Audio Anecdotes: Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Digital Audio v. 1

509 Pages·2004·4.04 MB·English

by  Barzel

Audio Anecdotes

Audio Anecdotes
Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Digital Audio
Edited by
Ken Greenebaum
Ronen Barzel
A K Peters
Natick, Massachusetts
Editorial, Sales, and Customer Service Office
A K Peters, Ltd.
63 South Avenue
Natick, MA 01760
www.akpeters.com
Copyright © 2004 by A K Peters, Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be
reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission
from the copyright owner.
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Audio anecdotes : tools, tips, and techniques for digital audio / edited by Ken Greenebaum,
Ronen Barzel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-56881-104-7
1. Sound--Recording and reproducing--Digital techniques. I. Greenebaum, Ken, 1966-
II. Barzel, Ronen.
TK7881.4.A93 2003
621.389’3--dc22
2003057398
Printed in Canada
07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xiii
1 Measurement 1
Sound Pressure Levels: “Mine Goes to 11!”
KenGreenebaum 3
Understanding the Decibel
HershamFouad 13
Sound Propagation
KenGreenebaum 19
2 Perception 33
Controlling the Perceptual Organization of Sound
Albert S.BregmanandWieslawWoszczyk 35
Perceivable Auditory Latencies
DerekDiFilippoandKenGreenebaum 65
v
vi Contents
Introduction to the Theory of Signal Detection
DerekDiFilippoandKenGreenebaum 93
3 Recording 113
Understanding Microphones
JohnKlepko 115
How to Make Great Voice Recordings
DexManley 129
Instrument (and Vocal) Recording Tips and Tricks
Daniel J. Levitin 147
4 Synthesis 159
Retro Game Sound: What We Can Learn from 1980s
Era Synthesis
DavidThiel 161
Introduction to Physical Modeling
Perry R.Cook 179
Timbre Trees: Integrating Sounds and Images
JamesK.Hahn 199
5 Signal Processing 215
Auditory Masking in Audio Compression
HenriqueS. Malvar 217
Rate Conversion
TorA. Ramstad 237
A Framework for Software Modem Experimentation
BenLuna 259
Contents vii
6 Computer Techniques 279
Simple Interfaces: Small (Hello) World
KenGreenebaum 281
RampTest: Quantifying Audio Performance
KenGreenebaum 295
Audio File Formats: A Formal Description-Based Approach
KenGreenebaum, ChristianHresko,AlexandrosEleftheriadis,
andDannyHong 313
7 Computer Tools 339
Octave and Gnuplot: An Audio Detective’s Best Friends
PhilRutschman 341
PABLIO: A Simple Audio I/O Library
KenGreenebaum, Phil Burk,andRossBencina 351
PortAudio: An API for Portable Real-Time Audio
RossBencinaandPhil Burk 361
Using FLAVOR for (Media) Bitstream Representation
AlexandrosEleftheriadisandDannyHong 369
8 Human Experience 401
Designing a Movie for Sound
RandyThom 403
Listening to Nature: Hearing is More Than Meets the Eye
GordonHempton 415
Understanding Hearing Losses and Hearing Gains
AdrienneRoss 433
viii Contents
Glossary of Audio Terms 451
Contributor Biographies 485
Preface
I began exploring digital media, the application of digital computer tech-
niques to previously analog media, many years ago. I was fascinated by
the possibilities afforded by the then-emerging microprocessor, but was
also disappointed and frustrated by the resources available. Media re-
search literature was abstract and difficult to approach, practical advice
was hard to find, and free implementations for experimentation were al-
most nonexistent. My primary goal for Audio Anecdotes is to create the
book I wished for then and that I still want today!
Additionally, I found that practitioners and experts across the many
fieldsofaudio(i.e.,sounddesign,recordingengineering,musicalcomposi-
tionandperformance,signalprocessing,computerdevelopment,cognitive
psychology, etc.) seldomshareideas. Itismyhopethatthisbookwillin-
troduce practitioners in neighboring fields to each other and help further
the cross-polination of ideas amongst them.
My experience in the PC industry left me disappointed by the large
gap between the state of the art and the state of digital media practiced
there. I want to help kick-start the industry and promote the use of
more sophisticated techniques like parametric synthesis, low-latency, and
sample-accuracy. Audio Anecdotes aims to illuminate such techniques in
an easily accessible form complete with motivation, algorithm descrip-
tions, examples, working implementations, and annotated lists of refer-
ences, allowing readers to dig deeper and enhance their applications and
products.
Finally, I am still excited by making computers interact with humans
and the real world. I hope Audio Anecdotes’ eclectic mix of topics and
authors intrigue you the reader, as much as they intrigue me.
ix
x Preface
Audio Anecdotes was not developed in a vacuum. For many years
HalChamberlin’s Musical Applications for Microprocessors was the bible
(andonlyapproachablereference)forthoseofuswhowantedtocreateand
interactwith soundoncomputers. Regrettably there weren’tmany other
books to choose from in the 1980s. Eventually, the 1990s brought more
andmoreaudiobooks: F.RichardMoore’sElements of Computer Music;
Curtis Road’s The Computer Music Tutorial; and Perry Cook’s Music,
Cognition,andComputerizedSound: AnIntroductiontoPsychoacoustics,
among others, and provided many compelling avenues to explore. The
articles in Audio Anecdotes owe a great debt to these pioneering works.
When designing the format of Audio Anecdotes, I was inspired by
three works. While in school, the original Numerical Recipes in Fortran
enabledmetocreatewonderfulapplicationsbyprovidingimplementations
of sophisticated mathematical algorithms. Jon Bentley’s Programming
Pearls showed me (time and time again) that a working implementation
is not the place to stop but rather the place to begin: a succession of
algorithmic refinements can lead to remarkable improvements in quality
and efficiency. Another alliterative work, Andrew Glassner’s Graphics
Gems,sharedthetechniquesofexpertsandhelped3Dcomputergraphics
make the transition from a field of research to the successful industry it
now is.
IowegreatthankstoAndrewGlassner. ItwasAndrewwhoreminded
me of the power of the printed word (I had originally envisioned Audio
Anecdotes as a web site). Andrew also introduced me to Alice Peters,
who edited the original Graphics Gems, and to the rest of the wonderful
A K Peters publishing family. Similar thanks to the great folks at A K
Peterswhoencouragedmethroughthearduousprocessofassemblingand
editing such a multi-author work. Klaus Peters in turn introduced me to
Ronen Barzel, whose keen insight and clarity of mind greatly sharpened
and improved the quality of this work.
Many thanks to all the people who participated in this project and
made it a success. The stature of the authors who contributed to this
volume is both impressive and humbling. I am honored to work with so
many esteemed professionals.
Formyownarticlesinthisbook,Imustthankallthepeoplewhohave
sharedtheirideas andinspiredmewiththeirenthusiasm. Iamespecially
gratefultothetalentedfolksatSiliconGraphicsandMicrosoft: thestories
and information I share in my articles belong to them as much as they
belong to me.
Finally, thank you to the long list of people who have helped create
this book by allowing me to bounce ideas off them, by reading and re-