Digital Sound Processing for Music and Multimedia

1 Sound generation and recording in the twentieth century

Overview

The aim of this chapter is to introduce you to the art and techniques of electronic sound creation and storage in the twentieth century and thus to encourage you to think about how these trends may develop into the next century.

This chapter is concerned with the ways in which computers and electronic systems have been used in the production and processing of sound, and examines the effect this has had on engineers, musicians and computer users. It sets the scene for later chapters by showing that during the entire history of recorded sound, the art of the recording engineer and of the musician have been inextricably intertwined — developments in the one encouraging further ...