IAT 340: Sound Design - Fundamentals of Audio Processing

These flashcards cover fundamental concepts and vocabulary related to sound design and audio processing as discussed in the lecture notes.

Sound

Production, propagation, and perception of sonic waves.

Acoustics

The branch of physics concerned with the production, control, transmission, reception, and effects of sound.

Waveform

The graphical representation of the variation of a signal over time.

Frequency

The number of cycles per second in a sound wave, measured in Hertz (Hz).

Amplitude

The height of a wave, representing the loudness of the sound.

Phase

The position of a point in time on a waveform, indicating the stage in the cycle of the waveform.

Envelope

The contour of a sound over time, describing how its amplitude changes.

Sampling

The process of converting analog signals into a digital format by measuring the amplitude at discrete intervals.

ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter)

Device that converts analog signals into digital form.

DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter)

Device that converts digital signals back into analog form.

Sampling Rate

The number of samples taken per second when digitalizing audio.

Bit Depth

The number of bits of information in each sample, determining the audio resolution.

Aliasing

Distortion that occurs when a signal is insufficiently sampled.

Quantisation Noise

Error introduced when mapping a range of values to a limited number of discrete symbols.

Sound Designer

A person who creates and manipulates sound effects and audio for various media.

Fundamental Frequency

The lowest frequency of a periodic waveform, perceived as the pitch of the sound.

Harmonics

Multiples of the fundamental frequency that contribute to the overall sound quality.

Overtones

Any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency, can be harmonic or inharmonic.

Spectrogram

A visual representation of the frequency spectrum of sound over time.

Impedance

The measure of resistance in an electrical circuit, important for matching audio equipment.

Loudspeaker

A transducer that converts electrical energy into acoustic energy.

Microphone

A transducer that converts acoustic energy into electrical signals.

Audio File Formats

Different methods of storing digital audio, categorized as uncompressed, lossless, and lossy.

PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation)

A method of digitally representing sampled analog signals.

DPCM (Differential Pulse Code Modulation)

A variant of PCM encoding the difference between samples to reduce data size.

ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation)

An adaptive coding method for audio that adjusts quantisation size.

MPEG Compression

A technique that reduces file size while maintaining sound quality through perceptual losslessness.

Musique Concrète

An avant-garde music style that uses recorded sounds from the environment as the basis for composition.

Dynamic Microphone

A robust microphone type that generates an electric current through electromagnetic induction.

Condenser Microphone

A microphone that uses a diaphragm and requires external power to operate.

Mixing Board

A device or software used to combine multiple audio sources into a single output.