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Audio Engineering 1 > AE1 Test 1 > Flashcards

AE1 Test 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Track

A

An individual instrument or sounds on a single row in the editor or column in the Mixer.

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2
Q

Solo

A

Automatically Mute all other tracks.

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3
Q

Mute

A

Disable this track’s output temporarily, but still processes all plug-ins and audio.

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4
Q

Fader

A

Makes the sound on a track louder or softer.

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5
Q

Panning

A

Says how much a channel goes out which output.

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6
Q

Meter

A

The lights next to a fader that indicate there is a signal and how that signal behaves.

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7
Q

What does the following command do?

CMD =

A

Toggles between Mix and Edit windows.

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8
Q

How to jump to a memory location

A

Keypad (KP) period, memory location #, KP Period.

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9
Q

What is white noise?

A

All frequencies from 20Hz to 20kHz at the same gain.

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10
Q

What is an input?

A

How audio get into a DAW.

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11
Q

What is an output?

A

How audio gets out of a DAW.

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12
Q

What are the different types of studios environments?

A
  • The professional recording studio: control room + recording studio (a.k.a. stage)
  • The audio-for-video production environment
  • The project studio
  • The portable studio (a.k.a. laptop)
  • Live/on-location recording
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13
Q

Who are the people that work in a music studio?

A
  • The artist
  • Studio musicians and arrangers
  • The producer
  • The recording engineer
  • The mixing engineer
  • The mastering engineer
  • The assistant engineer
  • The maintenance engineer
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14
Q

What are the 8 steps of the album making process? Give examples on what each step involves.

A
  1. Preparation
    (Budged, goal, deadline, instruments, space needed, mics needed, # of songs…)
  2. Recording
    (set up instruments and mics, make sure the plumbing works, documenting the performance…)
  3. Overdubbing
    (Recording music in addition to what was recorded previously).
  4. Mixing
    (Determining relative levels, spatial positioning, EQ, dynamics processing, effects…)
  5. Song sequencing
    (Picking the final order of the songs in the album).
  6. Mastering
    (Determining relative levels of songs, EQ dynamic processing, effects, a DDP…)
  7. Product manufacturing
    (producing the packaging, the physical records…)
  8. Marketing and sales
    (publicity, promotion…)
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15
Q

What is mixing?

A
  • Determining the desired relative level for each instrument
  • Determining the spatial positioning
  • Equalization
  • Dynamics processing
  • Effects processing
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16
Q

What is the ideal control room monitor level range?

A

Between 70dB SPL and 90dB SPL, or around 85dB.

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17
Q

What is mastering?

A
  • Song sequencing
  • Determining the desired relative level for each song
  • Dynamics processing
  • Equalizing
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18
Q

What is a transducer?

A

Any device that changes one form of energy into another

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19
Q

What are the characteristics of a waveform? Define them.

A
  • Frequency(Hz)/CPS/Pitch: number of cycles per second.
  • Amplitude: the distance between the peak and the 0dB line. Gives the perception of loudness.
  • Wavelenght: from compression start to end of rarefaction.
  • Velocity: the speed of sound.
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20
Q

What is a wavelength?

A

It’s the physical distance between the beginning and the end of a cycle.

21
Q

How do sound waves reflect off of the different types of surfaces?

A
  1. Flat surfaces: at an angle equal and opposite to the angle of incidence.
  2. Convex surfaces: radiates the sound in a wide dispersion pattern.
  3. Concave surfaces: focuses the sound toward a single point.
  4. 90* corner: reflects the sound at an angle equal to its original incident direction.
22
Q

What is “diffraction” of sound?

A

The ability of sound to go around obstacles or through small openings.

23
Q

What is the charted output of an audio device known as?

A

Its frequency response curve.

24
Q

What are the sub-categories of harmonic content?

A
  • Partials:
    • Lower partials
    • Upper partials or overtones:
      • Harmonics:
        • Even and odd harmonics
25
Q

List all phase problems.

