the default reads the query.
3. earshot describe winner.ogg --start 1.12 --end 1.48 - what it actually sounds like; check the top tags fit what you need and the shape (attack / decay) fits the picture. AudioSet labels are weak on one-shots under ~0.5 s: 'tagger unsure' or a near class (Zipper for a swish, Finger snapping for a click) is neutral; only an outright different class (Speech, Music, Engine, Vehicle) is a red flag.
4. earshot realness winner.ogg --start 1.12 --end 1.48 (or a whole folder) - judge the trim you will use: a multi-take file's p_real is a mean over every take and the silence between them. When the user wants real or professionally produced sound, do not use a 'likely code-synthesized' trim, and read the evidence of an 'uncertain' one before using it (write why you kept it). When synthesized sound is the point (procedural music, UI tones, sounds made with earshot forge), realness is information, not a gate. The verdict thresholds depend on length (each summary names them): a sound up to 6 s uses the clip thresholds (lo 0.17 / hi 0.77), a longer file the mean of its 4 s windows with weakly calibrated file thresholds (lo 0.40 / hi 0.77), so compare verdicts, not raw p_real, across files of different lengths. Real recordings and professionally produced music and sound design usually read real, but realness hears how a sound sounds, not where it came from: clean professionally synthesized tones (UI sounds, chimes, synth stabs) also read as code-synthesized. If realness is unavailable (model missing), say plainly that real-vs-synthetic was not checked; describe's AudioSet classes (Sine wave, Beep, Synthesizer) are weaker evidence. Exact digital zeros alone prove nothing (59% of the project's licensed real recordings have some edit or fade padding).
5. To choose between two candidates: earshot ab a.ogg b.ogg --query "a crisp fast air whoosh", with --a-start/--a-end/--b-start/--b-end for trims from find (A and B may be the same multi-take file). Optional: earshot match winner.ogg "a deep thocky key press" --alts "a clicky blue switch" "a typewriter key" to test one claim, or earshot compare winner.ogg --refs approved/ [--start --end] to check it fits the palette.

Loop 2: review a mix or a film

1. earshot timeline film.mp4 --cues cues.json (or soundtrack.wav --video film.mp4) - the listening transcript: events with time, level and tags, sections, loudness curve, picture cuts, sync per cut / cue. --detail low is fast, high tags up to 96 events (most important first; the summary says how many were tagged, so an untagged event is not a missing sound). Read the sync stats: offset_ms = sound minus picture (negative = early), and the 'chance' fraction says what random edit points would score; only better-than-chance sync means anything. A cut listed with no hit can still carry a soft whoosh: check it on the sheet before adding a sound.
2. earshot sheet film.mp4 -o sheet.png --cues cues.json (--from 10 --to 25 zooms, --detail low is faster) - an annotated PNG: frames, sections, labelled events, spectrogram, loudness, beats, cue markers coloured by sync (green = within a frame, amber = within 100 ms, red = no sound). OPEN THE PNG with your image reader: gaps, pile-ups, masking and late hits are obvious at a glance.
3. earshot critique film.mp4 (--fast skips the AudioSet / realness passes) - scorecard against the measured range of professional launch films: each metric ok / low / high with its weight and actions with timestamps, and a verdict (launch-grade / close / needs work / not launch-grade). Fix critical rows first, re-run 1-3 on the new render. Its "onset on visual events" share counts new attacks within +-100 ms only (the references' definition); its fixes and tips name the cuts with no sound at all, by the same matcher as timeline. If the file is one of the profile's own reference films, critique says so and scores it against the others.
4. Exact meters any time (LUFS, true peak dBTP, LRA, noise floor, attack / decay, brightness, bands): earshot measure mix.wav [--music] or the MCP measure tool.

Loop 3: A/B a change

• earshot ab before.wav after.wav --query "warm punchy kick" or --refs pro_refs/ - which is closer, and how B differs from A in measured words (louder, brighter, longer decay). For sounds inside longer files pass the trims (--a-start 1.217 --a-end 1.615 --b-start 7.881 --b-end 8.285): a whole-file A/B of multi-take files compares every take plus the silence between them. Then earshot timeline after.wav and compare the event lines and sync stats with the old run. Change one thing at a time.

Loop 4: make a sound in code (earshot forge)

Use this when the user wants a sound made, not chosen: an AI that hears can write synthesis code, listen, and improve it. Every sample must be computed (no recorded audio inside, not even an impulse response); real recordings are only the references the critic compares with.

