Chapter 5: Sound

Overview

• Introduction to sound
• Digital audio
• MIDI audio
• MIDI versus digital audio
• Recording and editing digital audio
• Audio file formats
• Adding sound to multimedia projects
 Introduction to Sound

• Vibrations in the air create 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).
 Digital Audio

• Digital audio data is the actual

representation of sound, stored in the form
of samples.
• Samples represent the amplitude (or
loudness) of sound at a discrete point in
time.
• The quality of digital recording depends on
the sampling rate (or frequency), that is, the
number of samples taken per second.
 Digital Audio (continued)

• The three sampling frequencies most often

used in multimedia are CD-quality 44.1 kHz,
22.05 kHz, and 11.025 kHz.
• The number of bits used to describe the
amplitude of a sound wave when sampled
determines the sample size.
 Digital Audio (continued)

• Digital audio is device independent.

• The value of each sample is rounded off to
the nearest integer (quantization).
 Digital Audio (continued)

• Crucial aspects of preparing

digital audio files are:
– Balancing the need for sound
quality against available RAM
and hard disk resources
– Setting appropriate recording
levels to get a high-quality
and clean recording
 Digital Audio (continued)
• Once a recording has been completed,
it almost always needs to be edited.
• Basic sound editing operations include
trimming, splicing and assembly, volume
adjustments, and working on multiple tracks.
 Digital Audio (continued)

• Additional available sound editing

operations include format conversion,
resampling or downsampling,
fade-ins and fade-outs, equalization,
time stretching, digital signal processing,
and reversing sounds.
 Digital Audio (continued)

• Audio resolution determines the accuracy

with which sound can be digitized.
• Size of a monophonic digital recording =
sampling rate x duration of recording in
seconds X (bit resolution/8) x 1.
• Size of stereo digital recording = sampling
rate x duration of recording in seconds x (bit
resolution/8) x 2.
(size in byte, divide by 1024 to become Kb)
 MIDI Audio

• Since they are small, MIDI files embedded in

web pages load and play promptly.
• The length of a MIDI file can be changed
without affecting the pitch of the music or
degrading audio quality.
• Working with MIDI requires knowledge of
music theory.
MIDI Audio (continued)
 MIDI Audio (continued)

• MIDI is a shorthand representation of music

stored in numeric form.
• It is not digitized sound.
• A sequencer software and sound synthesizer
is required in order to create MIDI scores.
• MIDI is device dependent.
MIDI Audio (continued)
 MIDI Versus Digital Audio

• MIDI is analogous to structured or vector

graphics, while digitized audio is analogous
to bitmapped images.
• MIDI is device dependent, while digitized
audio is device independent.
• MIDI files are much smaller than
digitized audio.
• MIDI files sound better than digital audio
files when played on a high-quality
MIDI device.
 MIDI Versus Digital Audio
(continued)
• With MIDI, it is difficult to play back spoken
dialog, while digitized audio can do so with
ease.
• MIDI does not have consistent playback
quality, while digital audio provides
consistent playback quality.
• One requires knowledge of music theory in
order to run MIDI, while digital audio does
not have this requirement.
 Recording and Editing Digital Audio

• System sounds are assigned to various

system events such as startup and
warnings, among others.
• Macintosh provides several system sound
options such as glass, indigo, laugh.
• In Windows, available system sounds
include start.wav, chimes.wav, and
chord.wav.
• Multimedia sound is either digitally recorded
audio or MIDI (Musical Instrumental Digital
Interface) music.
Recording and Editing Digital Audio
(continued)
 Audio File Formats

• A sound file’s format is a recognized

methodology for organizing data bits of
digitized sound into a data file.
• 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.
 Audio File Formats (continued)

• The CD-ROM/XA (Extended Architecture)

format enables several recording sessions to
be placed on a single CD-R (recordable) disc.
• Linear Pulse Code Modulation is used for Red
Book Audio data files on consumer-grade
music CDs.
• MP3 compression is a space saver.
• MP4 is used when audio and video are
streamed together.
• ACC (Advanced Audio Coding) is used by
Apple’s iTunes store.
 Adding Sound to Multimedia Project

• File formats compatible with multimedia

authoring software being used, along with
delivery mediums, must be determined.
• Sound playback capabilities offered by end
users’ systems must be studied.
• The type of sound, whether background
music, special sound effects, or spoken
dialog, must be decided.
• Digital audio or MIDI data should be
selected on the basis of the location and
time of use.
 Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)
• Create or purchase source material.
• Edit the sounds to fit your project.
• Test the sounds to be sure they are timed
properly with your project.
Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)
• Professional sound
– Compression techniques reduce space, but
reliability suffers.
– Space can be conserved by downsampling or
reducing the number of sample slices taken per
second.
– File size of digital recording (in bytes) =
sampling rate x duration of recording (in secs) x
(bit resolution/8) x number of tracks.
 Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)
• Recording on inexpensive media rather than
directly to disk prevents the hard disk from
being overloaded with unnecessary data.
• The project’s equipment and standards must
be in accordance with the requirements.
• It is vital to maintain a high-quality
database that stores the original sound
material.
Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)
• Keeping track of your sounds
– Audio CDs
• The Red Book (or ISO 10149) standard is a standard
for digitally encoding high-quality stereo.
• For this standard, the digital audio sample size is
16 bits and the sampling rate is 44.1 KHz.
• The amount of digital sound information required
for high-quality sound takes up a great deal of disk
storage space.
– Sound for your mobile
– Sound for the Internet
Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)

Web browsers must be told what to do when they

download file types.
 Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)

• Sound and image synchronization must be

tested at regular intervals.
• The speed at which most animations and
computer-based videos play depends on the
user’s CPU.
Adding Sound to Multimedia Project
(continued)

• The sound’s RAM requirements as well as

the user’s playback setup must be
evaluated.
• Copyrighted material should not be recorded
or used without securing appropriate rights
from the owner or publisher.
 Summary

• Vibrations in the air create waves of

pressure that are perceived as sound.
• Multimedia system sound is digitally
recorded audio or MIDI (Musical
Instrumental Digital Interface) music.
• Digital audio data is the actual
representation of a sound, stored in the
form of samples.
 Summary (continued)

• MIDI is a shorthand representation of music

stored in numeric form.
• Digital audio provides consistent playback
quality.
• MIDI files are much smaller than digitized
audio.
• MIDI files sound better than digital audio
files when played on a high-quality MIDI
device.