Chapter Four

Multimedia Element:
SOUND
Let’s start!
Chapter Highlights
01 02 03
Nature of Traditional Digital
Sound Sound Sound

04 05 06
Sampled & Advantages of Guidelines
Synthesized Digital Using Sound
Sound Sound
 Nature of Sound
• Sound is a form of mechanical energy
transmitted as vibrations in a medium.
• Sine wave captures three features of sound:
– Amplitude
• Perceived as volume.
– Frequency
• Perceived as pitch.
– Duration
• Length of time sound lasts.
Traditional Sound Reproduction
• Analog sound capture.
• Sound waves vibrated diaphragms of
early microphones.
• Vibration caused a stylus to inscribe a
continuous pattern on tinfoil or on a wax
cylinder.
• Reproduce the analog sound.
• Rotate a drum while in contact with a stylus
• Movements of stylus are electrically amplified
to vibrate the drum of a speaker
• Changes in air pressure produced the sound.
• High-fidelity analog sound is still the final output
stage for digital audio.
Digital
Sound
Represent as Discrete Elements of Information
Digital Sound
Two major types of digital sound: Sampled Sound
and Synthesized Sound.

• Sampled sound: digital recording of previously

existing analog sound wave.
• File contains numeric values to describe the
amplitude of the sound wave at a particular
instant.
• Used to capture and edit naturally-occurring
sounds.
Digital Sound
• Synthesized sound: new sound generated by the
computer.
• File contains instructions the computer uses to
reproduce the
sound.
• Used to:
–Create original compositions
–Produce novel sound effects.
Sampled Sound
• Analog to Digital Converter captures separate
measures of sound amplitude.
– Samples are recorded as digital numbers.
• Digital values are used to recreate the analog
form using a Digital to Analog Converter.
• Quality of the sampling depends on:
– Sample resolution
– Sample rate
Sampled Resolution
• Number of bits to encode amplitude.
– Sample resolutions range from 8-bit to 24-bit.
• 8-bit resolution captures 256 different
amplitude levels.
– Adequate for limited decibel range.
• 16-bit CD quality sound has 65,000 different
levels.
• 24-bit DVD audio can generate over 16 million
different levels.
Sampled Sound Distortions
• Quantization: rounding a sample to the closest
available value in the code being used.
– May produce background hissing or grainy
sound.
– Caused by low sample resolution
– Solution: record at higher resolution
• Use 16-bit rather than 8-bit to increase
the range of amplitudes.
 Sampled Sound Distortions
• Clipping: wave amplitude exceeds available
sample values.
– Causes:
• Recording equipment isn't designed for selected decibel
range
or
• Mixing tracks with amplitudes that exceed the available
range.
– Result is harsh, distorted sound.
– Solutions:
• Lower amplitude of source sound within the limits of the ADC
circuitry.
• Adjust volume of mixed tracks or use higher sample
resolution.
Sampled Rate
• Number of samples taken in a fixed interval of
time.
– Stated in thousands of Hertz, or kilohertz.
– Determines the range of frequencies that can
be represented in a digital recording.
• Two measurements capture each cycle of the
sound wave: Highest
• High value or peak frequency
the human
• Low value or trough. ear can
detect is
20kHz.

• CD-quality sound captures 44.1kHz to record

frequencies as high as 22.05kHz.
Sampled Rate Distortion
• Aliasing: false representation of
high frequencies as low frequencies.
– Occurs when source frequency is
greater than one-half the sample rate
being used.
– Solutions:
• Apply filters to source sound to eliminate
frequencies above the sample rate.
• Oversample the source sound:
–Use digital filters to eliminate the high
frequencies.
–Then downsample to reduce the sample
rate in the audio file.
Sound File Size
• Sound files are large.
– 60 seconds of stereo CD quality sound = 10 MB
• Formula for determining the size of the digital
audio.
Stereo = sample rate * sample size (in bytes) *
sample time (in seconds) * 2

