Music Production Flashcards
What is the basic idea of the Fletcher Munson Curve
The further you get from the reference threshold the more volume you need to make it sound as loud as the reference
What is the reference threshold
1 dB @ IKhz
What is the name of the graph that shows a comparison of frequencies and volume
Fletcher Munson Curve
What is totally harmonic distortion and how is it written
The amount of noise in a device. It can be written as a Db value. More commonly written as a % of the entire signal.
THD+N < .01 means less than one percent of the signal is added noise.
Headroom
The distance between standard operating volume and the onset of distortion.
Frequency Response
The amount a signals frequencies are boosted or attenuated by a given piece of gear.
50Hz-15,000Hz +/- 3dB
Signal to noise ratio
The difference between the noise floor and the standard operating level.
If operating level is +4dB and noise floor is -80dB the signal to noise is 84
Larger number is better
Noise floor
Noise generated by a device with no signal present.
Measured in dB
How does a balanced cable work
Signal is run through 2 conduits of a cable. One is inverted at the end of the cable. The signal is inverted again. This strengthens there audio signal and cancels noise.
Timbre
The combination of sine waves and the partials unique to a given instrument.
What is another term for a half step
Semi tone
How man cents in a half step
100
Equal Temprament
Each octave is divided into 12 Half steps with a tuning ration of 1.05946
Useful musical frequency
27.5Hz - 4186 Hz
Lowest to highest note on a piano
Range of human hearing
20Hz - 20Khz
How to calculate frequency from wavelength
1000ms / wavelength = Hz
1000
A above middle C wavelength and Hz
Wavelength - 2.273 milliseconds
Repeats 440 times a second
What is a wavelength
The time it takes for one cycle of a waveform to pass
What doe Hz measure
Cycles per second of a given waveform
Loudness
The overall intensity. of a noise
Timbre
The tonal qualities (partials) that distinguish a specific instrument from another
i.e.
Piano vs Violin
Pitch
A subjective description of how we perceive a note as being “low” or “high”
How is loudness measured
Amplitude (Db, Decibel)
How is timbre measured
Spectrum (Hz, Db)
How is pitch measured
Frequency (Hz)
How to calculate the frequency of a waveform
Divide 1000 ms by the wavelength
Multitimbre
Number of unique instrument sounds at once
Polyphany
Number of notes that can be sounded at once
TDIF
Tascam Digital Interface
ADAT
Alesis Digital Audio Tape
What are the two standard of stereo audio
S/PDIF - Sony Philips Digital Interface Format
AES/EBU - Audio engineering society/European Broadcast Union
What does MIDI stand for
Musical instrument digital interface
