Ohm’s Law

of Electrical Circuits

V=IR
Where:
V = voltage (volts)
I = current (amperes)
R = resistance (ohms)
Components
of Audio
System
 Types of Microphones

Dynamic Condenser Ribbon

 Faraday’s Law of Induction
Any change in the magnetic environment of a coil of wire will
cause a voltage (emf) to be "induced" in the coil. No matter how
the change is produced, the voltage will be generated. The
change could be produced by changing the magnetic field
strength, moving a magnet toward or away from the coil, moving
the coil into or out of the magnetic field, rotating the coil relative
to the magnet, etc.
Dynamic Microphone
In a dynamic microphone, sound waves hit a thin
metallic/plastic diaphragm that is attached to a coil
of wire. The diaphragm vibrates the coil in response
to the sound wave. A magnet that is positioned
inside the coil produces a magnetic field. It is the
motion of the coil in the magnetic field which
generates the electrical signal.
Dynamic Microphone
Advantages
• Rugged and able to handle high sound pressure levels, like
those delivered by a kick drum
• Provide good sound quality in all areas of microphone
performance
• They do not require a power source to run
• They are relatively cheap

Disadvantages

• Heavy microphone diaphragm and wire coil limits the

movement of the assembly, which in turn restricts the
frequency and transient response of the microphone
• Generally not as suitable as condenser microphones for
recording instruments with higher frequencies and
harmonics, such as a violin
Frequency Response
 Ribbon Microphone
Ribbon microphones work by the same basic principle of
electromagnetic induction. However, instead of having a
membrane and a coil, a ribbon transducer uses a narrow
strip of extremely thin aluminum foil. In other words, the
membrane itself is the electrical conductor that moves inside
the magnetic gap. Such a thin piece of aluminum ribbon is
much lighter than a membrane with a coil of copper wire
attached to it.
Ribbon Microphone
Frequency Response
Condenser Microphones
Condenser microphones use a pair of charged metal plates,
one fixed (the back plate) and one movable (the
diaphragm), forming a capacitor. When a sound wave hits
the diaphragm, the distance between the two plates
changes which produces a change in an electrical
characteristic called capacitance. It is the variation of the
spacing, due to the motion of the diaphragm relative to the
fixed back plate, which produces the electrical signal
corresponding to the sound picked up.
Condenser Microphones
Advantages
• The diaphragm assembly is light compared to that of
dynamic microphones, hence is more efficient at moving
and is capable of capturing a range of high frequencies
• Easy to obtain a flat frequency response and extended
frequency ranges
• Can be small in design

Disadvantages

• There is a limit to the maximum signal level the

electronics can handle
• They are more complex than dynamic microphones and
tend to be more adversely affected by extremes of
temperature and humidity
Frequency Response
Directional Characteristics
• Omnidirectional
• Unidirectional
• Cardioid
• Hypercardioid
• Bidirectional
Omnidirectional
Picks up sound evenly from all directions (omni means "all"
or "every").
• Unidirectional
Picks up sound predominantly from one direction.
This includes cardioid and hypercardioid
microphones
Cardioid
Cardioid means "heart-shaped", which is the type of pick-
up pattern these mics use. Sound is picked up mostly
from the front, but to a lesser extent the sides as well.
Hypercardioid
This is exaggerated version of the cardioid pattern. It is very
directional and eliminates most sound from the sides and rear.
Due to the long thin design of hypercardioids, they are often
referred to as shotgun microphones.
Bidirectional
Picks up sound from two opposite directions.
 Phase Distortion
Small effect – violates Ohm’s law of hearing
Recent research using digital audio
inversion of wave changes sound

Sources of phase distortion:

1. electromagnetic induction effects
2. Filters (which include EM circuits)
3. NOT digital filters

Very difficult to eliminate

 Preamplifier
Audio system control center
(switches and adjusts inputs)

Contains all controls

(filters, loudness, treble/bass)

Sends signal to power amplifier

Preamplifier: Loudness and Filters
Loudness Control
Preamplifier: Bass and Treble
 Distortion
Circuit elements have maximum
voltage or current
Flat-topping occurs when
maximum exceeded
Solution is to limit signal levels
 Power
Amplifier
Power Amplifier

It is an electronic amplifier that amplifies low-

power electronic audio signals such as the
signal from radio receiver or electric
guitar pickup to a level that is high enough for
driving loudspeakers or headphones.
Power Amplifier

• Accepts line level input from preamplifier (1.5 V,

50,000ohms; ~microwatts power transfer)

• Produces high-power output level for

loudspeakers
(~10 V, 8ohms; ~10s of watts power transfer)
Amplifier/Speaker Matching
8-ohm amplifier output impedance

