Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Produce a glossary of terms specific to the methods and principles of sound design and production. Using a provided template, you must research and gather definitions specific to provided glossary terms. Any definitions must be referenced with the URL link of the website you have obtained the definition.You must also, where possible, provide specific details of how researched definitions relate to your own production practice.

Name: Luke M. Sullivan-Corbelle RESEARCHED DEFINITION (provide short internet researched definition and URL link)

DESCRIBE THE RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCHED TERM TO YOUR OWN PRODUCTION PRACTICE?

SOUND DESIGN METHODOLOGY Foley Artistry A Foley Artist 'recreates' sound effects for film, television and radio productions on a Foley Stage in a Post Production Studio(x)

Foley Artistry is when people make sounds to be used for a curtain object. Sliding a spatula on a sword makes for a good sword sound, getting two halves of a coconut and putting them together over and over again makes a good clopping sound.

Sound Libraries A sample library is a collection of digital sound recordings, known as samples, for use by composers, arrangers, performers, and producers of music.(x)

Sound Libraries are collections of sounds, digitally stored, to be used by people who compose, preform, produce or arrange music.

SOUND FILE FORMATS Uncompressed Uncompressed audio files are the most accurate digital representation of a sound wave, but can also be the most resource-intensive method of recording and storing digital audio, both in terms of storage and management.(x)

Uncompressed audio files are when bits of a file are removed to take up less space while trying to be an accurate representation of what the file is. Often, parts where nothing is happening (audio wise) is removed when compressed, but then added in when playing. This is, however, a bit of a resource hog.

.wav The WAVE file format is a subset of Microsoft's RIFF specification for the storage of multimedia files.A RIFF file starts out with a file header followed by a sequence of data chunks.(x)

WAV is an audio player for windows.I heard that Windows installs a selection of WAV formatted files into your PC with Windows that plays for a millisecond every few moments, to test to see if your computer is making sound. (LUKE, PLEASE REMEMBER TO DO RESEARCH ON THIS BEFORE HANDING IT IN!!!)

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

.aiff AIFF is a file format designed to store audio data.(x)

This Apple developed sound storing file called the AIFF stores sound. It was based off of EA (Electronic Arts)’s IFF sound storing file.

.au AU is a file extension for a sound file format belonging to Sun, NeXT and DEC and used in UNIX.AU files contain three parts: the audio data and text for a header (containing 24 bytes) and an annotation block.(x)

.au is a file that can be opened by Java. This file is often used in the internet.

.smp The SMP file extension is, or was in the past used for several audio formats, including Avalon, Sample Vision or Ad Lib Gold.(x)

Lossy Compression Lossy compression is the class of data encoding methods that uses inexact approximations (or partial data discarding) for representing the content that has been encoded.(x)

Lossy compression is when a file has some parts of it removed that fill space but do nothing with that space.If there’s 5 seconds of silence in a movie, there’s 5 seconds of storage being taken up, which would be removed in lossy compression to add more storage.

.mp3 MP3 is an audio-specific format that was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group as part of its MPEG-1standard and later extended in MPEG-2 standard.(x)

A very common, non-visual, audio only music file.

AUDIO LIMITATIONS Sound Processor Unit (SPU) Sound processing unit, an integrated circuit specialized in processing audio(x)

A SPU is a sound card.

Digital Sound Processor (DSP) A Digital Signal Processor, or DSP, is a specialized microprocessor that has an architecture which is optimized for the fast

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

operational needs of digital signal processing.(x)

Random Access Memory (RAM) Random Access Memory (RAM) is a computer storage location that allows information to be stored and accessed quickly from random locations within DRAM on a memory module. Because information is accessed randomly instead of sequentially like it is on a CD or hard drive, the computer can access the data much faster. However, unlike ROM and the hard drive RAM is a volatile memory and requires power in order to keep the data accessible, if power is lost all data contained in memory lost.(x)

RAM is a temporary storage device that holds key files and data only to have the data to be removed when it’s not needed anymore.

Mono Audio Mono or monophonic describes a system where all the audio signals are mixed together and routed through a single audio channel.(x)

Sound would play out of both speakers but the audio would be exactly the same in both speakers. No sound would come from one ear but not the other.

Stereo Audio True stereophonic sound systems have two independent audio signal channels(x)

Stereo is sound that has the ability to play sound through both speakers while one little extra bit of sound plays exclusively into one of them.

Surround Sound Surround sound is a term used to describe a type of audio output in which the sound appears to "surround the listener" by 360 degrees.(x)

Direct Audio (Pulse Code Modulation – PCM)

Pulse code modulation (PCM) is a digital representation of an analog signal that takes samples of the amplitude of the analog signal at regular intervals.(x)

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

AUDIO RECORDING SYSTEMS Analogue Analog refers to audio recorded using methods that replicate the original sound waves.(x)

Digital Mini Disc The MiniDisc (MD) is an obsolete magneto-optical disc-based data storage device for 74 minutes and, later, 80 minutes, of digitized audio or 1 gigabyte ofHi-MD data.(x)

A minidisk is a failed product made by Sony with very little space to store data on.

Compact Disc (CD) A CD is a small, portable, round medium made of moulded polymer for electronically recording, storing, and playing back audio, video, text, and other information in digital form.(x)

A CD is a successful product made by James Russell with lots of space to store data on.

Digital Audio Tape (DAT) DAT (Digital Audio Tape) is a standard medium and technology for the digital recording of audio on tape at a professional level of quality.(x)

MIDI MIDI technology is all around you. It's inside musical instruments, computers, tablets, smart phones, stage lighting, audio mixers, and many other products from well known international companies like Microsoft, Apple, Yamaha, Google, Pioneer, and hundreds more.(x)

Software Sequencers In digital audio recording, a sequencer is a program in a computer or stand-alone keyboard unit that puts together a sound sequence from a series (or sequence) of Musical Instrument Digital Interface ( MIDI ) events (operations).

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

(x)Software Plug-ins An audio plug-in, in computer software, is

a plug-in that can add or enhance audio-related functionality in a computer program.(x)

MIDI Keyboard Instruments MIDI is a standard for digitally representing and transmitting sounds that was first developed in the 1980s. The MIDI sound is played back through the hardware device or computer either through a synthesized audio sound or a waveform stored on the hardware device or computer.(x)

AUDIO SAMPLING File Size Constraints - Bit-depth Bit Depth is also known as Sample Format or resolution. Sample Format is the terminology used the Audacity Preferences Quality setting.(x)

File Size Constraints - Sample Rate In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave (a continuous signal) to a sequence of samples (a discrete-time signal).(x)

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