Chapter 3

SOUND RECORDING AND PLAYBACK

SOUND RECORDING:
 PHONOGRAPH
 The phonautograph was the first device that could record actual live sounds. there was
no playback mechanism.
 Sheets of paper were used to record the sounds in the form of white lines created by a
vibrating stylus.
 First came the phonograph cylinder-sound recording and reproduction device.
 Discs had multiple advantages over the cylinder
1) Ease of manufacturing
2) Ease of transport
3) Ease of Storage
4) Had two usable sides.

 ELECTRICAL RECORDING
 Microphones hit an important milestone with electrical recording,
 Where sounds were converted into an electrical signal and amplified by the
microphone.

 OPTICAL RECORDING
 Optical technology graphically recorded audio signals on Photographic film.
 The film had a sound track for the audio and the amplitude variations of the signal
were recorded.
 MAGNETIC TAPE
 Magnetic tape was the next important invention, which used amplified electrical
signals to create variations of the magnetic field.,
 A coated paper tape replaced the earlier steel tape,which was again replaced with
polyester.
 Use of tape include
1) Pre-recording of entertainment programmes
2) Production of complex radio programmes

 STEREO and HIGH FIDELITY(Hi Fi)

 Commercial sound system came with the use of magnetic tape.
 There was capable of recording and reproducing high fidelity stereophonic sound.

 This was followed by 2 channel stereo, then three track and four track sound systems.

ANALOG RECORDING:
 MAGNETIC RECORDING ON TAPE
• Discovered by Poulsen (1898)
• It is based on the principle that certain materials when brought in a magnetic field, get
magnetised and retain that m$agnetism

Steps
• Sound pressure variations are converted into electrical variations by a microphone
• The audio output of the microphone is amplified and fed to the coil of an electromagnet
(Head)
• When a tape coated with magnetic material (iron oxide) is made to pass across the gap,
the lines of force get an easy path through the iron oxide which is formed into
elementary magnets
• The coating of iron oxide on the tape is magnetised in accordance with the audio
current and hence, in accordance with the sound pressure variations
• To reproduce the recorded sound, the tape again pass through the gap and it causes
change of lines of force through the coil.
• This induces audio signal in the coil, which is in accordance with the rate of change of
magnetic flux in the tape
• The induced audio signal is amplified and fed to a loudspeaker which converts the
audio signal into sound

To perform magnetic recording, you need three things:

• 1. An input signal you wish to record.
• 2. A recording medium. (This is a recording surface that will hold the signal you
wish to record.)
• 3. A magnetic head to convert the input signal into a magnetic field so it can be
recorded
AC AND DC BAISING IN MAGNETIC RECORDING ON TAPE
 Tape bias is the term for two techniques, AC bias and DC bias, that improve
the fidelity of analogue magnetic tape sound recordings.
 DC bias is the addition of a direct current to the audio signal that is being
recorded.
 AC bias is the addition of an inaudible high-frequency signal (generally from 40
to 150 kHz) to the audio signal.
 Magnetic tape without AC bias has a nonlinear response at low signal strengths.

1.DC Biasing: This is done by adding a constant direct current (DC) to the audio
signal to be processed and is operated in the linear region.

Advantages:
1.It improves the quality of the reproduced signal.
2.Output is free of distortions.
Disadvantages:
1.Enough dc bias is required for getting desired results.
2.The amplitude of the signal that can be processed is small.
3. The tape remains magnetized due to dc bias, even there is no audio signal. This
produces a continuous hissing sound during replay.
2.AC Biasing: In this, high frequency alternating currents (AC) of the order of 100
KHz is added to the audio signal.
Advantages:
1.Higher audio signals can be recorded.
2.Noise is reduced.
Disadvantages:
If AC bias applied is not proper:
1.Distortion is increased, if the bias is low.
2.If the bias is higher, high frequencies are erased from the tape.

Comparison of AC and DC Biasing:

DC Biasing AC Biasing

1. Here a constant DC is added to the 1. Here high frequency AC of the

audio signal to be processed. order of 100 KHz.

2. It is operated in the linear region of 2. It is operated on both sides of the

hysteresis curve. magnetizing curve.

3. The amplitude of the signal to ber 3. Higher audio signals can be

processed is small. recorded.

4. The output is free of distortion. 4. Distortion increases if the bias is

low.

