Chapter 3
Audio Fundamentals
AUDIO DEFINED
Audio is the representation of sound, electrically or by various methods on media, not sound itself. We usually say audio tape, not sound tape, for instance.1 The advertising tag line that was tried some time ago, “It’s audio that surrounds you,” is also wrong, because you would be wrapped up in electrical signals or in tape, not in sound, by this image. Sound is the term used for acoustical energy, whereas audio applies to electrical signals and magnetic and optical recordings.
Sound is the input for audio processes by way of microphones, which are transducers, turning sound energy into electrical energy, at that point called generically a signal. Recording is the process of converting the electrical ...
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