Audio Information and Media Overview

Audio Information and Media

• Audio information encompasses various forms of sound, including radio broadcasts, music, sound recordings, sound clips/effects, audio podcasts, and more.
• Different methods exist for storing audio media, such as tape, CDs, USB drives, memory cards, computer hard drives, and cloud storage.
• Common audio file formats include MP3, M4A/AAC, WAV, and WMA.

Types and Categories of Audio Information

• Radio broadcast involves live or recorded audio transmitted via radio waves to a wide audience.
• Music combines vocal and/or instrumental sounds to create beauty, harmony, and emotional expression.
• Sound recordings capture any audio, encompassing interviews, meetings, or environmental sounds.
• Sound clips/effects use sound other than music or speech to enhance a dramatic presentation, like storm sounds or door creaks.
• Digital audio or video files often form themed series, which are available for download to media players or computers.

Ways of Storing Audio Media

• Tape uses magnetic tape to record sound.
• CDs use a plastic circular medium to record, store, and play back audio, video, and computer data.
• USB drives are portable flash drives used with computers.
• Memory cards are small storage devices typically used in portable devices.
• Computer hard drives are secondary storage devices for audio files,
• Internet/Cloud storage uses websites or file repositories to store and retrieve audio files online.

Audio File Formats

• MP3 is a common consumer audio format for transferring and playing music on most audio players.
• M4A/AAC is a lossy audio format known for better sound quality compared to MP3.
• WAV is used as a standard for storing audio bitstreams on PCs.
• WMA is audio data compression developed by Microsoft, commonly used with Windows Media Player.

Hearing vs. Listening

• Hearing is the biological act of perceiving sound by the ear.
• Listening is the conscious act of paying attention to and trying to understand sound and meaning.

Sound Characteristics and Purposes

• Sound volume refers to the loudness or quietness of a sound.
• Sound tone is the regularity in the sound's vibration.
• A simple tone includes just one sound frequency.
• A complex tone combines several tones with varying frequencies.
• Pitch is the position of a sound within a complete sound range.
• Loudness reflects the intensity or strength of a sound wave.

Characteristics of Sound

• Volume describes how loud or soft a sound is.
• Tone is a sound identified by its regular vibrations.
• Pitch is the specific position of a sound within a range.
• Loudness represents how strong a sound wave is.

Elements and Principles of Sound Design

• Dialogue includes speech, conversations, and voice-overs.
• Sound effects comprise all sounds other than music or dialogue
• Music is vocal or instrumental combined for emotional expression.
• Silence is the absence of sound.

Mixing, Pace, Transitions

• Mixing combines and adjusts multiple sound elements.
• Pace involves editing and controlling linear, non-linear, or multi-linear sound order.
• Transitions are methods for moving between sound segments from one to another. Various transition methods exist, such as segue, cross-fade, and V-fade
• Stereo imaging uses left and right channels to create depth in sound.