The Art of Sound Reproduction

The Art of Sound Reproduction

by John Watkinson
Released November 2012
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136118531

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Book description

Designed to make life a little easier by providing all the theoretical background necessary to understand sound reproduction, backed up with practical examples. Specialist terms - both musical and physical - are defined as they occur and plain English is used throughout. Analog and digital audio are considered as alternatives, and the advantages of both are stressed.

Audio is only as good as the transducers employed, and consequently microphone and loudspeaker technology also feature heavily - making this the most comprehensive, up-to-date text currently available on all aspects of sound reproduction.

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Preface
  7. Chapter 1 Introduction
    1. 1.1 A short history
    2. 1.2 Types of reproduction
    3. 1.3 Sound systems
    4. 1.4 Portable consumer equipment
    5. 1.5 Fixed consumer equipment
    6. 1.6 High-end hi-fi
    7. 1.7 Public address
    8. 1.8 Multitrack recording
    9. 1.9 Sound radio
    10. 1.10 Film and television sound
    11. References
  8. Chapter 2 Audio basics
    1. 2.1 Periodic and aperiodic signals
    2. 2.2 Frequency response and linearity
    3. 2.3 The sine wave
    4. 2.4 Root mean square measurements
    5. 2.5 The deciBel
    6. 2.6 Audio level metering
    7. 2.7 Vectors
    8. 2.8 Phase angle and power factor
    9. 2.9 Audio cabling
    10. 2.10 Moving masses
    11. 2.11 Introduction to digital processes
    12. 2.12 Logic elements
    13. 2.13 Storage elements
    14. 2.14 Binary adding
    15. 2.15 Gain control by multiplication
    16. 2.16 Transforms
    17. 2.17 The Fourier transform
    18. 2.18 The discrete cosine transform (DCT)
    19. 2.19 The wavelet transform
    20. 2.20 Magnetism
    21. 2.21 Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
    22. 2.22 Electrical safety
    23. References
  9. Chapter 3 Sound and psychoacoustics
    1. 3.1 What is sound?
    2. 3.2 The ear
    3. 3.3 The cochlea
    4. 3.4 Level and loudness
    5. 3.5 Frequency discrimination
    6. 3.6 Critical bands
    7. 3.7 Beats
    8. 3.8 Music and the ear
    9. 3.9 The sensation of pitch
    10. 3.10 The physics of sound
    11. 3.11 The speed of sound
    12. 3.12 Wavelength
    13. 3.13 The Doppler effect
    14. 3.14 The wave number, k
    15. 3.15 How sound is radiated
    16. 3.16 Proximity effect
    17. 3.17 Intensity and power
    18. 3.18 The inverse square law
    19. 3.19 Wave acoustics
    20. 3.20 Radiation into smaller solid angles
    21. 3.21 Refraction
    22. 3.22 Reflection, transmission and absorption
    23. 3.23 Reverberation
    24. References
  10. Chapter 4 Sources of sound
    1. 4.1 Producing sounds
    2. 4.2 Vibrating bars
    3. 4.3 Vibrating panels
    4. 4.4 Vibrating strings
    5. 4.5 Vibrating diaphragms
    6. 4.6 Using airflow
    7. 4.7 Resonators
    8. 4.8 The organ
    9. 4.9 Wind instrument principles
    10. 4.10 Wind instruments
    11. 4.11 Brass instruments
    12. 4.12 Stringed instruments
    13. 4.13 The pianoforte
    14. 4.14 Percussion instruments
    15. 4.15 Electrical and electronic instruments
    16. 4.16 The human voice
    17. 4.17 Non-musical sound sources
    18. 4.18 The sound of a piston engine
    19. 4.19 Vehicle noise
    20. 4.20 Aircraft noise
    21. 4.21 Helicopter noise
    22. References
  11. Chapter 5 Microphones
    1. 5.1 Introduction
    2. 5.2 Microphone principles
    3. 5.3 Microphone limitations
    4. 5.4 Microphone mechanisms
    5. 5.5 Electrodynamic microphones
    6. 5.6 Electrostatic microphones
    7. 5.7 Phantom power
    8. 5.8 Stands and suspensions
    9. 5.9 Wind noise
    10. 5.10 Radio microphones
    11. References
  12. Chapter 6 Loudspeakers and headphones
    1. 6.1 Loudspeaker concepts
    2. 6.2 Loudspeaker mechanisms
    3. 6.3 Directivity
    4. 6.4 The moving coil speaker
    5. 6.5 Magnets
    6. 6.6 Coils
    7. 6.7 Cones
    8. 6.8 Low-frequency reproduction
    9. 6.9 Crossover networks
    10. 6.10 Enclosures
    11. 6.11 Electrostatic loudspeakers
    12. 6.12 Power amplifiers
    13. 6.13 Speaker cables
    14. 6.14 Active loudspeakers
    15. 6.15 Headphones
    16. References
  13. Chapter 7 Stereophony
    1. 7.1 History of stereophony
    2. 7.2 Directionality in hearing
    3. 7.3 Hearing in reverberant conditions
    4. 7.4 The stereophonic illusion
    5. 7.5 Stereo microphones
    6. 7.6 Headphone stereo
    7. 7.7 Alternative microphone techniques
    8. 7.8 M-S stereo
    9. 7.9 Mono compatibility
    10. 7.10 Stereo metering