Monophonic = sample rate * sample size (in bytes) *

sample time (in seconds) * 1
§ The sampling rate is how often the samples are taken.
§ The sample size is the amount of information stored. This is called as bit resolution.
§ The number of channels is 2 for stereo and 1 for monophonic.
§ The duration of the recording is measured in seconds.
 Quality Digitized Sound
• Digitized sound is sampled sound.
• Every nth fraction of a second, a sample of sound
is taken and stored as digital information in bits
and bytes.
• The quality of this digital recording depends
upon how often the samples are taken
(sampling rate or frequency, measured in
kilohertz, or thousands of samples per second)
and how many numbers are used to represent
the value of each sample (bit depth, sample
size, resolution, or dynamic range).
Quality Digitized Sound
• The more often you take a sample and the
more data you store about that sample, the
finer the resolution and quality of the captured
sound when it is played back.
• Since the quality of your audio is based on the
quality of your recording and not the device on
which your end user will play the audio, digital
audio is said to be device independent.
Sound File Size
• Reduce file size and maintain quality:
– Select sample rate and resolution to match
the sound type.
• Human speech can accurately be captured
at 11.025kHz with 8-bit resolution and have
a smaller file.
– Lower sample rate and resolution to reduce
file size.
Sound Compression
• Compression is best strategy to lower file size
for sounds with wide range of frequencies and
amplitudes.
• Lossy codecs use various techniques to reduce
sound file sizes.
– Psychoacoustics: eliminates
frequencies indistinguishable to the
human ear.
– Variable Bitrate Encoding (VBR): alters the
number of bits to encode the sample
depending on the complexity of the sound.
Sampled Sound File Formats
• AIFF: Apple Computer
– Uncompressed, high quality sound.
• WAV: Microsoft and IBM standard
– Uncompressed, high quality sound.
• AU: Sun Microsystems
– Internet transmission of lower quality sound files.
• RealAudio: Real Media
– Streaming audio at low bandwidths.
• MP3: (MPEG-1, audio layer 3)
– Significant compression of high quality sound.
• WMA: Windows Media Audio
– Delivers lossy compression comparable to MP3 at lower bitrates.
• AAC: Advanced Audio Coding
– Successor to MP3 specified in the MPEG-4 standard.
– Produces better quality sound than MP3 standard at comparable
bitrates.
Synthesized Sound
• Computer sends commands to specialized
electronic device called a synthesizer.
• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
– Most common standard to code commands
for synthesizers.
– Codes provided for:
• Specific instruments
• Notes
• Force and duration of note
• Routing commands to different instrument
channels
• Specialized control functions
MIDI
• Messages (or commands) can be sent to any one
of 16 channels.
– Voices or instruments are assigned to a
channel.
– Multitimbral systems can play multiple
instruments by simultaneously processing
commands in different channels.
– Polyphonic systems play more than one note
at once.
MIDI Sound System
• Simplest system contains:
– Digital musical instrument to create
messages
– Sound synthesizer to interpret the
messages
– Amplifier/speaker output system.
MIDI Sound System
• Sequencer
– Device to control the flow or sequencing of
the MIDI data to a multitimbral synthesizer.
MIDI on a Computer
• Software and hardware emulate the MIDI
sound system.
• Hardware
– Soundcards include synthesizers.
– Interface ports for MIDI-input devices.
MIDI on a Computer
• Software
– Sequencer software can place notes on a
musical scale.
– Editing includes changing pitch pitch, tempo,
duration and volume of notes, arrangement and
timing of instruments.
 Sampled VS Synthesized

Advantages Sampled Advantages Synthesized

1. High quality. 1. Exceptional editing control.
2. Ease of creation. 2. Small file size.
3. Ease of editing.
4. Consistent playback quality.
Challenges Sampled Challenges Synthesized
1. Large file sizes. 1. Musical expertise required.
2. Editing limitations. 2. Playback quality is not
consistent.
3. Not effective for natural sounds
and human voice.
Advantages of Digital Sound
• Noise reduction
• Recording accuracy
• No generation decay
• Durability
• Random access
• Editing is easier and less expensive
• Easily distributed by:
– CDs
– Networks
Sound and
the Internet
Increase bandwidth + Standard
File Formats + Simplified User Access =
Sound on the web
Delivering Digital Sounds
• Downloaded audio transfers the complete
audio file from the server to the client.
– File remains on client computer for replay and
editing.
• Progressive downloads: file is saved to client
computer, but begins to play from RAM as it is
downloading.
• Streaming audio: real-time sound that is played
as it is being delivered. Not saved on client
computer.
– Requires special protocols, special servers,
special media formats and players.
Guidelines for Use of Sounds
• Identify the purpose of the sound and use it for
good reasons.
• Use high-quality sound.
• Conserve file space.
• Consider playback environment.
• Avoid excessive use of sound.
• Organize sound files and preserve original
sources.
Wrap Up
• Two approaches to creating digital sound.
• Sampled sound depends on:
– Sample resolution and Sample rate.
– Distortions degrade sampled sound.
• Synthesized sound depends on:
– Synthesizer and Musical knowledge.
– Distortions come from poor sound output
hardware.
• Advantages and challenges of each.
• Advantages and guidelines for digital sound.
• Distributing sound on the Internet.
Key Term Check Up