MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS –

SOUND (AUDIO)
Chapter 6

Instructor: Ilham muse

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 preceptor (brain).
7.1 THE POWER OF SOUND

Something vibrates Waves of pressure Ear drums will translate

in the air these changes in wave
Forms as sound
 Sound is measured in  dB (decibel)
 Sound waves are known as waveforms.
EXAMPLE OF WAVEFORMS

Piano

Pan flute

Snare drum
SOUND

 A pleasant sound has a regular wave pattern. The

pattern is repeated over and over.

 But the waves of noise are irregular. They do not

have a repeated pattern.
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.

Low pitch High pitch

 Optimally, people can hear from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz)
 Sounds below 20 Hz are infrasonic
 sounds above 20 kHz are ultrasonic.
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.

Quiet Loud

Low amplitude High Amplitude

 The amplitude relates to how loud a sound is.
CHARACTERISTIC OF SOUND
WAVES

Time for one cycle

Amplitude wavelength distance

along wave
Cycle
THE POWER OF SOUND
 Audio in Windows
 Windows PC platform, has the default system
sounds
 WINDOWS PC  logoff.wav,start.wav

 Basic Recording Software

 WINDOWS has basic recording software
AUDIO RECORDING SOFTWARE

WINDOWS XP Windows 7

 Sound Recorders for Windows

 Windows PC platform has the default sound.
 This basic Win XP application could:
 Record our own sounds
 Edit & mix *.wav files
 Simple Splicing and assembly
 Increase volume & speed of *.wav files
 Reverse the sound.
 Add Echo effects
 Some XP Version also provide wav to mp3 conversion.
 But Win 7 can only record and then save the sound.
ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL AUDIO
Analogue audio
 The name for an electronic signal that carries its information of sound
as continuous changeable voltage value.
 non digital tape or audio tape recording of sound.

Digitizing
 the process of converting an analog signal to a digital one.

 A sound is recorded by making a measurement of the amplitude of the

sound at regular intervals which are defined by the "sample rate".
 The act of taking the measurement is often called "sampling" and each
measurement is called a "sample point".
 CAPTURE & PLAYBACK OF
DIGITAL AUDIO
Air pressure
variations Digital to
Analogue
Convert Converter
s back
into DAC
Captured via voltage
microphone

Signal is
converted into
binary
Analogue (discrete form)
to Digital ADC 0101001101 Air pressure
Converter 0110101111 variations
RECORDING AUDIO FILES
Recording Audio Files on the pc
Uses either:
i. Microphone
 connect microphone to the microphone port and record using
sound recorder
RECORDING AUDIO FILES
ii. CD-ROM Drive
 Move music files from CD to hard drive or;
 Play the cd and then record using the sound recorder.

iii. Line-in
 pressing play on the audio source, which is connected to
the computer’s audio line-in socket. Record using the
sound recorder.

Line in port
on the pc

Audio cable
DIGITAL AUDIO
 Digital audio data is the representation of sound, stored in the
form of samples point.
 Quality of digital recording depends on the sampling rate, that
is, the number of samples point taken per second (Hz).

High Sampling Rate

Samples stored in digital
form

waveform

Low Sampling Rate

DIGITAL SAMPLING
DIGITAL SAMPLING
DIGITAL AUDIO
 The three sampling frequencies most often used in multimedia
are 44.1 kHz, 22.05 kHz and 11.025 kHz.
 The higher the sampling rate, the more the measurements are
taken (better quality).
 The lower the sampling rate, the lesser the measurements are
taken (low quality).

High Sampling Rate Low Sampling Rate

DIGITAL AUDIO
 Quality factors for digital audio file :
1. Sampling Rate
2. Sample Size (resolution)
 the number of bits used to record the value of a
sample in a digitized signal.

Sampling Rate Sample size

DIGITAL AUDIO
 Other than that, it also depends on:
 The quality of original audio source.
 The quality of capture device & supporting hardware.
 The characteristics used for capture.
 The capability of the playback environment.
DIGITAL AUDIO
 More advanced Digital audio editing software:
 One of the most powerful and professional PC-based packages
is a tool called Sound Forge

 Others audio editing software:

 WavePad Sound Editor
 COOL Edit Pro
 Gold Wave
 Samplitude Studio
MIDI AUDIO
 Musical Instrument Digital Interface
 Before there was a wide use of mp3 and high bandwidth network,
MIDI format audio is popular when an audio is required to be put on a
website.
 Provides a standardized and efficient means of conveying musical
performance information as electronic data.
 Is a easiest and quickest way to compose our own score.
 (provided we have knowledge of musical instrument and composing)
 It is in the form of music score and not samples or recording.
MIDI AUDIO: REQUIREMENTS
 To make MIDI score, we need:
1. Midi keyboard / Midi keyboard software
2. Sequencer software
3. Sound synthesizer (built-in in to sound card)
MIDI KEYBOARD
 MIDI keyboard is used to simplify the creation of music scores
(MIDI information)
 MIDI information is transmitted in "MIDI messages", which can be
thought of as instructions which tell a music synthesizer how to play a
piece of music.
 The synthesizer receiving the MIDI data must generate the actual
sounds.
MIDI SEQUENCER
 A MIDI sequencer software lets us to record and edit MIDI data
like a word processor
 Cut and paste
 Insert / delete
MIDI AUDIO FACTS
 Since they are small, MIDI files embedded in web pages load and
play.
 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.
RECORDING MIDI FILES
Recording MIDI Files
 MIDI files can be generated:
 by recording the MIDI data from a MIDI instrument
(electronic keyboard) as it is played.
 by using a MIDI sequencer software application.
AUDIO FILE FORMATS
 MIDI
 *.MID, *.KAR, *.MIDI, *.SMF

 AUDIO DIGITAL
 WINDOWS  *.WAV
 MACINTOSH  *.AIFF
 UNIX  *.AU
 REALAUDIO  *.RA
 MPEG3  *.MP3
MIDI VERSUS DIGITAL AUDIO
 Advantages of MIDI over digital audio:
 MIDI files smaller that digital audio files.
 Because small file, MIDI files embedded in web pages
load and play more quickly.
 If MIDI sound source are high quality – sound better.
 Can change the length of MIDI files without changing
the pitch of the music or degrading the audio quality.
MIDI VERSUS DIGITAL AUDIO
 Disadvantages of MIDI over digital audio:
 Because MIDI data does not represent the sound but
musical instruments, playback will be accurate only if
the MIDI playback (instrument) is identical to the
device used in the production.
 Higher cost and requires skill to edit.
 Cannot emulate voice, other effects.
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
 Requiresspecial equipment for quality production.
 Not as memorable as visual media.
 THANK YOU

Assignment
Explain the different between Analogue
Audio and Digital Audio in your own words