Introduction to digital audio

Sampling, audio formats, import and export audio les

Maurilio Cacciatore, University Eduardo Mondlane, 16th March 2022

Contents

• Introduction to the theory af sampling

• ADC and DAC conversion
• Audio formats
• Compressed audio formats: loseless and lossy formats
• Use od Audacity for importing and exporting les
From the real world to the computer

• Audio streaming in the real world is “analogic”, that is, continuous-timing.

• No computer can understand the meaning of this word, because all
information in informatics pass from a coding in bytes, so a (long) series of 0
and 1 organized by groups of 8 gures (the byte).

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From the real world to the computer

We count in base 10 by powers of 10:

101 = 10 * 1 = 10

102 = 10 * 10 = 100

103 = 10 * 10 * 10 = 1000

106 = 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * = 1000000
From the real world to the computer

Computers calculate using the binary system:

21 = 2 * 1 = 210 = 102

22 = 2 * 2 = 410 = 1002

23 = 2 * 2 * 2 * = 810 = 10002
From the real world to the computer

So in computer jargon, the following units are used:

1 kilobyte (KB) 1,024 bytes

1 megabyte (MB) 1,048,576 bytes

1 gigabyte (GB) 1,073,741,824 bytes

1 terabyte (TB) 1,099,511,627,776 bytes

1 petabyte (PB)
1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes

Then: ExaByte, ZettaByte, YottaByte…

Remember: 1 byte = 8 bit!
 Conversion ADC
Analogic to digital conversion

Microphones are transducers able to convert to analogic signal in electric

impulses.

These electric impulses are converted by the CPU in a streaming of bytes

Maurilio Cacciatore, Composing for ampli ed instrument. Meaning, purposes, perspectives. Milan, 27 October 2021, Conservatory “G. Verdi”. Master of Composition 2021
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 Conversion DAC
Digital to analogic conversion

Also loudspeakers are transducers, but they work at the opposite. The
computer CPU sends a streaming of bytes that are converted by the
transistors of an audio interface (internal or external to the computer) in
electric impulses. The cones and valves of the loudspeakers convert those
impulses in a sound streaming.
Maurilio Cacciatore, Composing for ampli ed instrument. Meaning, purposes, perspectives. Milan, 27 October 2021, Conservatory “G. Verdi”. Master of Composition 2021
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Sampling
Sampling and
quantization
Sampling and quantization

• Sampling is the operation of segregating an analogue audio in a series of

discrete time portions, the so called samples; in other words in the reduction
to a continuous-time signal in a discrete-time signal.

• Quantization is the operation the system can make so to avoid that any other
value can be lled in between those previously calculated.
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Let’s repeat…

• Sampling is the analogic to digital conversion of a sound streaming in order to

be processed by a CPU (central processing unit).

• Ones audio has been sampled, it is no more continuous but is has been
transformed in a quantized series of values that the computer can convert in
bytes.
Sampling rate (SR)

The sampling rate is the amount of samples in which one second of audio streaming
has been divided.

In order to have a signal as much as possible similar to the original analogic one,
one second of audio is divided in thousands of samples.

Higher is the sample rate, higher will be the delity of the digital sound compared to
the analogic one. On the other hand, higher is the sample rate and more data will be
necessary for its transmission
Sampling rate (SR)

Most common sampling rates:

8000 Hz (8 kHz);

44100 Hz (44.1 kHz);

48000 Hz (48 kHz);

88200 Hz (88.2 kHz);

96000 Hz (96 kHz);

192000 Hz (192 kHz).

Sampling rate (SR)
Sampling rate Use

Telephone and encrypted walkie-talkie, wireless intercom and wireless microphone transmission; adequate for human speech but
8,000 Hz
without sibilance (ess sounds like eff (/s/, /f/)).

11,025 Hz One quarter the sampling rate of audio CDs; used for lower-quality PCM, MPEG audio and for audio analysis of subwoofer bandpasses.[citation needed]

Wideband frequency extension over standard telephone narrowband 8,000 Hz. Used in most modern VoIP and VVoIP communication products.[14]
16,000 Hz [unreliable source?]

One half the sampling rate of audio CDs; used for lower-quality PCM and MPEG audio and for audio analysis of low frequency energy. Suitable for
22,050 Hz
digitizing early 20th century audio formats such as 78s and AM Radio.[15]

miniDV digital video camcorder, video tapes with extra channels of audio (e.g. DVCAM with four channels of audio), DAT (LP mode),
32,000 Hz Germany's Digitales Satellitenradio, NICAM digital audio, used alongside analogue television sound in some countries. High-quality digital wireless
microphones.[16] Suitable for digitizing FM radio.[citation needed]

37,800 Hz CD-XA audio

44,056 Hz Used by digital audio locked to NTSC color video signals (3 samples per line, 245 lines per eld, 59.94 elds per second = 29.97 frames per second).

Audio CD, also most commonly used with MPEG-1 audio (VCD, SVCD, MP3). Originally chosen by Sony because it could be recorded on modi ed
video equipment running at either 25 frames per second (PAL) or 30 frame/s (using an NTSC monochrome video recorder) and cover the 20 kHz
44,100 Hz
bandwidth thought necessary to match professional analog recording equipment of the time. A PCM adaptor would t digital audio samples into the
analog video channel of, for example, PAL video tapes using 3 samples per line, 588 lines per frame, 25 frames per second.