Speaker Power
Impedance Transfer
4 ohms 50 W
8 ohms 60 W
16 ohms 40 W
AM-FM
Tuners
Tuner
A tuner is a subsystem that receives radio
frequency (RF) transmissions like radio
broadcasts and converts the selected carrier
frequency and its associated bandwidth into a
fixed frequency that is suitable for further
processing, usually because a lower frequency
is used on the output.
• AM
540-1600 KhZ
every 10 kHz (not adjacent in same market)

• FM
88.1-107.9 MHz
(between TV channels 6 & 7)
every 200 kHz, 0.1, 0.3 ….. 0.9 MHz
Frequency excursion plus/minus 75 kHz
 FM Multiplex Stereo
Monaural: one signal
Stereo: Left and Right channels

L+R: frequency modulates main carrier

Pilot signal at 19 kHz:

identifies stereo broadcast

L-R: amplitude modulates

38 kHz sub-carrier
 MAGNETIC TAPE
•MAGNETIC TAPE used for audio recording consists
of a plastic ribbon onto which a layer of magnetic
material is glued. The magnetic coating consists most
commonly of a layer of finely ground iron oxide
particles, but chromium dioxide and barium ferrite
have also been used.
 Tape recording process
The record head converts an electrical signal
into a magnetic field that can be used to
create a pattern of magnetization in the tiny
magnetic particles of the tape.
actual recording takes place at the so-called
“trailing edge” of the gap, rather than over
the entire gap length.
Hysteresis loop. The applied
field magnetizes the material
until no unmagnetized H=applied field M=retained field
domains remain. When the
applied field reverses, the
material remains magnetized
until the reversed field
strength exceeds the coercivity
of the material.
 Tape playback process
The reproduction process is conceptually the reverse of the
recording process: as the magnetized tape is moved past the
reproduce head gap, it’s changing magnetic field induces a flux in the
head. This flux then induces a current to flow in the coil of wire
which is wrapped around the head core. Unlike the recording head,
the length of the playback head gap is critically related to the ability
of the head to reproduce the frequencies recorded on the tape. This
is because the flux generated in the gap is gathered over the entire
gap length rather than at the trailing edge as in the recording
process. This means that a recorded signal with a wavelength just
equal to the gap length produces no net flux, and is therefore not
reproduced at all!
The equation relating the reproduced
voltage (V) and the flux seen by the head is:

where F = gap flux , t = time , v= velocity, x = position, and N = number of turns

