Digital Audio —

The Nuts and Bolts

A digital audio overview ranging from

bit rate, sample rate, and compression
types to room acoustics, microphones,
and digital effects
Sound Waves/Analog Audio

 Sound waves are continuous

 Infinite number of amplitude points

can be identified between any two
points in time
Digital Audio

 Computers don’t deal with continuous

concepts (infinity)

 Digital technology converts analog

audio to computer values
Digital Conversion

 Digitizing a continuous wave = sampling

 Amplitude measurements of a sound

signal are regularly sampled
ADC and DAC

 ADC – Analog to Digital Converter

Converts analog signal to digital
samples

 DAC – Digital to Analog Converter

Converts digital samples to analog
signal
Characteristics of
Digital Audio
 Sampling Rate
– How often signal is sampled
– Number of samples per second

 Bit Depth
– Size of number used to store samples
– larger number gives more degrees of
value
Sampling Rate

 Harry Nyquist (Bell Labs – 1925)

 Nyquist Theorem: To represent

digitally a signal containing frequency
components up to X Hz, it is necessary
to use a sampling rate of at least 2X.

 Humans hear to 20 kHz, requiring

sample rate of at least 40k
Aliasing

 In movies, car wheels appear to move

backwards if between ½ and 1
revolution per frame

 In sound, this is not acceptable

 Filters are used to remove any

frequencies above Nyquist frequency
Undersampling
Undersampling = Aliases
Critical Sampling
Lowpass Filter

 Reduces or eliminates higher frequencies

 Used to remove any frequencies above
Nyquist frequency
Bit Depth (Quantization)

 Amplitude values are stored as binary

numbers

 Accuracy depends on how many bits

are available to represent these values

 For CD Audio we use 16 bits

Quantization

 No matter how many bits are used,

there is always a margin of error

 Low-level signals do not use all

available bits, so signal-to-error ratio is
greater
Quantization

 Quantization error creates a kind of

distortion

 Dither adds low-level noise to audio

signal before sampling

 Dither turns distortion (bad) into noise

(less bad) – still less noise than analog
Digital Recording Process

 Dither – Low-level noise added (prior

to sampling) to reduce quantization
error distortion
Digital Recording Process

 Lowpass Filter – Removes frequencies

above Nyquist Frequency; cutoff starts
a few thousand hertz lower
Digital Recording Process

 Sample and Hold – Analog voltages

are measured and held long enough to
be read by ADC
Digital Recording Process

 Analog-to-Digital Converter – Converts

analog voltages into binary numbers
Digital Recording Process

 Multiplexer – Combines the parallel

data streams (stereo) into a single
serial bit stream
Digital Recording Process

 Error Correction – Variety of measures

to eliminate, reduce, or compensate
for errors
Digital Recording Process

 Encoding – Encoded for playback

Digital Recording Process

 Storage
Digital Playback Process

 Buffer – To ensure that samples are

processed at a constant rate
Digital Playback Process

 Error Correction – Attempt to

eliminate, reduce, or conceal data
errors
Digital Playback Process

 Demultiplexer – Splits the serial

bitstream into parallel data streams
(stereo)
Digital Playback Process

 DAC – Digital-to-Analog converter

translates binary numbers to voltage
values
Digital Playback Process

 Sample and Hold – Reads the value

from the DAC and holds it until the
DAC’s next stable state
Digital Playback Process

 Lowpass Filter – Smooths the output

from the sample and hold circuit
Digital Playback Process

 Audio – The finished product

Room Acoustics

 Characteristic room sound is

determined by the relationship
between direct and reflected sound

 Virtually all sound reaching listeners is

a combination of direct & reflected

 At greater distances, most sound is

reflected sound
Room Acoustics

 Direct Sound
– Directly from the source to the listener
– Direct sound arrives before reflected
sound; even if reflected sound is louder,
we hear direct sound first and determine
direction of the source
Room Acoustics

 Early Reflections
– First-order reflections that reach the
listener after reflecting once from the
floor, ceiling, or walls
– If arriving in the first 35ms after the
direct sound, reinforces with clarity &
intelligibility
– “Intimate” halls have first-order
reflections of less than 20ms
Room Acoustics

 Diffuse Reverberations
– Second- (and higher) order reflections
– Reverberation time is the time required for
the SPL to drop 60dB
– Larger room is likely to have longer
reverberation time than a smaller room
– Reverberation time is frequency dependent;
lower frequencies reverberate longer
Types of Reflections

 Specular
– Reflections off smooth and regular
surfaces
– reflection in one direction
 Diffuse
– Reflections off irregular surfaces
– Reflections scattered in many directions
– Contribute to sound of older concert halls
Absorption
Small Room

 Space has potential to act as closed

tube, producing standing wave
 Result is amplification of certain
frequencies based on room’s
dimensions
 Not a factor in large rooms because air
temperature varies more
Microphones

 Receptor type
– Diaphragm acts as receptor
– Diaphragm vibrates
 Transducer type
– Transducer converts vibrations to electricity
 Directionality
– Determines strength of signal produced by
sounds arriving from different directions
Receptor Types

 Pressure
– Diaphragm responds to sound pressure
changes on only one side of diaphragm
 Pressure Gradient
– Diaphragm responds to sound pressure
changes from the front or rear
– Signal is determined by difference
(gradient) of pressures from either side
Transducer Types

 Dynamic (Electrodynamic, Electromagnetic, Ribbon, Moving Coil)

– Principle of magnetic induction – wire moves

within a magnetic field, producing a current
– Inexpensive and sturdy
 Condenser (Capacitor)
– Two oppositely-charged metal plates
– Current moves from one to the other
– Sharper transients
– Expensive
Directionality

 Determines the strength of signal

produced by sounds arriving from
different directions

 Directionality varies with frequency

 Specs often include polar plot with

patterns for different frequencies
Omnidirectional

 Responds equally to sound from all

directions
 Pressure mics are omnidirectional
Bidirectional

 Figure-eight response
 Responds equally to sounds from front &
back; none from sides
 Pressure gradient mics are bidirectional
First-Order Cardioid

 Most common directional microphones

 Cardioid refers to heart-shaped pattern

 Directional patterns are obtained by

combining pressure and pressure
gradient elements in varying proportions
Cardioid Variations

50% Pressure/50% Pres. Gradient 75% Pressure/25% Pres. Gradient

37% Pressure/63% Pres. Gradient 25% Pressure/75% Pres. Gradient

Effects

 All music that is recorded or amplified

relies on effects to enhance the sound.

 Effects are necessary to make

electronic audio signals sound like
natural sound.
Effects = Filters

 Effects are created by filter

combinations

 Filtering involves combining original

signal with delayed version

 Higher internal processing bit rate

means more accurate arithmetic
Simple Delay

 Signal combined with delayed version of

itself.
Multitap Delay

 Series of Simple Delays; output is

combines with a succession of delays.
Feedback Delay

 Combines delayed output with input,

then sends through delay again.
Delay-Based Effects

 Flanging
 Chorusing
 Phase Shifting
 Reverberation
Non-Delay-Based Effects

 Ring Modulation
 Amplitude Modulation
 Compression/Limiting
 Expansion/Noise Gating