47,250 Hz world's rst commercial PCM sound recorder by Nippon Columbia (Denon)
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Sampling rate (SR)
Sampling rate Use

48,000 Hz The standard audio sampling rate used by professional digital video equipment such as tape recorders, video servers, vision mixers and so on. This rate
was chosen because it could reconstruct frequencies up to 22 kHz and work with 29.97 frames per second NTSC video – as well as 25 frame/s, 30 frame/
50,000 Hz First commercial digital audio recorders from the late 70s from 3M and Soundstream.

50,400 Hz Sampling rate used by the Mitsubishi X-80 digital audio recorder.

64,000 Hz Uncommonly used, but supported by some hardware[17][18] and software.[19][20]

88,200 Hz Sampling rate used by some professional recording equipment when the destination is CD (multiples of 44,100 Hz). Some pro audio gear uses (or is able
to select) 88.2 kHz sampling, including mixers, EQs, compressors, reverb, crossovers and recording devices.
DVD-Audio, some LPCM DVD tracks, BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc) audio tracks, HD DVD (High-De nition DVD) audio tracks. Some professional recording and
96,000 Hz production equipment is able to select 96 kHz sampling. This sampling frequency is twice the 48 kHz standard commonly used with audio on professional
equipment.

176,400 Hz Sampling rate used by HDCD recorders and other professional applications for CD production. Four times the frequency of 44.1 kHz.

DVD-Audio, some LPCM DVD tracks, BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc) audio tracks, and HD DVD (High-De nition DVD) audio tracks, High-De nition audio
192,000 Hz recording devices and audio editing software. This sampling frequency is four times the 48 kHz standard commonly used with audio on professional video
equipment.
Digital eXtreme De nition, used for recording and editing Super Audio CDs, as 1-bit Direct Stream Digital (DSD) is not suited for editing. Eight times the
352,800 Hz
frequency of 44.1 kHz.
2,822,400 Hz SACD, 1-bit delta-sigma modulation process known as Direct Stream Digital, co-developed by Sony and Philips.

5,644,800 Hz Double-Rate DSD, 1-bit Direct Stream Digital at 2× the rate of the SACD. Used in some professional DSD recorders.

11,289,600 Hz Quad-Rate DSD, 1-bit Direct Stream Digital at 4× the rate of the SACD. Used in some uncommon professional DSD recorders.

22,579,200 Hz Octuple-Rate DSD, 1-bit Direct Stream Digital at 8× the rate of the SACD. Used in rare experimental DSD recorders. Also known as DSD512.
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Sampling rate (SR)

Why we say 44100 Hz? Why we count the samples in hertz?The theorem of
Nyquist-Shannon demonstrate that the minimum sample rate for a proper
digital conversion of an audio signal must imperatively be the double of the
highest fundamental. Considering that our ear can perceive up to 15000 Hz
approximately, 20050 Hz are more than enough in order to represent all the
audible frequencies of our environment.

Further information on the Nyquist-Shannon theorems can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist%E2%80%93Shannon_sampling_theorem
Sampling rate (SR)

Is the sampling rate a temporal unit?

Yes and no. The sample is a portion of time and that is true.

But its length depends of the adopted sample rate:

SR=44100 Hz ————> 1 sample = 1/44100 = 0,000022675736961sec

SR=48000 Hz ————> 1 sample = 1/48000 = 0,000020833333333sec

SR=96000 Hz ————> 1 sample = 1/96000 = 0,000010416666667sec

Considering that the time lasting of a sample depends of the sample rate, we can a rm that the sample is
a relative time representation.
Bit depth

Ones the audio has been sampled, each sample must be converted in a series

Of bytes. Commonly, each sound is converted in 1, 2, 3 or 4 bytes:

• 8 bit;
• 16 bit;
• 24 bit;
• 32 bit.
Bit depth

The amount of bits belongs

the maximum amplitude that
can be encrypted:
• 16-bit: 65,536 amp. values
———> max 96 dB;
• 24-bit: 16,777,217 amp.
values ———> max 144 dB;
Bit depth
SR / Bit depth

Some combination are standard:

• 8 KhZ / 8 bit : telephone;

• 44.1 kHz / 16 bit : standard audio CD;
• 48 kHz / 16 bit : audio for DVD;
48 kHz is the compulsory SR for video engraving;
• 192 kHz / 24 bit : Blu-ray disc.

Considering our time living and the possibility to add audio to some videos, considering that cd
are almost out of market and considering the availability of disk spaces in our devices, it is
always convenient to use this combination:
48 kHz / 24 bit
Remember! :-)
Bit rate

The bit rate is the amount of data necessary for storing 1’ of audio. It belongs to the sampling
rate, the bit depth and … the channel amount. The standard commercial recordings (CD, web
audio, etc.) are bounced in stereo format, so with two channels. This means that the bit rate will
contain the amount of bytes multiplied for 2 (because each channel requires the same amount of
data…)
Bit rate

Standard CD format: 44100 Hz / 16 bit

1’ data = 5.3 MB
1’ stereo data = 10,6 MB

Maximum CD size = 700 MB

Maximum recordable time = 66’03”

Only Sony CD has some space more, so to arrive a 70’

Of recording…