of wire in the head.
recording field : the magnetic field produced by a record head when electric
current is applied.
Units = A/m or Oe (oersteds): 1 A/m = 4π x10-3 Oe
remanence : the amount of field left on tape by recording.
Units = A/m or Oe.
flux : magnetic equivalent of current.
Units = Wb (webers) or Mx (maxwells):1 Wb = 108 Mx
flux density : measure of flux per unit area of magnetized material.
Units = T (tesla) = Wb/m2 or G (gauss) :1 T = 104 G
retentivity : a measure of flux remaining after the magnetic field has been
removed.
Units = same as flux density.
coercivity : magnetic field strength required to completetly demagnetize a
material.
Units = same as recording field.
Digital Representation of
Information
Digital encoding of information means the
data is stored in discrete units -- effectively
numbers -- and it is contrasted with analog
encoding which uses a physical quantity,
e.g.
charge, varying over a continuous range.
Digital is better.
How Digital Works
The physical world is analog -- sound comes from
pushing air with a certain energy at a certain rate,
etc
By measuring a phenomenon one derives a value
(number) of the phenomenon at that moment
Sampling -- taking many measurements at uniform
intervals -- gives a series of numbers, the digital form
Digital representation can be faithfully replicated and
transmitted
It’s common to “compute” on a digital representation
The binary digits (bits) 0 and 1 are a natural way to
interpret the presence or absence of a phenomenon
Binary numbers and arithmetic are like decimal
except the are limited to the two numerals 0 and 1
Bits are bits -- what they mean depends on how we
interpret their meaning … sometimes they are
numbers, sometimes letters, sometimes sound,
sometimes color, ...
Compact Disc (CD)
A compact disc is a portable storage medium that can be
used to record, store and play back audio, video and other
data in digital form.
A standard compact disc measures 4.7 inches, or 120
millimeters (mm), across, is 1.2 mm thick, weighs between
15 grams and 20 grams, and has a capacity of 80 minutes
of audio, or 650 megabytes (MB) to 700 MB of data.
CD works by focusing a 780 nanometer
wavelength semiconductor laser onto a single
track of the disc. As the disc rotates, the laser
beam measures differences in the way light is
reflected off the polycarbonate layer on the
bottom of the disc, converting it to sound.
NOTE: CD’s are prone to scratches and it can
affect its readability
History of compact discs
James Russell( American Inventor)
the first person to file a patent for a product
resembling a combination of laser, digital
recording and optical disc technologies in
1966.
 Reading the CD data
The surface of the CD contains one
long spiral track of data. Along the
track, there are flat reflective areas
and non-reflective bumps. A flat
reflective area represents a binary 1,
while a non-reflective bump
represents a binary 0.
The CD drive shines a laser at the
surface of the CD and can detect the
reflective areas and the bumps by the
amount of laser light they reflect. The
drive converts the reflections into 1s
and 0s to read digital data from the
disc.
Data Handling
Short for constant linear velocity, a method used by most
older CD-ROM players to access data. With CLV, the
rotation speed of the disk changes based on how close to
the center of the disk the data is. For tracks near the
center, the disk rotates faster, and for data on the outside,
the disk rotates slower. The purpose of CLV is to ensure a
constant data rate regardless of where on the disk the
data is being accessed. Because less data can fit on the
inside tracks, the disk needs to rotate faster for these
areas.
First-In First-Out
buffer(FIFO)
is a form of buffer in which data is inserted at one
end, and removed from the other, so that the data
is retrieved in the same order as it went in.
found in both hardware and software
usually implemented as ring buffers, to avoid the
un-productive overhead of shifting data around as
data is added and removed.
Eight-to-fourteen
modulation (EFM)
a data encoding technique formally, a line code
used by compact discs (CD), laserdiscs (LD) and
pre-Hi-MD MiniDiscs.
the data to be stored is first broken into eight-
bit blocks (bytes). Each eight-bit block is
translated into a corresponding fourteen-bit
codeword using a lookup table.
Cross-Interleaved Reed–
Solomon Code (CIRC)
provides error detection and error correction
CIRC adds to every three data bytes one redundant
parity byte.
CIRC corrects error bursts up to 3,500 bits in
sequence (2.4 mm in length as seen on CD surface)
and compensates for error bursts up to 12,000 bits
(8.5 mm) that may be caused by minor scratches.
Anti-Aliasing Filter
(AAF)
is a filter used before a signal sampler to restrict the
bandwidth of a signal to approximately or
completely satisfy the Nyquist–Shannon sampling
theorem over the band of interest
realizable anti-aliasing filter will typically either
permit some aliasing to occur or else attenuate some
in-band frequencies close to the Nyquist limit
Dynamic range
is the ratio between the largest and smallest values
that a certain quantity can assume
often used in the context of signals, like sound and
light. It is measured either as a ratio or as a base-10
(decibel) or base-2 (doublings, bits or stops)
logarithmic value of the difference between the
smallest and largest signal values.
MP3
means of compressing a sound sequence into
a very small file, to enable digital storage and
transmission.
 MP3
Data Compression

Non-lossy: scientific data, .doc and .zip

files, CDs (.wav file)

Lossy: video (.jpg, .gif, .mpg), MP3

Lossy video compression 1

300 dpi
Lossy video compression 2

150 dpi
Lossy video compression 3

75 dpi
Lossy videocompression 4

40 dpi
Lossy videocompression 5

20 dpi
 Some digital standards
(in kilobites per second or kB/s)

Telephone 16 kB/s ~5 kHz

FM radio 112 kB/s 15 kHz
Audiotape 128 kB/s 17-18 kHz
“HiFi” 160 kB/s
CD 192 kB/s 22.05 kHz
“Studio” 256 kB/s
MP3 classifies not only a type of compression but a
data format. It is used for lossy compression of audio
and as a facilitator for digital audio distribution and
categorization.
Most people will not be unable differentiate between an
original (natural audio) and a 256kbps mp3 lossy
reproduction.
An audio file that undergoes heavily sound compression
when applied to a mp3 compressions, will generally
sound worse to the human ear that the original,
especially if encoded at 128 kbps (or less)
Music Dynamic Range
Threshold of Audibility
The level above which sound intensity, at any
specified frequency, must rise in order to be detected by
the average human ear.

Threshold of Pain
(Or threshold of discomfort, threshold of feeling.) The
root-mean-square sound pressure at which an average
person will begin to experience physical pain from
ambient sound.

It corresponds to a sound pressure level of 134 dB, that

is, 100 N m-2 or 1 millibar.
 MP3 compression
1. Load original .wav file
2. Divide music into small time intervals
3. Perform spectral analysis
4. Remove sounds outside hearing range
5. Remove masked components
6. Make new file (.mp3)
MP3 compression bitrates
(in kilobites per second or kB/s) 18, 24,
32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112
128 (audiotape: least for good fidelity) 160
(HiFi),
192 (CD),
224,
256 (studio),
320 (master)
 MP3 results
Significantly reduces the memory space
required for music: typically factor of 10

Requires fast computer and/or lots of memory

MP3 bitrate hearing test
224 kB/s
56 kB/s *
40 kB/s *
24 kB/s *
18 kB/s *
8 kB/s