Sound for Computer games - P2 Exercise 2

How can the following information limit the recording of sound?

DSP (Digital Signal Processor) - Converting sound from analogue to digital, or vice versa.

RAM (Random Access Memory) - Sound uses RAM, so the computer has no/little RAM, only a limited amount of sound can be used, before the memory has been used.

File format (eg Mp3, Wav, Aiff) - MP3 is a lossy compressed file format, so MP3 files lose some data, therefore loses some quality of the sound. .WAV and .AIFF are not compressed, so the quality is better, but files sizes are larger, so you would not be able to use as many, due to lack of space.

Audio output (eg Mono, Stereo, Surround) - Mono is sound from a single speaker. Stereo is sound from two speakers. Left and right. Better quality; distinguish between sounds/instruments. Surround is multiple speakers, giving great quality sound.

• Mono recording is done on a single channel.
• Stereo recording is done on two channels, left and right, so the left and right speakers can play different sounds/different volumes etc at the same time.
• Surround recording is similar to stereo, but with 3 additional channels. Surround channels are: Left front, Centre front, Right front, Left rear, Right rear.

If the file has 5 channels for surround sound, the size of the file will be much larger, because there is much more data than if the file had 2 channels.

PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) - A method of converting an analogue signal into a digital binary signal, for it to be through the transmission network. The technique has 3 steps: Sampling, Quantisation and Coding. The digital signal can be converted back to the original analogue signal.

In what types of scenario may you use the following audio recording equipment?

Multi-track recording - When you want to record more than one audio stream at the same time, and storing each stream individually (not mixed). Each sound is recorded with a separate microphone, for high quality sound.
This recording technique can be used in any sound recording scenarios, if there are multiple sound tracks to record.

Midi (Multi Instrument Interface) - This is the communication between computers and electronic instruments where data such as pitch, frequency and velocity is all transmitted and is able to feedback through music software.
This audio capture can be used for most music production.

DAT (Digital Audio Tape) - Similar to cassette tape. Uses magnetic tape to capture audio. The magnetic tape is smaller to cassette tape, and is protected with a plastic case, like a cassette tape, but is less effective because it can only record and playback in one direction, whereas a cassette tape can record and playback in two directions.

Analogue - Used for the recording of analogue signals.

Software Plug-in’s - Plug-ins are additional features that add to an existing software. Their uses are limitless and can help artists find numerous ways of fixing problems they encounter when producing their music.