A
  • In phase (double the volume or +3dB)
  • 180* out of phase or phase cancellation
  • Beats: two tones that differ only slightly in frequency and have approximately the same amplitude.
  • Combination tones: when two loud tones differ by more than 50Hz, the ear perceives an additional set of tones that are equal to both the sum and the difference between the original frequencies.
  • Masking: when loud signals prevent you from hearing softer sounds. Even worse when the frequencies of the sounds in question are close to each other.
  • Masking can also be caused by strong enough harmonics of the masking tone. This is why stereo placement and EQ are so important!
26
Q

What is timbre?

A

It’s the character of a sound, defined by its harmonics and their relative intensities.

27
Q

The four parts of an envelope are…

A

… attack, decay, sustain and release.

28
Q

What happens to a signal’s intensity when the source/pickup distance is doubled? When it’s halved?

A

The SPL is reduced by 6dB when doubled and increased by 6dB when halved.

29
Q

What is the Threshold of Feeling?

A

118dB: Where an SPL causes discomfort 50% of the time in the range of 200Hz and 10kHz.

30
Q

What is the Threshold of Pain?

A

140dB: Where an SPL causes pain 50% of the time in the range of 200Hz and 10kHz.

31
Q

A temporary threshold shift is…

A

… when the ear experiences a temporary hearing loss after being exposed to long-term , loud noise.

32
Q

Acoustic trauma is…

A

… when the ear is exposed to a sudden loud noise in excess of 140dB.

33
Q

Spatial or binaural localization is achieved by the brain through…

A
  • Interaural intensity differences,
  • Interaural arrival-time diffrences,
  • The reflections caused by the pinnae
34
Q

Which 3 types of reflections allow for the perception of space?

A
  • Direct sound: gives a sense of the position of the source.
  • Early reflections: give us clues about the reflectivity, size and general nature of the space.
  • Reverberation: gives us clues about the hardness or softness of the surrounding surfaces.

Note: the direct sound level/reflected sound level ratio gives us a sense of the proximity of the sound source.

35
Q

What is Unity Gain?

A

0dB of change or as it was recorded.

36
Q

What are the main parts of the ear?

A 
Outer ear:
- Pinna
- External ear canal
Middle ear:
- Ear drum
- Ossicles
- Eustachian tube
Inner ear:
- Cochlea (Organ of Corti)
37
Q

What is an octave?

A

The doubling or halving of a frequency.

38
Q

The terms for describing a frequency are:

A

High and Low

39
Q

The terms for describing an amplitude or volume are

A

Soft and Loud

40
Q

What are the most important phase degrees?

A

0, 90, 180* and 270*

41
Q

Define: tinitus?

A

Permanent damage in your ear that causes you to hear a ringing all the time.

42
Q

What is 0dB FS? What does FS stand for?

A

The threshold of human hearing. FS = Full Scale.

43
Q

What is the ideal gain when you record?

A

From -20dBFS to -12dBFS.

44
Q

Define: acoustic isolation.

A

Preventing sounds from getting in and out of the studio environment.

45
Q

Define: frequency balance.

A

When the acoustic environment has a relatively flat frequency response and doesn’t add its own coloration to the sound.

46
Q

Define: acoustic separation.

How do you achieve it?

A 
When you prevent pics to pickup sounds other than the sound of the instrument it belongs to.
You achieve this by using:
- Sound abatement
- Isolation booths
- Overdubbing
47
Q

What elements should you keep in mind when building a recording studio?

A
  • Acoustic isolation
  • Frequency balance
  • Acoustic separation
  • Sound abatement (for less reflections and reverberation)
  • Symmetry in control room and monitoring design
  • Cost factors
48
Q

Define: transmission loss

A

The reduction in the sound-pressure level of a sound as it passes through an acoustic barrier of a certain physical mass.

Note: For a given acoustic barrier, transmission loss increases as the sound’s frequency rises.

49
Q

What is a standing wave?

A

A wave that is reflected off of parallel surfaces and travels back on its own path, causing phase differences problems.

Audio Engineering 1 (3 decks)

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