Sound Design Quiz 1

What are the three elements of sound?

1) A sound producer- the object which is creating vibration energy, 2) A medium- which is used to transport the vibration energy, and 3) A sound receiver- which intakes the bivration energy, such as a human ear or microphone.

Frequency

The indicator of a sound’s pitch, measured in cycles per second. A cycle consists of compression and rarefaction phases.

Amplitude

The indicator of a sound’s volume, measured in decibels (dB). Shows the size of the peaks on a waveform.

Timbre

The character of a sound which comes from the imperfections of the shape of the sound waves. Timbre is what causes sound producers at the same frequency to sound different.

Sample Rate

The number of snapshots taken per second along the voltage of audio signal. The number of the sample rate determines how accurately a waveform can reproduce the original audio. Sample rates should be at least double the range of human hearing to allow for a sample at both the top and bottom of the frequency wave.

Bit Rate

The number of steps allotted for volume information in a recording. A larger sample rate allows for more precise capture of volume in a recording.

What is the current standard for Sample Rate?

48KHz

What is the standard Bit Depth?

24 bits

A sound wave consits of two phases, what are they?

A sound wave consists of two phases: Compression, when the vibration energy pushes molecules forward, and Rarefaction where the molecules return to their state of rest.

What is Non-Destructive Editing?

A process where the software creates instructions to modify files instead of making changes to the files. This means that edits can be reversed, and original files are never modified in the editing process.

What are the two main types of balanced connectors?

The two main types of balanced connectors are Tip, Ring, Sleeve (TRS) and XLR.

Mircophone placement

Close microphone placement is useful for recording isolated audio with little interference from the environment. Distance microphone placement is good for capturing a group, an environment, or a loud sound. Ideally, you want your microphone placement to capture audio at approximately -12 dB.

Clipping

Clipping is an audio recording error when the amount of recorded volume exceeds the volume allowed on the track. When clipping occurs, the peaks of the waveform are flattened, or clipped, to the limit of the track volume. The audio peaks lost in clipping cannot be recovered or restored.