Sound

• Structure :
• The power of Sound
• Digital Audio
• MIDI Audio
• MIDI Vs Digital audio
• Multimedia system sounds
• Audio File Formats
• Vaughan’s Law of Multimedia Minimums
• Adding sound to Multimedia project
The Power of Sound
• Vibrations in the air creates waves of pressure that are perceived as
sound.
• Sound waves vary in sound pressure level (amplitude) and in
frequency or pitch.
• ‘Acoustics’ is the branch of physics that studies sound.
• Sound pressure levels (loudness or volume) are measured in decibels
(dB).
• Humans hear sound over a very broad range. 20 Hz to 20 kHz
The Power of Sound
• Too much volume can permanently damage your ears and hearing.
• Harmonics are voltages or currents that operate at a frequency that is
an integer (whole-number) multiple of the fundamental frequency.
• So given a 50Hz fundamental waveform, this means a 2nd harmonic
frequency would be 100Hz (2 x 50Hz), a 3rd harmonic would be
150Hz (3 x 50Hz), a 5th at 250Hz, a 7th at 350Hz and so on.
• A high pitch sound corresponds to a high frequency sound wave and
a low pitch sound corresponds to a low frequency sound wave.
What is Sound
• Sound comprises the spoken word, voices, music and even noise. • It
is a complex relationship involving:
• a vibrating object (sound source)
• a transmission medium (usually air)
• a receiver (ear) and;
• a receptor (brain).
Characteristic of Sound Waves
• Sound is described in terms of two characteristics:
• Frequency (or pitch)
• Amplitude (or loudness)
Frequency
• Frequency is a measure of how many vibrations occur in one second.
This is measured in Hertz (abbreviation Hz) and directly corresponds
to the pitch of a sound.
• The more frequent vibration occurs the higher the pitch of the sound.
• Sounds below 20 Hz are infrasonic.
• Sounds above 20 kHz are ultrasonic.
Frequency
Amplitude
• Amplitude is the maximum displacement of a wave from an
equilibrium position.
• The louder a sound, the more energy it has. This means loud sounds
have a large amplitude.
• The amplitude relates to how loud a sound is.
Amplitude
Characteristic of Sound Waves
Digital Sound
• Digital audio is created when you represent the characteristics of
sound wave using numbers
• A process referred to as Digitizing.
• We can digitize any sound.( Microphone, synthesizer….).
• Digitized sound is sampled sound.
• Every nth fraction of a second , a sample of a sound is taken and
stored as digital information in bits and bytes.
• The quality of digital recording depends on the how often the
samples are taken. i.e higher the sampling rate better is the quality of
sound.
Making Digital Audio
• It’s a straight forward process.
• Plug a microphone in its jack , Then make use of audio digitizing
software like Audacity to do the work.
• 2 crucial aspects to be considered :
• 1) Balancing the need for sound quality against the file size.(Higher
Quality Larger File size).
• 2) Setting proper recording levels to get a good ,clean recording.
Making Digital Audio
• What type of recording to be considered?
• We need to use a good piece of Digital audio recording and editing
software that displays digital meters.
• Once the recording has been made, It will almost be necessary to edit
it using the required tools available in the software.
Making Digital Audio
• CD-ROM Drive – Move music files from CD to hard drive or; – Play the
cd and then record using the sound recorder.
• Line-in – pressing play on the audio source, which is connected to the
computer’s audio line-in socket. Record using the sound recorder.
Making Digital Audio
• Basic sound Editing operations:-
• 1. Trimming
• 2. Splicing and assembly
• 3. Volume and adjustments
• 4. Format conversion
• 5. Resampling and downsampling
• 6. Fade in and Fade out
• 7. Equalization
• 8. Time Stretching
• 9. Digital Signal Processing
• 10. Reversing sounds
• 11. Multiple Tracks
Setting Proper Recording Levels
• Trimming : Removing dead air or blank space and so on. Done using
commands like cut , clear , Erase, Silence.
• Splicing and Assembly : Removal of extraneous noise , touch up,
creating a longer recording by mixing many small recordings.
