Test your basic knowledge |

Digital Audio

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. French mathematician that noted that any complex sound can be broken down into a series of component pure tones






2. VBR; Most common & best data reduction technique; Codecs that encode data by determining how dense or sparse areas of the audio are; Can result in buffering issues






3. High Pressure - Part of a longitudinal wave where the particles of the medium are close together






4. Allowance of noise floor below that which is required for the final product






5. Process of building a complex tone by starting with the fundamental frequency and adding pure tone harmonics






6. Each bit in the bit depth is equal to a _____ increase in dynamic range






7. Found that aliasing was always a problem no matter how fast you sample; Less data recorded but more accurate; 2 samples per wave length.






8. Single- pin RCA cable or fiber- optic TOSLINK connector used for digital transfer; 75O coaxial - 2- channel unbalanced; 'Consumer' format of AES3






9. Number or variable that represents the number of times the base of a power is used as a factor; Defines magnitude






10. Channels are processed one at a time and the results are stored on multiple CPU buffers that alternately send data as DAW requests the data for playback; First few seconds are relayed to the buffer prior to processing and playback and it continuously






11. A frequency specified for a filter (digital or electronic) the marks the point at which the frequency content of a signal is altered +/- 3dB






12. Signal voltage is relayed to a register from sample- and - hold circuit; Holds reference frequencies in binary form that decrease in value; Finds approximated value & assigns binary number accordingly






13. Roughly around 1 -130 ft/s






14. RAM holds in memory audio data before it is transferred to the memory controller; Certain amount of data is processed before large amounts of data are streamed to prevent latency






15. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding); MP3; RA; WMA; OGG Vorbis; Dolby Digital/AC-3; DTS; ADPCM






16. Very quiet digital amplifier that produces a series of output pulses with the audio signal coded the same as the width of the output pulses; Pulses are used to represent wave forms and are either on or off; Intense signals have long pulses with short






17. Decibels Full Scale






18. ABR; Codecs that encode data by determining how dense or sparse areas of the audio are while also keeping bit rate within specified limits to avoid rebuffering






19. In order to play multiple channels at one time data is buffered as read to disk; Latency happens between play command & beginning of playback






20. Sum of all harmonics; Sum of sine and cosine waves which have frequencies f - 2f - 3f - 4f...






21. When recording you want the smallest buffer available; When mixing you want the largest buffer available






22. Process that begins with a fast FFT analysis of the spectra of two input signals - then the multiplication of like frequencies - and IFFT to finalize the process






23. Unit of measurement that is equal to one billionth of a meter






24. Fractional part of a floating- point number; Also called the mantissa; Defines precision






25. Reduces A/D sample rate from the oversampled rate to nominal rate by turning series of one- bit samples into a series of multi- bit PCM samples; (ex. => 2.8MHz sample rate converted to 44.1kHz and simultaneously converts 1-Bit samples to multi- bit);






26. If a signal is sampled at a rate higher than twice the highest significant signal frequency and at evenly spaced intervals - then the samples contain all the information of the original signal






27. Discrete incremental distinctions made between the value of one sample and the next; Breaks down bit depth into a series of evenly spaced intervals






28. A time regulator that makes all samples and bits to align when working with interconnected digital devices; Basically a signal that all of the digital devices refer to when operating.






29. Specific set of instructions for carrying out a data reduction technique that determines how to 'save' binary data information efficiently






30. Father of modern information theory; Solidified the Nyquist Theory by adding the concept that bits per second (binary representation of audio signals) must be at equal intervals to accurately represent data






31. Most significant lossless coding technique in current use; Measure of disorder in which long strings of data are represented by short symbols and uses the shortest symbols to represent the most common repetitive audio data maximizing data reduction






32. A network communications protocol that specifies how machines will exchange data; Uses a broadcast system in which one machine transmits its message on the communication medium and the other machines listen for messages directed to them






33. 'Reconstructing' part of digital audio






34. ADPCM; Pulse code modulation that produces a digital signal with a lower bit rate than standard PCM; Records only the difference between samples






35. 12.33 GB; DS/ML






36. How Loud (Y-Axis) & How Fast (X-Axis)






37. Six channel (five speakers and one subwoofer for bass) digital surround sound system by Dolby






38. Occurs as data is assembled into meaningful bits or information and as left & right channels are separated






39. Serial Copy Management System; main difference between AES3 & S/PIDF






40. Sony sigma- delta modulation based technology that bypasses the decimation and interpolation steps found in PCM converters






41. More accuracy in low amplitudes and less in higher amplitudes






42. Computer program or device capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream with the end result being a reduced file size






43. Method used in digital recording and reproduction in which a signal is sampled at various points and the resulting value is translated into binary numbers






44. Subtract place values from the decimal number and place ones or zeros in the correct places






45. Represents the amplitude component of the digital sampling process; Technique of incrementing a continuous analog event into a discrete set of binary digits (bits)






46. The continuous loss of signal strengths as a signal travels through a medium






47. Multi-Bit Words; (Pulse Code Modulation)






48. Measure of sound pressure over the frequency spectrum - for which a listener perceives a constant loudness when presented with pure steady tones






49. 1.) Bit Rate x Sample Rate (you'll get b/sec) 2.) Multiply by 60 if converting seconds to minutes 3.) Divide by 8 to convert bits to Bytes and get B/min 4.) Divide by 1 -024 to get KB/min and keep doing it until you get desired bit rate specification






50. Based on Full Scale (dB/FS); -6dB represents a loss of one bit so account for this when calculating