Midterm review

The midterm exam will draw from all of the assigned readings, as well as our lecture, discussion, and studio sessions. Modern Recording Techniques book chapters include 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 and you should also review the Barlett article, Stereo Microphone Techniques. The test will include multiple choice and short answer questions, and will be similar to the in-class quizes, although longer and more comprehensive. It will focus on the primary topics from the chapters (which are usually the topics that I review in class) and will not emphasise low level memorization. At the same time, many of the basic, high level principles of audio recording should be clearly understood and committed to memory. The following list of terms should help you in preparing for the test.
* I have put an asterisk by the especially important topics. That does not mean the others are not important, but I am helping you to identify key or central topics from each chapter.

 

Chapter 1
*Studio roles / jobs
*Professional studios - tracking Room / Iso Booths / Control Room / Machine Room
Project Studio
*Types of recordings - 2 mics to 2 track, multi mic to 2 track, multitrack ect.
*Process: Preproduction / Tracking / Overdubbing / Mix down / Mastering / Distribution
*Transducer- what is it in general - how does it function in audio recording

Chapter 2
*Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
Sound-pressure waves
Compression / Rarefaction
*Amplitude / Frequency / Timbre / Envelope - and the meaning / implications of each
*Hertz
*Velocity (speed) of sound
*Frequency response curve
*Phase / Phase shift
Waveforms
*Timbre / Harmonic Content
*Partials / Overtones / Harmonics
*SPL
*Threshold of hearing / Threshold of pain - in SPL (0-120)
*Frequency range of human hearing
Linear / Non-linear
*Curves of equal loudness (Fletcher-Munson)
*Localization / Panning
*Interaural intensity differences
*Interaural arrival-time differences
*Reflection / Diffraction of sound
*Direct sound / Early reflections / Reverberation

Chapter 4 + Bartlett Article
*Dynamic mics / Ribbon mics / Condenser mics
*Microphone selection basics
*Diaphragm / Voice coil
*electromagnetic principle (dynamic) / Capacitor/capacitance (condenser)
*Phantom power
*Directional response / pickup pattern
*Frequency response curve
*Proximity effect
*Transient response
*Output characteristics: Sensitivity rating / Equivalent noise/self-noise / Overload characteristics
*Attenuation pad / low cut filter
*XLR connector
*Microphone preamplifier
Distant miking
Close miking
Accent miking
Leakage (bleed)
*3:1 distance rule
*Stereo miking techniques
*coincident, near coincident, spaced
*X/Y - Blumlein - M/S - ORTF - Spaced pair
*Mono compatibility
*Time and amplitude cues in stereo perception and stereo microphone techniques

Chapter 6
*Binary
*Sampling - A/D - D/A conversion (basic concept)
*Sampling rate - what does this effect in the sound? (please be specific - don't say 'quality")
*Bit depth - what does this effect in the sound? (please be specific - don't say 'quality")
Nyquist theorem
*DSP
*Signal-to-error(or noise) ratio
Pulse-code modulation
Stereo Interleaving
*Sound file sample rates
*Sound file bit depths
AES/EBU - S/PDIF - ADAT/Lightpipe
Toslink
Self-clocking
Wordclock

Chapter 7
*Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)
Digital timing (wordclock)
*Automation
*FireWire
*USB
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Desktop computer (positive attributes/downsides)
Laptop computer (positive attributes/downsides)
Hard drive speeds
*External audio interface
Latency
Archiving and back up
Audio driver protocols
WDM - ASIO - MAS - CoreAudio
DAW controller surface
*Sound File Formats
*Wave (.wav) / Broadcast wave / Wave 64 / Apple AIFF (.aif, .snd) mp3
*Functional capabilities of a DAW - what do they do?
Graphic editing
*Nondestructive editing
Gain changing
*Normalization
*Fading / Cross-fade
Punch-in, out / Comping
MIDI sequencing and scoring
Software instruments
Digital mixer interface
*DSP functions/effects
*Real-time DSP / Non-real-time DSP
*Equalization
*Dynamic range processors
Time processors - Delay / Chorus / Flanging
Reverb
Pitch and time change
*Plug-ins
DirectX / AU / VST / MAS / AudioSuite / RTAS / TDM