Sound Conversions

When musicians create sound using their vouice or a musical instrument they produce analogue data. Humans process analogue data and computers process digital data. If a musician wants to record or edit their music on a computer,then they will have to convert the data from analogue to digital.

EXAMPLE

1. Will sings into a microphone that is connected to his computer.The sound waves that Will produces when he sings are analogue data.

2. Will's voice is converted into digital data by a device inside the computer called an Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC). The ADC is usually located on a computers sound card.

3. Will's computer can now process his voice recordingly. He can use apps to add effects like echo or extra bass.

1. Will has added an echo effect to his voice using an app on the computer. He now wants to listen back to his song.

2. Will's voice is converted into analogue data by a device inside the computer calles an Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC). The DAC is usually located on a computer's sound card.

3. WIll can now listen to his voice using the headphones he has connected to his computer.

-  Analogue sound can be represented as a sound wave. This sound wave lasts for 10 seconds.

- When music is recorded onto a computer, a process called sampling takes place. In this example, the computer takes one sample per second.Most audio is recorded at over 40,000 samples per second.

- Any sound that takes place between samples is not recorded. This means that the sound loses quality because the data has been lost between the time samples. To increase quality and store the sound at a quality closer to the orgiginal, is to have more time samples that are closer together. The higher the sampling rate and the bit depth, the better the quakity of the recording

SAMPLING RATE

is the amount of samples taken per second.This is measured in Hertz(Hz)

BIT DEPTH

Is the number of bits available for each sample. The higher the bit depth, the higher the quality of the sound.

e.g 

Spotify-sampling rate=48,000Hz

Bit Depth-24 bit