1. Write or pick a recipe in earshot/forge/recipes/<name>.py: SPACE (parameter ranges), DEFAULTS, TARGET, ALTS (realistic confusions) and render(params, r) -> 48 kHz array, built from earshot.forge.dsp (modal resonators, contact excitations, noise colours, a time-varying SVF, a computed room, a mic with a noise floor). Model the physics of the real thing, measured on the references: what strikes what, what rings, how long, in what room.

2. Run one round: earshot forge <recipe> --refs <real refs> --budget 144 --reps 2 --tone 1.5 --keep 4 --robust 8 --dir <round dir>, or in one Python script per round that loads the models once: forge(recipe, critic=Critic(target, alts, refs, tone=1.5), reps=2, space={...}).

   • --tone puts the model-free tonal balance and tail into the objective.
   • --reps 2 ranks each candidate by 2 renders, against lucky renders.
   • It takes about 3-5 minutes per 160 renders on a busy laptop CPU, including a 30-60 s model warm-up.

3. Read what it heard. Each pick's summary says, for example, "sounds like: a cork pop, a glass ting", "decay +2.4 outside the refs" or "tone 11.2 dB from the refs' median: +16 dB at 500-630 Hz (above every ref)". Then check the picks four ways:

   • the model-free tone words: which bands fall outside every reference, the energy shares, the tail, the length (the most trustworthy signal once the model scores are high)
   • robust: the mean over new seeds, not the lucky best render
   • alt_zs: which confusion is closest
   • spectrograms next to the references: ffmpeg -i x.wav -lavfi showspectrumpic=s=900x360:scale=log:legend=0 x.png

   The AudioSet tags in report.json are held out only while you do not pick or steer by them. Fix a selection rule (for example, the robust mean) before you look, and report the tags afterwards.

4. Change the recipe's structure, not only its ranges, for what is wrong (a missing release tick, a metallic ring, a tail too long). Then repeat. Keep a LOG of each round's change and numbers.

5. Report honestly, next to the real references scored by the same critic (report.json ref_scores, leave-one-out).

Goodhart, say it plainly:

• The search optimises earshot's own models. Made sounds routinely out-score real recordings on them, which means the critic is satisfied, not that the sound is better.
• p_real is easy to fool: modal resonators plus a room and a mic noise floor read "real".
• Typicality rewards being an average of the references.
• The model checks saturate: after a search, every model check, held-out phrasings and independent real sets included, puts the made sound inside the real ones. Only measurements and ears can still tell them apart.
• Judge by measured closeness to the references: tonal balance, bands outside every reference, tails, lengths. Also use robust re-renders and spectrograms.
• Ask for a human blind test (random order, loudness-matched, hidden key) before calling a made sound "as good as real".

In the first test (demo/forge-test) an independent judge found the key press 8-13 dB off the real tonal balance and the pops band-unlimited with long hissy tails, while every model check called them real. Re-made by steering with the model-free check, they now sit inside the real recordings' measured spread. The whoosh was re-made as a truly fast one. The impact (darker, swell-led) and the click (short tails) were not re-made. No human has listened yet.

Loop 5: make a film's sound kit (earshot sfx / earshot kit)

Use this when a code-made film (a cinetic film, any cue sheet) needs its effects: render them from earshot's shipped bank instead of writing synth voices. No models load; a whole kit renders in about a minute and re-renders in seconds.

1. Start from a preset: earshot kit init --preset calm -o audio/kit.json (calm for text-led films, crisp for energetic product films, minimal for designed effects-only films). Each role's note says why its sound was chosen; riser, swell and suck are off: a reveal resolves on one element, and the lockup is one clean hit.
2. Fit it to the film: earshot sfx list --kind hit (or --category) shows the candidates with lengths, peak times and knobs. Change a role's sound, set edits (pitch to the film's root for the hit or drop, dur / apex for a fixed move), takes (12 or more for typing, 2-4 elsewhere), level_db. Audition one candidate with earshot sfx render ID -o x.wav [--pitch E5] [--dur 0.8 --apex 0.32] and read its measured onset / peak / end.
3. Render: earshot kit render audio/kit.json --out audio/kit. The takes and kit.lock.json (measured onset, peak, end, loudness per take) are what the mixer places on cue frames: onset on the frame for hits and touches, the peak on a whoosh's apex, the end on a riser's hit.
4. Check: earshot kit check audio/kit.json --out audio/kit. It refuses what a render cannot use (a knob or pitch the sound cannot take, a level over 0 dBFS, two takes that would share a file). Every warning names a take and a reason (clicks, a cut tail, comb ring, silence, a pitch that climbs more than 4 semitones, a hit with two attacks or a build before it, pitch_off: a note the knob did not land); swap the sound or the knob rather than keeping a warned take. Read the notes too (a sounded riser, a composite sting).
5. Listen through the finished film with Loop 2 (timeline --cues, sheet) and check that each cue landed. Say plainly what the bank is: forge sounds made in code, and 15 sounds fitted as code from CC0 recordings (fit/<role>/<name>, each with its source; the presets use them for clicks, ticks, keys, touches and the snap), all chosen and checked by measurement. They are not recordings: when the brief asks for recorded sound, use skills/real-sound instead. To add a fit of your own (earshot fit --takes, then bank add-fit), see docs/SFX.md ("Add your own fit").

