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






2. The difference in volume between the loudest and quietest sounds of a source






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






4. DAW's and software must buffer when converting or bouncing and this latency can add up if not monitored






5. Digital Word -> Series of Resistors (each with assigned charges) -> Sample- and-Hold Circuit -> Anti-Imaging Filter (Smoothing Filter) -> Reconstructed Sample






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






7. Method of sampling data at a higher resolution (higher sample rate) as a means of reducing harmonic content during D/A conversion; (x2) oversampling gets rid of all odd harmonic content






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






9. AES






10. 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






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






12. EBU






13. The act of a frequency swinging back and forth with a steady - uninterrupted rhythm






14. Splits the input signal and mixes it with an analog copy so that no latency is present






15. Signal conversions are mixed with playback tracks resulting in near-zero latency






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






17. French mathematician that noted that any complex sound can be broken down into a series of component pure tones






18. The set of rules that computers use to move files from one computer to another on an internet






19. 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






20. Number of bits per second processed when sampling sound; (Sampling Rate x Bit Depth) = Resolution






21. 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






22. Unit of measurement that is equal to one millionth of a meter






23. Also known as equal loudness curves; Graph that indicates the average ear sensitivity to different frequencies at different SPL levels (as volume increases - these curves flatten out)






24. 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






25. Increases or decreases the digital signal so that the loudest sample is brought up to 0dBfs; Uses all bits from dynamic range and makes it even from track to track






26. Take up half as many bits (50%); Algorithm can keep same quality by lossing the stereo track






27. Level above which audible sounds are painful (125 - 130 db)






28. Difference in brightness between land and pit on a CD Physical Format






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






30. The more bits allocated during quantization - the more accurate the measurement






31. Stores only one copy of a stereo signal and assigns it to both channels in order to save 50% of original bandwidth






32. Eight channel digital surround sound system by Dolby






33. Algorithm uses matrix of a mid/side microphone pair to determine a side signal & that signal is reduced then distributed as code in stereo






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






35. Very selective method of lowering buffer levels by halting different levels of audio processing






36. CBR; Codecs encodes data at a constant rate regardless of density of the audio file






37. Circuit that interprets the meaning of the symbols as they were chosen and arranged by the encode






38. Roughly around 1 -130 ft/s






39. The amount of energy at each wavelength






40. Method of representing an acoustic quantity with a series of binary numbers; Can have only specific individually distinct values






41. 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






42. A method of representing real numbers using a mantissa and an exponent






43. (AES/EBU); 110O - 2- channel balanced digital audio cable with an XLR connection; NOT a mic cable!!






44. Number of bits used to represent the smallest unit of information in an audio file; Greater bit depth = better quality audio






45. A situation where a calculated value cannot fit into the number of digits reserved for it






46. Deviation from a normal - steady pulse or tick of a clock that contributes to misrepresentation of a signal; Result of small timing irregularities that become magnified during the transmission of digital signals as the signals are passed from one dev






47. 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);






48. Eliminates frequencies above the Nyquist limit from becoming samples; Occurs prior to quantization






49. 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






50. A digital filter's time domain output sequence when the input is a single sample is input