    11. 7.11 Surround sound
    12. 7.12 Microphone criteria for stereo
    13. 7.13 Loudspeaker criteria for stereo
    14. References
  14. Chapter 8 Digital audio signals
    1. 8.1 Introduction to digital audio
    2. 8.2 Binary
    3. 8.3 Conversion
    4. 8.4 Sampling and aliasing
    5. 8.5 Choice of sampling rate
    6. 8.6 Sampling clock jitter
    7. 8.7 Aperture effect
    8. 8.8 Quantizing
    9. 8.9 Quantizing error
    10. 8.10 Introduction to dither
    11. 8.11 Requantizing and digital dither
    12. 8.12 Dither techniques
    13. 8.12.1 Rectangular pdf dither
    14. 8.12.2 Triangular pdf dither
    15. 8.12.3 Gaussian pdf dither
    16. 8.13 Basic digital-to-analog conversion
    17. 8.14 Basic analog-to-digital conversion
    18. 8.15 Alternative converters
    19. 8.16 Oversampling
    20. 8.17 Oversampling without noise shaping
    21. 8.18 Noise shaping
    22. 8.19 Noise-shaping ADCs
    23. 8.20 A one-bit DAC
    24. 8.21 One-bit noise-shaping ADCs
    25. 8.22 Two’s complement coding
    26. 8.23 Level in digital audio
    27. 8.24 The AES/EBU interface
    28. References
  15. Chapter 9 Analog audio recording
    1. 9.1 Introduction to analog recording
    2. 9.2 Tape recording
    3. 9.3 Magnetic tape
    4. 9.4 Heads
    5. 9.5 Biased recording
    6. 9.6 Cross-field bias
    7. 9.7 Pre-emphasis and equalization
    8. 9.8 Sources of noise
    9. 9.9 Head alignment
    10. 9.10 Capstan motors
    11. 9.11 Servo-controlled capstans
    12. 9.12 Brushless motors
    13. 9.13 Reel motors
    14. 9.14 Tension servos
    15. 9.15 The analog multitrack recorder
    16. 9.16 The Compact Cassette
    17. 9.17 Additional quality criteria in stereo
    18. 9.18 Analog noise reduction
    19. 9.19 Audio in analog VTRs
    20. 9.20 The vinyl disk
    21. 9.21 Vinyl disk players
    22. References
  16. Chapter 10 Digital recording
    1. 10.1 Introduction
    2. 10.2 Time compression
    3. 10.3 Replay synchronization
    4. 10.4 Practical digital recorders
    5. 10.5 Channel coding
    6. 10.6 Group codes
    7. 10.7 Error correction and concealment
    8. 10.8 Introduction to the Reed—Solomon codes
    9. 10.9 Modulo-n arithmetic
    10. 10.10 The Galois field
    11. 10.11 R – S calculations
    12. 10.12 Correction by erasure
    13. 10.13 Introduction to DAT
    14. 10.14 Half-inch and 8 mm rotary formats
    15. 10.15 Digital audio disk systems
    16. 10.16 Audio in digital VTRs
    17. Appendix 10.1 Calculation of Reed—Solomon generator polynomials
    18. References
  17. Chapter 11 Optical disks in digital audio
    1. 11.1 Types of optical disk
    2. 11.2 CD and MD contrasted
    3. 11.3 CD and MD – disk construction
    4. 11.4 Rejecting surface contamination
    5. 11.5 Playing optical disks
    6. 11.6 Focus and tracking system
    7. 11.7 Typical pickups
    8. 11.8 CD readout
    9. 11.9 How optical disks are made
    10. 11.10 How recordable MiniDiscs are made
    11. 11.11 Channel code of CD and MD
    12. 11.12 Error-correction strategy
    13. 11.13 Track layout of MD
    14. 11.14 Player structure
    15. 11.15 Sony mastering disk
    16. References
  18. Chapter 12 Audio editing
    1. 12.1 Introduction
    2. 12.2 Tape-cut editing
    3. 12.3 Editing on recording media
    4. 12.4 The structure of an editor
    5. 12.5 Timecode
    6. 12.6 Locating the edit point
    7. 12.7 Non-linear editing
    8. 12.8 Editing in DAT
    9. 12.9 Editing in open-reel digital recorders
    10. References
  19. Chapter 13 Audio signal processing
    1. 13.1 Introduction
    2. 13.2 Level control
    3. 13.3 Grouping
    4. 13.4 Automation
    5. 13.5 Dynamics
    6. 13.6 Equalization
    7. 13.7 Multitrack consoles
    8. 13.8 Console buses
    9. 13.9 The inline strip
    10. 13.10 Fader flip
    11. 13.11 Console operating modes
    12. 13.12 Solo
    13. 13.13 Ancillary functions
    14. 13.14 Stereo mixers
    15. 13.15 Effects
    16. 13.16 Introduction to audio compression
    17. 13.17 Non-uniform coding
    18. 13.18 Floating-point coding
    19. 13.19 Predictive coding
    20. 13.20 Sub-band coding
    21. 13.21 Transform coding
    22. 13.22 A simple sub-band coder
    23. 13.23 Compression formats
    24. 13.24 ISO MPEG compression
    25. 13.25 Compression artifacts
    26. References
  20. Chapter 14 Sound quality considerations
    1. 14.1 Introduction
    2. 14.2 Objective testing
    3. 14.3 Subjective testing
    4. 14.4 Digital audio quality
    5. 14.5 Digital audio interface quality
    6. References
  21. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Art of Sound Reproduction
  • Author(s): John Watkinson
  • Release date: November 2012
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136118531