Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Produce a glossary of terms specific to the methods and principles of sound design and production. Using a provided template, you must research and gather definitions specific to provided glossary terms. Any definitions must be referenced with the URL link of the website you have obtained the definition.

You must also, where possible, provide specific details of how researched definitions relate to your own production practice.

Name: Dylan Jones RESEARCHED DEFINITION (provide short internet researched definition and URL link)

DESCRIBE THE RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCHED TERM TO YOUR OWN PRODUCTION PRACTICE?

SOUND DESIGN METHODOLOGY

Foley Artistry Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to film, video, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. These reproduced sounds can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. The best foley art is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience. It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noises, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_(filmmaking)

Sound Libraries A sample library is a collection of digital sound recordings, known as samples, for use by composers, arrangers, performers, and producers of music. The sound files are loaded into a sampler - either hardware or computer-based - which is then used to create music.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sample_library

SOUND FILE FORMATS Uncompressed Uncompressed audio files are the most accurate digital representation of a soundwave, but can also be the most resource-intensive method of recording and storing digital audio, both in terms of storage and management. Their accuracy makes them suitable for archiving and delivering audio at high resolution, and working with audio at a professional level, and they are the 'master' audio format of choice.http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/uncompressed-audio-file-formats

.wav Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or more commonly known as WAV due to its filename extension)(rarely, Audio for Windows) is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV

.aiff AIFF is short for Audio Interchange File Format, which is an audio format initially

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

created by Apple Computer for storing and transmitting high-quality sampled audio data. It supports a variety of bit resolutions, sample rates, and channels of audio. This format is quite popular upon Apple platforms, and is commonly adopted in professional programs that handle digital audio waveforms.http://www.abyssmedia.com/formats/aiff-format.shtml

.au The Au file format is a simple audio file format introduced by Sun Microsystems. The format was common on NeXT systems and on early Web pages. Originally it was headerless, being simply 8-bit µ-law-encoded data at an 8000 Hz sample rate.https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Au_file_format.html

.smp The file extension ".smp" shows up on several different types of files used for very different programs including audio files, images and email messages. You can usually figure out what type of ".smp" file you're dealing with based on the context, such as the file name, where it's saved or what types of programs you have on your computer that use ".smp" files.http://www.ehow.com/info_12198596_file-smp.html

Lossy Compression In information technology, "lossy" compression is a data encoding method that compresses data by discarding (losing) some of it. The procedure aims to minimize the amount of data that needs to be held, handled, and/or transmitted by a computer.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_compression

.mp3 MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is an encoding format for digital audio which uses a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio streaming or storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on most digital audio players.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3

I use the .mp3 file format to save songs on my computer and move them into a CD.

AUDIO LIMITATIONS Sound Processor Unit (SPU) Integrated circuit that generates an audio signal and sends it to a computer's speakers. The sound card can accept an analog sound (as from a microphone or audio tape) and convert it to digital data that can be stored in an audio file, or accept digitized audio signals (as from an audio file) and convert them to analog signals that can be played on the computer's speakers. On a personal computer, the sound card is usually a separate circuit board that is plugged into the motherboard.http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Audio+processing+unit

Digital Sound Processor (DSP)

Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) take real-world signals like voice, audio, video, temperature, pressure, or position that have been digitized and then mathematically manipulate them. A DSP is designed for performing mathematical functions like "add", "subtract", "multiply" and "divide" very quickly.http://www.analog.com/en/content/beginners_guide_to_dsp/fca.html

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM (pronounced ramm) is an acronym for random access memory, a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computers and other devices, such as printers.http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html

Mono Audio Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or (in the case of headphones and multiple loudspeakers) channels are fed from a common signal path. In the case of multiple microphones the paths are mixed into a single signal path at some stage.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaural

I used the Mono Audio in lession when we wanted a sound from a direct object.

