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Digital Audio

What do we mean by “digital”? How do we produce, process, and playback? Why is physics important? What are the limitations and possibilities?. Digital Audio. Continuous data Reproduction introduces new noise Storage limited by physical size

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Digital Audio

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  1. What do we mean by “digital”? How do we produce, process, and playback? Why is physics important? What are the limitations and possibilities? Digital Audio

  2. Continuous data Reproduction introduces new noise Storage limited by physical size Virtually unlimited frequency and amplitude ranges Digital vs. Analog • Discrete data • Reproducible with 100% fidelity • Can be stored using any digital medium • Frequency and amplitude ranges limited by digitization

  3. Physics of Digitization • Sound (pressure wave) is transduced into an electrical signal (usually voltage) • Signal “read” by A-D converter to discrete values • Time sequence of signal values encoded in a computer

  4. Sampling Basics • Sample Rate: Frequency interval of the time sequence of encoded values • Sample Depth (or Bit Depth): Number of bits used to encode each value • Bit Rate = (Sample Rate) x (Bit Depth) For example, “CD Quality” audio is 44.1kHz at 16 bits = 7.065E5 bps per channel, or 1411 kbps total

  5. Sample Rate (Sample Frequency) • Sample Period = 0.5s • Sample Rate = 1/0.5s = 2Hz

  6. Sample Rate Matters!(Mathematica Demo 1)

  7. What do the samples actually represent?

  8. Nyquist-Shannon Sampling Theorem • “If a function x(t) contains no frequencies higher than B, it is completely determined by giving its ordinates at a series of points spaced 1/(2B) seconds apart.” • A necessary condition for digitizing a signal so that it can be faithfully reconstructed is that the sample rate is at least twice as high as the highest frequency present in the signal.

  9. What can go wrong? • Aliasing: High frequencies contribute signal components that are perceived as lower frequencies (Mathematica Demo 2)

  10. Bit Depth • Number of bits used to represent each sampled value • Available discrete values n=2b • Here there are only 5 discrete values, so 3 bits per sample

  11. Dynamic Range • Ability to represent small and large amplitude signals in the same scheme • Clipping: Large signals are cut off, introducing high harmonics • Masking: Small signals are “drowned out”

  12. Signal-to-Noise Ratio (S/N) • Ratio of meaningful signal power to unwanted signal power • In sound, the “audible power” (decibels) is skewed from the actual power • Best case scenario: noise is in the first bit: S/N (dB) = 10 Log (2b) = 3.01b (per channel) • Human ear sensitivity covers a range of more than 120dB! (~40 bits)

  13. Digital Audio Compression • Analog signals are practically incompressible • Raw audio signals are similarly hard to reduce using standard (lossless) file compression (Shannon Information Theory) • Psycho-acoustic models may be helpful! (lossy)

  14. MP3 Codec • Divide the file into packets and find the Fourier power spectrum via DFT • Throw out easily masked frequencies to reach desired bit rate • Dither regions with different dynamic ranges or where the bit depth must be lowered to match desired bit rate • Perform traditional redundancy compression (ratatat samples)

  15. Discrete Fourier Transform • Frequency Limit = ½ Sample Frequency (Nyquist) • Frequency Resolution = 1/Signal Period (Mathematica 3) • Usually frequency resolution is much sharper than the ear can detect

  16. Dithering

  17. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) • Non-linear (ie, atemporal) • Real-time effects subject to latency and buffering memory • Filters and envelopes extremely difficult/expensive to achieve with analog techniques • Easier non-destructive editing • Perfect fidelity in copying

  18. Some Common DSP Effects • Vocoder vs Autotune (Daft Punk) • Delay/Echo (U2, David Gray) • Filter/Flange (Foster the People, Dizzy Gillespie)

  19. Digital Synthesis (If you can write an equation, you can hear it!) • Sound engineering for movies/TV • Arbitrary mathematical functions can be generated (Mathematica 4) • Sounds not identifiable by the ear/brain (Chem Bros and Skrillex samples)

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