Sound Part 2

Sound and how to make it

What is Sound?

Sound is a compression wave

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Amplitude v. wavelength

Amplitude is the height of the sound wave or volume of the sound wave

The higher the amplitude, the louder the sound

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Amplitude v. wavelength

The wavelength of the sound is the distance between the highest peaks of the sound’s amplitude

Wavelength of sound is the PITCH of the sound you hear

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Sound frequency

Frequency of sound is measured in Hz. It is related to the wavelength.

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Decibel

Decibel is a unit of measure of the loudness of sound.

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Pitch

Pitch is determined by frequency, but is more complicated than just pure numbers. Human perception affects pitch too.

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Sampling Rate

The sampling rate is like taking a series of photos of sound over time.The higher the sampling rate, the better the capture of audio.

Analog=red Digital=black

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Sample size One of the aspects that affects

audio quality is sample size. The larger the sample, the larger

the file size, but the better the quality

Usually: 2 bit, 4 bit 8 bit, 16 bit etc. Refers to quality

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Audio Channels Also affects file size.

The number of channels determines weather something is recorded in Mono (one track), Stereo (2 track) or Surround Sound (3-7 tracks).

Each track plays something different out of a different speaker

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Cutting and Pasting One way of “mixing” or combining sounds

is to cut and paste them together in programs like Garage band

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Mixing board

Another way to combine sounds is to “mix” them live on a MIXER or Audio Board

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VU meter

The VOLUME UNIT meter. This is the same weather you are

mixing sound live on a sound board or in garage band. It’s like VOLUME

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Track Level

In Garage Band the blue lines are the track levels. The more layers you have the more levels you have

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Master Fader

The master fader is a control on both digital and analog audio mixers

It controls the overall volume for all tracks in the audio mix

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Streaming

When downloading audio files, streaming is a technology that allows one to listen to audio files BEFORE the whole file has downloaded

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Compression

A type of lossy or lossless compression in which the amount of data in a recorded waveform is reduced to differing extents for transmission respectively with or without some loss of quality.

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Codec

A codec is a software program that COdes and DECodes the way we digitize audio files.

CO - DEC (CO de and DEC ode)

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Transcoding

A way of coding one type of file directly to another type of file. Example: AIFF to MP3

Bandwidth

A rate of data transfer measured in bits/second, Mbits/second or Gbits/second

The greater the bandwidth, the faster the download

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Steps in Producing Audio

Planning Technical Preparation Creation Distibution

Planning (ALWAYS has these steps)

Define target audience - Brainstorm – write down/sketch ideas

- Coordinate location/equipment needs

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Technical Preparation writing

Write script/song or any other text for audio Select equipment

Think: Where will the microphones be used? Type of audio recording – people, vocals, instruments?

Type of microphones

Is it loud and crowded? - cardioid

Is the audio source far way? – shotgun/hypercardioid

Are there many audio sources to capture simultaneously? – omnidirectional

Do the microphones need to be unseen? - visibility

- Types of cables/connections

Creating

Record Audio Edit Audio

Distributing

Export Burn to CD/Upload to internet

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