Stereo Audio Stereophonic sound or, more commonly, stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that creates an illusion of directionality and audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two or more independent audio channels through a configuration of two or more loudspeakers (or stereo headphones)in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereophonic_sound

Surround Sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with additional audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels), providing sound from a 360° radius in the horizontal plane (2D) as opposed to "screen channels" (centre, [front] left, and [front] right) originating only from the listener's forward arc.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround_sound

I use the Surround Sound when we had to record a sound of a crowed place.

Direct Audio (Pulse Code Modulation – PCM)

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, Compact Discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amplitude of the analog signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, and each sample is quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-code_modulation

AUDIO RECORDING SYSTEMS

Analogue The basic principle of disk recording is very simple. Displacement of the microphone diaphragm is transformed into a wiggley groove on a moving piece of vinyl. A stylus tracing the wiggles exactly reproduces the motion of the diaphragm at the time the recording was made. Electricity is really incidental to the process, used as a convenient way to connect the microphone to the cutter and the pickup to the speaker.http://artsites.ucsc.edu/ems/Music/tech_background/TE-19/teces_19.html

Digital Mini Disc The MiniDisc (MD) is an obsolete magneto-optical disc-based data storage device for 74 minutes and, later, 80 minutes, of digitized audio or 1 gigabyte of Hi-MD data.

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

The Sony brand audio players were on the market from September 1992 until March 2013.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc

Compact Disc (CD) Known by its abbreviation, CD, a compact disc is a polycarbonate with one or more metal layers capable of storing digital information. The most prevalent types of compact discs are those used by the music industry to store digital recordings and CD-ROMs used to store computer data. Both of these types of compact disc are read-only, which means that once the data has been recorded onto them, they can only be read, or played.http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/compact_disc.html

Digital Audio Tape (DAT) Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As the name suggests, the recording is digital rather than analog.http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Digital_Audio_Tape.html

MIDI MIDI (/ˈmɪdi/; short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another. A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of information, each of which can be routed to a separate device.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI

Software Sequencers A music sequencer (or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically MIDI or CV/Gate, and possibly audio and automation data for DAWs and plug-ins.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_sequencer

Software Plug-ins In computing, a plug-in (or plugin, extension, or add-on / addon) is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing software application. When an application supports plug-ins, it enables customization. The common examples are the plug-ins used in web browsers to add new features such as search-engines, virus scanners, or the ability to utilize a new file type such as a new video format.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_(computing)

MIDI Keyboard Instruments

A Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) keyboard is a musical instrument like a piano keyboard. The MIDI portion indicates that the instrument has a communication protocol built in that allows it to communicate with a computer or other MIDI-equipped instrument.http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-midi-keyboard.htm

I used this to make my own sound tracks in class. It plays like a keyboard and changes it sound when a different interment is chosen

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Salford City CollegeEccles Sixth Form CentreBTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGNUnit 73: Sound For Computer GamesIG2 Task 1

AUDIO SAMPLING File Size Constraints - Bit-depth

Bit depth (sometimes called also resolution) affects file size. All other things being equal, a 32 bit file is twice the size of a 16 bit file, and an 8 bit file half the size of a 16 bit one.Bit resolution also affects CPU use. Recording in 32 bit quality, which is Audacity's default behaviour, takes a lot more work than recording 16 bits, and a slower computer may not be able to keep up, with the result being lost samples. If you are recording for immediate export without editing, 32 bit recording may offer no advantage over 16 bit recording if you only have a 16 bit sound device. Most built-in consumer sound devices on computers (and even many cheaper sound cards) are only 16 bit. You can change the default sample format Audacity records at to 24 bit or 16 bit by going to the Quality tab of Preferences.http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Bit_Depth

File Size Constraints - Sample Rate

In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave (a continuous signal) to a sequence of samples (a discrete-time signal).A sample refers to a value or set of values at a point in time and/or space.A sampler is a subsystem or operation that extracts samples from a continuous signal.A theoretical ideal sampler produces samples equivalent to the instantaneous value of the continuous signal at the desired points.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(signal_processing)

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