4
votes
Accepted
How does PCM digital audio work?
NOTE: Still more work to do on this in relation to reconstruction filters, but I thought it was time to post as much as I can. Improvements can be worked on later.
This diagram shows an example ...
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4
votes
Need help to understand the basic components of sound
The highly simplified answer is that sound in the real world is not sine waves with fixed frequencies. We learn about sound initially as frequencies or notes and simplify the concept down to thinking ...
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4
votes
What would sound sound like at the speed of sound?
In the special case that we are travelling with the sound source (e.g. in a plane), when we reach the speed of sound, the sound waves in the same direction will not be able to move away from the ...
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3
votes
What would sound sound like at the speed of sound?
I believe Colin Hart's very excellent explanation is false in the second-to-last paragraph, beginning "NOW, ". If I am moving at the speed of sound and make a sound, the sound does NOT move at 686 mph ...
2
votes
Need help to understand the basic components of sound
Ok, let's start from the basics. Audio is usually recorded (sampled - converted from a continuous analogue signal to a digital record) and stored as a series of numbers representing the momentary ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Why can't I isolate center-panned audio using inverse phase cancelling?
Yeah it would appear to work that way, but the math reveals something else:
You have two channels, Left and Right, and you invert one, that is flip the sign on one channel and mix* them: Left + (- ...
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1
vote
What exactly is a sample anyway?
I quote « First, we need a wave, and second, we need enough samples of that wave to be able to deconstruct all the frequencies we care for. So, for 20kHz, we take 44,000 samples in 1 second. Right? So ...
1
vote
Can a digital audio have a negative decibel?
I recommend you research what a decibel is, how it works, then revisit this question.
Generally, digital audio samples are measured with reference to "full scale" which allows it to be measured with ...
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1
vote
Pan laws for more than two channels
The theory you found at the CMU article explains things very well - particularly when looking at the differences between linear and constant power panning.
In every case you are "panning" a mono ...
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1
vote
Need help to understand the basic components of sound
A way to understand timbre and differences between instruments is to interpret harmonics by casting an eye on their spectrograms:
The flute has some tremolo visible on the high-end sustained ...
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