Optional: a second opinion in words (audio LLM)

earshot llm mix.wav --yes-upload [--with-timeline] [--prompt "Is the riser at 0:12 cheap?"] asks Google Gemini for a rubric critique (sync, realism, mix, loudness, what sounds cheap, fixes with times). It only runs when the user has set GEMINI_API_KEY (or GOOGLE_API_KEY) AND explicitly agreed that the audio is uploaded to Google; ask first, never pass --yes-upload / consent=true on your own. Only audio is sent (mono 64 kbps). Its timestamps are approximate and its scores are one model's opinion: confirm every fix with timeline / ab.

Reading the numbers

number	what it is	trust
LUFS, dBTP, LRA, dBFS, ms, Hz	measurements (BS.1770 meter, spectrum, envelope)	exact; use them for levels
z (match / rank / find / describe tags)	how far a description stands out among the few hundred vocabulary descriptions scored on the same sound	verdicts: z >= 3 strong, 2.5-3 plausible, 2-2.5 weak, < 2 no match (held-out evidence per band in eval/semantics/RESULTS.md)
p_vs_alts	uncalibrated, sharp forced choice between your query and your alternatives	only says which wording fits best; judge by z
cosine	raw CLAP similarity	never a probability; compare only for the same sound and query
AudioSet labels (0..1)	independent per-class probabilities from the AST tagger	good for broad classes; hears only up to 8 kHz
p_real / verdict	real or pro-produced vs code-synthesized, from a small fitted model	strong evidence, not proof; read its evidence list; thresholds differ for clips (<= 6 s) and long files (named in each summary)
digital_silence_frac	share of exact-zero samples	weak alone: edit / fade padding is common in real recordings
typicality z (compare)	distance to the reference set vs the refs' own spread	>= -1 fits the set, < -2 outlier
sync offset_ms, chance	sound minus picture per cut / cue; what random edits would score	trust when well above chance
critique status	value vs the range of 7 professional launch films (loudness: web-delivery practice; true peak <= -1 dBTP for a master, <= 0 dBTP for decoded AAC / MP3, which already holds the codec overshoot)	a range, not a target: ok = inside what pros do
Prefer measurements, then verdicts / z / probabilities; never present cosine as confidence.

Writing queries

Describe the sound, not its use: source + material + action + character ("a heavy wooden door slamming in a small room", not "a sound for the logo"). Give alternatives that are realistic confusions (thock vs click vs typewriter). When a z is borderline, try two or three phrasings: trust a reading that holds up under all of them.

Limits (say these plainly when they matter)

• Taste is not measured: earshot says what a sound is and how it measures, not whether it is beautiful or right for the story. The user decides on taste; give them the evidence and the shortlist.
• No speech recognition (it can tell there is speech, not what is said) and no lyric or language judgement.
• CLAP hears 50 Hz - 14 kHz and AST up to 8 kHz: check "air" and low-pass problems with measure (bandwidth_hz, bands).
• Very short sounds are padded to a 10 s window; isolated hits read best with find / describe on a trimmed segment.
• attack_ms / decay_ms come from smoothed envelopes (5 ms / 10 ms RMS): an instant attack reads ~4 ms, and very short clicks cannot read below ~10-20 ms of decay.
• Picture cuts come from a frame-difference detector: hard cuts and whips are reliable, slow crossfades are missed or found late, and motion inside a shot is not an event, so pass cue times (--cues) for animation.
• Mixed, dense material blurs tags: describe a stem or a segment rather than the whole mix.
• Licence, provenance and attribution are not audio questions: earshot cannot check them.