audio tech paper 2

Question 1

In what circumstances might a listener perceive a dip in level, when two sounds are crossfaded linearly?

Answer 1

If the content is dissimilar

Question 2

What does a modern DAW use to enable non-destructive editing?

Answer 2

Edit-decision list

Question 3

Which of the following DAW user interfaces is NOT used to edit MIDI note data?

Answer 3

Mixer

Question 4

What does the P stand for in PCM?

Answer 4

Pulse

Question 5

AIFF and Microsoft Wave files are divided up internally into what logical structures?

Answer 5

Chunks

Question 6

What is the transmission rate of MIDI data along a standard MIDI cable?

Answer 6

31250bps

Question 7

What is conventionally a “lossless” audio file format

Answer 7

WAV

Question 8

What is the standard sample rate across all aspects of the audio industries?

Answer 8

None (there is no standard)

Question 9

What is used to reduce the effects of quantisation distortion?

Answer 9

Dithering

Question 10

What happens when a signal exceeds the maximum amplitude supported by a digital system?

Answer 10

Clipping

Question 11

Which of the following file formats will typically exhibit the worst compression ratio for audio?

Answer 11

ZIP

Question 12

A surround sound system is described as “7.2”. What does this imply?

Answer 12

It has 7 satellite speakers and 2 subwoofers.

Question 13

What is the “Nyquist” frequency?

Answer 13

Equal to half the sampling rate of the system

Question 14

In a software audio editor, which normalisation processes is most likely to require dynamic range compression to prevent clipping?

Answer 14

RMS normalisation to -3dB

Question 15

The Yamaha DX7 was a flexible music synth of the the 1980’s. Which type of synthesis was it based on?

Answer 15

FM

Question 16

In comparison to earlier recording media, the development of magnetic tape facilitated the practical application of which activities?

Answer 16

Sound editing

Question 17

The Mellotron was an early sampler instrument. What did it use for a storage medium?

Answer 17

Magnetic tape

Question 18

What is the primary purpose of the groove~ object in Max?

Answer 18

To play sound files

Question 19

What combination of objects could be used to create a pattern sequencer in Max?

Answer 19

Counter / lookup

Question 20

Which Max object is best suited to scaling an audio signal for use in controlling the frequency cutoff of a filter?

Answer 20

[scale~ -1 1 20 20000]

Question 21

The unit “cycles per second” or CPS is equivalent to what?

Answer 21

Hz

Question 22

What frequency ratio is equivalent to the musical interval of 25 cents?

Answer 22

1.0145

Question 23

Which of the following waveforms contains all the harmonics of a given fundamental frequency?

Answer 23

Sawtooth wave

Question 24

Shepard and Risset tones exhibit what kind of auditory illusion?

Answer 24

They appear to continually rise or fall in pitch

Question 25

What is the duration of 11 periods of a waveform with frequency 440Hz?

Answer 25

25ms

Question 26

Given a square wave with a peak amplitude of 1V, what is its RMS amplitude?

Answer 26

1V

Question 27

With reference to the relative phase of waveforms, which of the following is equivalent to 180°?

Answer 27

π

Question 28

How many semitones are in the musical interval of a Perfect 4th?

Answer 28

5

Question 29

What is the amplitude of the 4th harmonic in a triangle wave if the fundamental frequency has an amplitude of 0.9?

Answer 29

0

Question 30

Looking at the waveform of a sound, how might you be able to tell if the sound had been subject to quantisation distortion?

Answer 30

The amplitudes of the sound appear to be stepped

Question 31

In sound synthesis, the A in the acronym ADSR stands for what?

Answer 31

Attack

Question 32

In modulation synthesis, new frequency components are generated based on the components of the input signal. What are the new components known as?

Answer 32

Sidebands

Question 33

The amplitude envelopes of acoustic guitar and piano sounds generally exhibit which type of decay?

Answer 33

Exponential decay

Question 34

What kind of effect is produced by a very short delay (where the delay time is less than 5ms) and the original signal is mixed with the delayed signal?

Answer 34

Comb filtering

Question 35

When two sine waves are added together and are close in frequency, what phenomenon might occur?

Answer 35

Beating

Question 36

In wavetable synthesis, how much sample data is stored in the wavetable?

Answer 36

A single cycle

Question 37

Which expression is used to describe a synthesizer that can only play one instrumental part at a time?

Answer 37

Mono-timbral