< User:Crantila | FSC
Address: User:Crantila/FSC/Audio_Vocabulary
Busses, Master Bus, and Sub-master Bus
!! diagram required !!
Like a motorized bus, an audio bus can be seen as subjecting multiple different inputs to the same procedure. Whereas on a motorized bus, many different passengers are transported to a different geographical location *in the same way*, an audio bus subjects many different audio signals to the same filtering, equalization, level-adjustment, panning, or other effects process. Many different tracks of audio can enter a bus, through multiplexing, but only two channels will be outputted. This allows adjustments to be made to multiple tracks at once.
All audio being routed out of a program usually passes through the master bus. The master bus collects and consolidates all audio and MIDI tracks, allowing for final level adjustments and for simpler mastering. The primary purpose of the master bus is to mix all of the tracks into two channels.
Level (Loudness)
!! INCOMPLETE !!
The level of a track, region, or session is experienced by listeners as its "volume." In professional audio situations, levels are measured in decibels (dB), but represented in a manner that is not at first obvious: 0 dB is the absolute maxmimum level desired. Although it is possible to reproduce higher levels, they may become distorted (REALLY??)
Check:
- "Level Practices"
- this, and
- this
- consider adding a section about "jkmeter," but... well... consider it
- maybe this, too
Panning and Balance
!! tricky section !!
!! diagram possibly useful !!
Panning is the process of adjusting how much of a track's sound level is sent to each output channel (see "Multichannel Audio"). Assuming a stereophonic setup, you could cause both of the track's channels to be routed to only one speaker. When a track is set for "centre" panning, all of the left channel audio is heard from the "left" speaker, and all of the right channel audio is heard from the "right" speaker. As you adjust towards "left" panning, all of the left channel audio remains heard through the "left" speaker, as well as an increasing portion of the right channel audio. At the same time, the level of the right channel audio is lowered, so that the level of the right channel audio heard from the "left" speaker plus that heard from the "right" speaker is equal to the level of the right channel when the track is set to "centre" panning. The opposite effect happens when a track is adjusted towards "right" panning.
Balance seems to have a similar effect, but it is not quite the same as panning. The two terms are sometimes confused on audio equipment and in popular usage. As you adjust the balance towards the "left" setting, the level of the right channel is reduced, until it can no longer be heard. By contrast, as you adjust the panning towards the "left" setting, the level of the right channel is reduced, but the right channel's audio can still be heard in the left channel. In effect, balance allows you to "turn off" a channel of audio, or to compensate for non-equidistant speakers. Panning, on the other hand, allows you to effectively combine two audio tracks into one, or to partially combine the tracks, so that the audio signal seems to appear somewhere closer to the centre than before adjustment.
Synchronization
Synchronization is exactly what it sounds like - synchronizing the operation of multiple tools. Most often this is used to synchronize movement of the transport, and to control automation across applications. This sort of synchronization is typically achieved with MIDI channels that are not used directly for synthesis.
Time and Time-Shifting
Time in a DAW is measured from 0, marking the start of playback, to an arbitrary place which marks the end of playback. There are many different ways to measure musical time, and most DAWs allow the user to work in whichever happens to suit them best. The purpose for all methods of measuring time is to precisely indicated when an event (whether audio or MIDI) should begin and end.
- Bars (Measures) and Beats: Usually used for MIDI work.
- Minutes and Seconds: Also includes more precise levels; usually used for audio.
- SMPTE Timecode: Invented for high-precision coordination of audio and video, but can be used with audio alone.
- Samples: Relating directly to the format of the underlying audio file, a sample is the shortest possible length of time in an audio file. See THE DIGITAL AUDIO SECTION for more information.
When a region is time-shifted, the time it is triggered in the DAW is changed. This can be used to "align" musical events that are supposed to be perceived as happening together.
Time is represented in the main DAW interface window as progressing horizontally, where the leftmost point to which the window scrolls is considered to be 0.