• Volume and adjustments : when we combine one or more recording
with different volume level, they must be made to run with a
consistent vol. level. We need to normalize it with a sound editor to a
particular level.
Setting Proper Recording Levels
• Equalization : allow us to modify a recordings frequency content so
that it sounds brighter or darker.
• Digital Sound Processing : allows signals with reverberation, multi tap
delay, chorus, flange and other special effects using DSP routines.
• Reversing Sound : Reversing or a part of a recording.
• Multiple Tracks : Being able to edit and combine multiple tracks,
merge tracks and then export them in a final mix to a single audio file
is important.
MIDI
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface : - is a communications standard
developed in the 1980’s for electronic instruments and computers.
• It allows instruments from different manufacturers to communicate.
• But MIDI data is not digitized, its only music data stored in numeric
form.
• Digital Audio is recording where as MIDI is a score.
MIDI
• A MIDI file is a list of time stamped commands that are recordings of
musical actions.
• Using MIDI, we can easily and quickly compose our own original
score.
• The process of creating MIDI is quite different from digitizing a
recorded audio.
• Digitized Audio -> Bitmap Image then MIDI ->Vector graphics.
• For digitized audio we simple need to play the recording through a
computer device that can digitally record the sound.
MIDI
• To make MIDI, we need :
• Notation Software (MIDI Software)
• Sequencer Software (devices that can be programmed to ‘tell’
synthesizers which notes to play)
• Synthesizer (built-in in to sound card)
• (A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates
electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument
amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones.)
• MIDI Keyboard
MIDI
• MIDI software creates data about each note as it has been played on
a MIDI keyboard -> which note, how much pressure was put on each
key, how much time the sound sustained……….
• This information, when played back through MIDI device , allows the
same to be reproduced exactly.
MIDI vs Digital Audio
• Advantages of MIDI:
• MIDI files are more compact than audio files.
• MIDI is small , can be easily embedded into the web pages.
• If the MIDI sound source is of high quality, this sounds better than
audio files.
• MIDI data is completely editable.
• MIDI data can be easily converted to musical notations and vise versa.
MIDI vs Digital Audio
• Disadvantages of MIDI
• MIDI playback will be accurate only if the MIDI playback device is
identical to the device used for production.
• MIDI cannot easily be used to play back spoken dialogue.
• working with MIDI data requires familiarity with musical scores,
keyboards, notation, and audio production.
• MIDI data is device dependent (the sounds produced by MIDI music
files depend on the particular MIDI device used for playback).
MIDI vs Digital Audio
• Advantages of Digital Audio
• In general, the most important advantage of digital audio its is consistent
playback quality.
• Digital audio is used far more frequently than MIDI data for multimedia
sound tracks.
• The preparation and programming required for creating digital audio do
not demand a knowledge of music theory.
• Digital audio data is not device dependent (digital audio produces sounds
that are more or less identical regradless of the playback system).
• A wider selection of applications software and systems support for digital
audio is available for both, the Macintoch and Windows platforms.
• Digital audio can handle spoken dialogue
MIDI vs Digital Audio
• Digital Audio Disadvantages:
• Digital audio won't work if you don't have enough RAM, hard disk
space, CPU processing power or bandwidth to process it.
• Digital audio files are bigger than MIDI files.
When to Use MIDI
• Digital audio wont work when there isn’t enough memory or
bandwidth.
• When there is high quality MIDI sound source.
• When we have complete control over the machine on which the
program is going to be delivered.
• We don’t need spoken dialog.
When to Use Digital Audio
• We don’t need control over the playback Hardware.
• When we have enough bandwidth and computing resources.
• When spoken dialog is required.
Audio File Formats
• AIFF -> Audio Interchange File Format and WAV -> Wave Format Both
Contain Uncompressed data.
• The method used for consumer grade music CD’s is Linear Pulse Code
Modulation (LPCM shortened to PCM)
• LPCM tracks from an Audio CD are usually converted and stored on a
computer in uncompressed AIFF or WAV format.
Audio File Formats
• A sound file’s format is a recognized methodology for compressing
data bits of digitized sound into a data file.
• The structure of the file must be known even before the data can be
saved or later loaded into a computer to be edited or played as
sound.