5. Signal to noise ratio is small (25 5. Signal to noise ratio is large (60
db). dB).
 MULTI‐TRACK SEQUENCING

• Music sequencer: any device used to record, edit or playback music

• Digital audio workstation (DAW): software programs created for recording, editing
and producing audio files
• DAW interface is similar to a multi‐track tape recorder. Layout contains play,
rewind, record, track controls, mixer and waveform display
• DAW with multi‐track functionality have the capability to handle simultaneous
procedures on more than one track. It can process sound on a track by bringing
some other software/plugin
• Functions of DAW: cutting and looping, duplication of parts, addition of effects,
rearrange parts of recording
• Feature: some form of automation can be done using envelopes (curve‐based
interactive graphs)
• Drawback: poor interoperability with other DAWs
 DIGITAL RECORDING

• The process of converting and storing audio or video signals into a sequence of
discrete numbers
• Recording process: sound signal in analog form from a sound source goes through
an ADC. ADC convert it into digital format. These binary numbers are recorded
onto a hard drive, optical drive or solid state memory
• Word size is the number of bits required to represent a single audio wave. The more
the number of bits, the larger the word size and more space required to store. Lesser
the bits will result in decreased signal levels and subsequently increase the
distortion
• A low Sampling Rate means that original sound signal cannot be reconstructed
• Error rectification: it is resistant to errors
• Playback process: previously recorded sequence of binary numbers is read from
digital storage.
• It is passed through DAC and convert to analog signals
• The signal goes through an amplification process and transmitted to loudspeaker

BASICS OF DIGITAL CODING

• Audio codec computer program runs an algorithm to compress and decompress
any digital audio signal and passes it to a particular audio file or converts it to a
streaming media audio coding format
• Codecs are in the form of libraries that interface with various multimedia
players. E.g. LAME for MP3 format
• Audio codec hardware (a combination of ADC and DAC) can encode analog
audio signals as digital signals and vice versa. E.g. sound card with audio in and
out
• Audio coding formats: MP3, AAC, Verbis, FLAC, Opus
 • Lossy and lossless audio coding format. Original data can be retrieved from
lossless format
• .wav is an uncompressed audio format

AUDIO COMPRESSION
 Purpose: to reduce the transmission bandwidth and storage
requirements of audio data
• Lossless compression: 50% to 60% compression is possible.
• Compressed files are used for archival storage
• Audio formats: ALAC, MPEG‐4 ALS, TTA, WMA lossless, WavPack
• Lossy compression: 80% to 95% compression is achieved
• Compressed audio streams are used in video DVDs, digital TV,
satellite and cable radio, streaming media on Internet
• Coding methods: modified discrete cosine transform, linear
predictive coding
• Speech encoding: models used for perception of music is different from
those of speech. Speech fall in a narrower range of frequencies. Therefore,
encoding speech with a low bit rate can provide high quality results
 DIGITAL TAPE RECORDING SYSTEM
 Digital audio recorders began with reel-to-reel decks with the use of a
digital technology known as pulse code modulation(PCM) recording.

• Digital audio tape(DAT) used the same technology of rotating heads on a

narrow tape contained in a cassette

• The sampling rate of DAT recording is 48KHz.

• Multitrack recorders were the next in line for digital recording.

• Alesis digital audio tape(ADAT): multi‐track recording on a S‐VHS video
cassette using a stationary head
• All types of computer storage media is predominantly used to store digital
sound files.
• Advantages: erase/correct the mistakes in a recording, ability to cut the tape and
join it back (edit a recording)
• Digital recording use DAWS:
1) Cutting and looping
2) Addition of effects
3) Rearranging of parts of the recording

CONCEPT OF MIDI(Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

• Musical Instrument Digital Interface (1983) describes the digital recording
protocol.
• Defines the digital interface and connectors.
• It specifies how electronic musical instruments, computers and other related
devices are connected and communicated
• Upto 16 channels of information can be carried by a single MIDI link.each of
these 16 channels can be routed to a separate device.
• MIDI specifies control signals like notation, pitch and velocity through event
messages. These control signals manage volume, cues, clock signals, etc.
• The MIDI manufactures Association(MMAI was formed with one of their
responsibilities to maintain the MIDI standard.
• Advantages:
 compactness of code,
 ease of modification and manipulation
 choice of instruments

ANALOG AND DIGITAL MIXERS

• Mixing enhance the quality and effect of recording

• Developments in electronics have brought along what is known as a Mixing console or
a Audio mixer.
• Audio mixer allows
 Combining also called mixing
 routing, filtering and equalization
 changing the level
 Changing the timbre or tone colour and/or dynamics
• Signals from microphones can be combined into an amplifier
connected to speakers
• Advantages of digital mixers: versatile, able to reconfigure signal routing,
capabilities such as compression, gating, add plugins, real time analyzer,
loud speaker management tools, taking saved data and making a mix is
easy
• Latency or propagation delay of 1.5 ms to 10 ms. This arise from ADC
and DAC components, format conversions, audio inserts, and from DSP
steps
• Responses to changing performance conditions can be rapidly
accommodated in analog mixers