IAT 340: Sound Design Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover key concepts and terminology from the Sound Design course, including important terms related to audio editing, sound properties, effects, and technical processes.

Sound

The production, propagation, and perception of acoustics.

Spectrogram

Visual representation of the frequency spectrum of sound over time.

Aliasing

Distortion that occurs when a signal is undersampled.

Quantisation noise

Noise introduced during the digitalization of an audio signal due to rounding errors.

Dynamic range

The difference between the loudest and softest sound of a signal.

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)

Measurement of signal strength relative to background noise.

Compression

Process that reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal.

Expander

Device that increases the dynamic range of a signal.

Limiter

Type of compressor that prevents the output from exceeding a certain level.

Noise floor

The level of background noise present in a system.

Equalization (EQ)

The process of adjusting the balance between frequencies within an audio signal.

Pitch bending

Changing the pitch of a sound signal by varying playback speed.

Psychoacoustics

The study of the psychological and physiological responses associated with sound.

Harmonic sound

Sound characterized by specific frequencies, consisting of a fundamental frequency and its harmonics.

Inharmonic sound

Sound that lacks harmonic structure, typically containing non-fixed frequencies.

Chorus effect

An effect that simulates multiple sound sources by adding delayed and pitch-modulated copies of a signal.

Delay effect

An audio effect that creates a repeated signal after a short period of time.

Time stretching

Altering the duration of an audio file without changing its pitch.

Mastering

The process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source to a data storage device.