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. Anytime bit depth is reduced the gap gets bigger so more dithering is required






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






3. The frequency range that is allowed through a filter






4. Eight channel digital surround sound system by Dolby






5. The amount of energy at each wavelength






6. MPEG; Standardizing body of audio coding






7. Leaving space at beginning and ending of song for data crunching during mastering; Last step in mastering process






8. Same as 'aliasing'






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






10. 7.95 GB; SS/DL






11. Apple Lossless; Windows Media Lossless; DTS HD Master Audio; Dolby True HD; FLAC






12. 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






13. CobraNet; EtherSound; Dante; AVB (currently under development)






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






15. Mixing data and control characters in a single operation






16. Low Pressure; Part in a longitudinal wave where the particles are spread apart






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






18. 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






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






20. Uses entropy coding as the basis; Computer data compression algorithm that packages files such as .ZIP & .RAR






21. Measurement at regular intervals of the amplitude of a varying waveform (in order to convert it to digital form); There must be a minimum of 2 samples for each cycle in a waveform






22. As sample rate is increased more room is created for a smoother slope of the attenuation band because Nyquist limit extends well beyond range of hearing with each increase






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






24. The art of deciding where to place a processor in signal flow based on how that processor will be influenced by the other processors in the path






25. Pertaining to hearing or sound; Combination of the intensity of air pressure molecules with amplitude






26. Decibels Full Scale






27. EDL; Final list of samples used in the audio editing process; Identified by time code






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






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






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






31. Psychoacoustic model of data reduction used for general audio compression that aims to transmit only features perceptible to the human ear; Useful for mastering streaming media






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






33. Reduces the percieved distortion due to quantization error; Low level white noise source is introduced to make the profile of the quantization 'noise' more irregular; Useful when reducing the number of bits per word in a signal (i.e. when converting






34. 'Capturing' part of digital audio; Never captures a signal perfectly






35. 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






36. Samples are duplicated and the playback sampling rate correspondingly increased; Significantly raises the Nyquist limit to a range well beyond human hearing; Processing 'pushes' the distortion resulting from quantization error into these higher frequ






37. 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






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






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






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






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






42. Digital (binary) measurements of how long each pulse is either on or off; Width of increasing voltage or decreasing voltage is assigned a 1 or 0 respectively






43. Measures the highest levels of a signal being recorded or mixed; Monitors for clipping - which occurs at 0dBFS); Does not always reflect perceived volume of signal






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






45. 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






46. Playback; I/O Connections; CPU (Streaming); Conversion from DAW or Software






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






48. A sample- by- sample operation on two signals






49. Rate at which energy is drawn from a source that produces a flow of electricity in a circuit; Expressed in volts






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