• The file name extension identifies the method of storage used.
• On the Macintosh, digitized sounds may be stored as data files,
resources, or applications such as AIFF or AIFC.
• In Windows, digitized sounds are usually stored as WAV files.
• Both can use MIDI files (.mid).
Audio File Formats
• There are huge number of file formats and “Multimedia Containers”
that store sound data
• There are converters to read and write sound files from one format to
another.
• MP3 (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) was developed by MPEG
(Moving Picture Expert Group).
•Common method for storing consumer audio.
•Contains lossy compression algorithm to save space.
•Evolved in early 1990’s.
Audio File Formats
• Example : An audio CD may hold an hours uncompressed LPCM, if the
same content is stored in MP3 format then we can store 7 hours
content with a slight loss in quality.
• WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a proprietary format developed to
improve MP3.
• OGG was developed as an open – source and royalty free “Container”
for sound compressed using the “Vorbis algorithm”. Vorbis sound
data resides within an OGG container -> OGG Vorbis
Audio File Formats
• MP4 format is based on Apple’s Quick Time Movies(.mov) “container”
model.
• It is similar to the MOV format that stores different types of media.
• MP4 extension is used when file streams audio & video together.
• M4a extension is used only when file contains only audio data.
• M4p extension contains only audio, but encrypted for Digital Rights
Management(DRM).
• M4r files are used for ringtones on Apple’s iPhone.
• Other GSM phones use 3gp file format for ring tones.
Audio File Formats
• Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format is adopted by Apple’s iTunes
store. Default format for iPod , iPhone , PlayStation ,Wii, Dsi ,
Motorola , Nokia , Philips , Samsung , Siemens and Sony Ericsson.
• Codec is a software that compresses a stream of audio or video for
data storage or transmission and then decompresses it for play back.
• Some are “lossy” ->trade quality for reduced file size transmission
speed.
• Some are “lossless” -> original data is not at all altered.
Adding Sound to your MM Project
• Following steps are required to bring an audio recording into MM
project :
• 1. Determine the file formats that are compatible with MM authoring
S/W .
• 2. Determine the sound playback capabilities that the end user’s
system offers.
• 3. Decide the type of sound needed.
• 4. Decide where and when you want to use the digital audio or MIDI
data
Adding Sound to your MM Project
• Acquire source material by creating it from scratch or buying it.
• 6. Edit the sounds to fit your project.
• 7. Test the sounds to be sure they are timed properly with the
project’s images. (This may involve steps 1-4 until everything is in
sync).
Keeping Track of Sounds
• When a project has many sounds , its important to maintain a good
database , keeping a physical track of original material just in case you
need to revert it when the disk drive crashes.
Sound for Internet
• There are many methods by which we can play sound on a web page.
• Sound is actually not a part of web page as it has it is a separate file
with its own address & is embedded into the page.
• The simplest way to embed a sound file is to se an inline HTML
anchor : <a href=“sound.wav”> Click here to listen to sound </a>
• The text “Click here to listen to sound “ would be underlined, when
we click on it the browser will find the file mysound.wav, download it,
and opens a player to play the sound.
Space Considerations
• The following formula helps you to estimate your storage needs.If you
are using 2 channels for stereo then double the space.
• (Sampling rate * bits per sample) / 8 = bytes / sec
• The same can be solved in terms of KiloBytes :
• Sample rate * sample size / 8 * # sec * 2 (if stereo) = file size in KB
Function of Audio
• 1. Content/ information
• 2. Background music
• 3. Ambience – The character and atmosphere of a place
Advantages & Disadvantages of Using Audio
• Sound adds life to any multimedia application and plays important
role in effective marketing presentations.
• Advantages
• – Ensure important information is noticed.
• – Add interest.
• – Can communicate more directly than other media.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Using Audio
• Disadvantages
• – Easily overused.
• – Requires special equipment for quality production.
• – Not as memorable as visual media.
Summary
• There are two main types of digital audio
• – Sampled audio: Captured by sampling an analogue waveform at a
set rate
• – MIDI data: Instructions on how to perform some musical
composition
• Sampled audio requires more storage space than MIDI information