Essentials of Music Technology

This useful handbook provides a concise introduction to the principle topics of music technology. It discusses fundamentals in a straightforward style, with the extra levels of detail essential for those specializing in music technology. A five-part organization covers acoustics and music, computers, MIDI, digital audio, and other tools of the trade. For personal computer users introduced in the production of music.

Preface

vi

Basic Acoustics

1

(16)

The Nature of Sound Events

1

(3)

Wave Propagation

4

(10)

Simple Harmonic Motion

4

(1)

Characteristics of Waves

5

(1)

Refraction and Reflection

5

(2)

Superposition

7

(1)

Standing Waves, Resonant Frequencies, and Harmonics

8

(5)

Phase

13

(1)

Speed and Velocity

14

(3)

Music and Acoustics

17

(20)

What Is the Difference Between Musical Sound and Noise?

17

(1)

Properties of Musical Sound

17

(1)

Frequency/Pitch

18

(2)

Frequency Is Objective, Pitch Is Subjective

19

(1)

Human Pitch Perception Is Logarithmic

19

(1)

Loudness

20

(7)

Power

20

(4)

Amplitude

24

(2)

Intensity

26

(1)

Timbre

27

(10)

The Harmonic Series and Intonation

28

(1)

Harmonics in Performance

29

(1)

A Partial by Any Other Name . . .

29

(1)

Resonance

30

(1)

The Fourier Analysis

30

(1)

Spectral Plots

31

(1)

What Is the Difference Between Consonance and Dissonance?

32

(1)

Making Waves: Building Blocks of Sound Synthesis

32

(5)

Acoustic Factors in Combination: Perceptual Issues

37

(7)

Sound in Time

37

(1)

Localization of Natural Events

37

(1)

Simulated Localization in Audio Systems

38

(2)

Mismatches Between Measurement and Perception

40

(3)

Phase

40

(1)

Timbre

41

(1)

Loudness

41

(2)

Conclusion

43

(1)

Introduction to Computers

44

(4)

Multimedia

44

(1)

The Internet

45

(3)

The World Wide Web

45

(1)

Caveat Emptor

45

(1)

Streaming Media

46

(1)

The Web and Music Research

46

(2)

Representing Numbers

48

(5)

Numbers Are Power

48

(1)

Of What Value Power?

49

(1)

Numbers in Computers

49

(1)

The Binary Number System

49

(1)

Some Essential Terminology

50

(1)

The Hexadecimal Number System

51

(1)

Integers and Floating Points

51

(2)

Introduction to MIDI

53

(19)

A Brief Historical Background

53

(2)

What MIDI Is, and What It Is Not

55

(2)

MIDI Compromises

55

(2)

MIDI Channels

57

(1)

Computers and MIDI

57

(8)

Central Traffic Control

58

(1)

Sequencing Software

58

(4)

Notation Software

62

(1)

Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI) Software

63

(1)

Accompaniment Software

64

(1)

Editor/Librarian Software

64

(1)

Connecting MIDI Instruments

65

(7)

Basic Configurations

65

(2)

Computer Configurations

67

(4)

The Computer as Sound Generator

71

(1)

The MIDI Language

72

(18)

The MIDI Language, 1: Channel Voice Messages

72

(5)

Structure of Channel Voice Messages

72

(1)

Channel Voice Message Types

73

(4)

The MIDI Language, 2: Midi Modes

77

(3)

Channel Mode Messages

77

(2)

Other Types of Mode Messages

79

(1)

The MIDI Language, 3: System-Level Messages

80

(3)

System Common Messages

81

(1)

System Real-Time Messages

82

(1)

System Exclusive Messages

83

(1)

Midi and Time

83

(3)

Midi Synchronization

83

(1)

Midi Clock

84

(1)

Song Position Pointer

84

(1)

Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

84

(2)

Midi Time Code (MTC)

86

(1)

Midi Implementation Charts

86

(4)

Midi and More

90

(10)

Nonkeyboard MIDI Instruments

90

(4)

The Challenge Imposed by Midi

90

(1)

Midi String Instruments

91

(1)

Midi Wind Instruments

92

(1)

Midi Percussion Instruments

93

(1)

Additions to the MIDI Protocol

94

(6)

Standard MIDI Files

94

(1)

General Midi

95

(3)

Multi Mode

98

(1)

Karaoke Files

99

(1)

GS Midi and XG Midi

99

(1)

Midi Machine Control (MMC) and MIDI Show Control (MSC)

99

(1)

Digital Audio

100

(37)

Introduction

100

(1)

Digitizing Audio---The Big Picture

100

(4)

The Central Problem

100

(2)

Digital Conversion

102

(1)

Does Digital Sound as Good as Analog?

103

(1)

Characteristics of Digital Audio

104

(10)

Sampling Rate

104

(4)

The Sampling Rate of CD Audio and Its Origin

108

(1)

Quantization

109

(2)

Quantization vs. Sampling Rate

111

(3)

The Size of Audio Files

114

(1)

Filtering

114

(8)

What Is Filtering?

114

(1)

Filter Types

114

(8)

The Digital Filtering Process

122

(9)

Feedforward vs. Feedback Filters

125

(1)

Lowpass Filters

125

(5)

Highpass Filters

130

(1)

Bandpass and Band-Reject Filters

131

(1)

Other Filter Characteristics

131

(1)

The Digital Recording and Playback Process

131

(6)

Recording

131

(3)

Playback

134

(3)

Working with Digital Audio: Processing and Storage

137

(32)

Spectral Representation

137

(9)

0 Hz = Direct Current

137

(1)

Spectra of Digital Signals

137

(2)

Convolution

139

(5)

Time Domain Localization vs. Spectral Resolution

144

(2)

Oversampling and Noiseshaping

146

(2)

Perceptual Coding

148

(4)

Psychoacoustics

148

(2)

Masking

150

(1)

Data Reduction

151

(1)

Storage Media

152

(11)

Compact Disc

152

(4)

Digital Audio Tape (DAT)

156

(2)

MiniDisc

158

(2)

DVD

160

(2)

DVD-Audio

162

(1)

Super Audio CD

162

(1)

Hard-Disk Recording---The Convergence of Multimedia

163

(6)

Digital Workstations

163

(1)

Transferring Data Among Devices

164

(2)

Audio Files

166

(3)

Acquiring Audio

169

(29)

Room Acoustics

169

(8)

Direct and Reflected Sound

169

(1)

Large Performance Spaces

170

(4)

Small Performance Spaces

174

(3)

Microphones

177

(12)

Receptor Types

177

(2)

Transducer Types

179

(2)

Directionality

181

(8)

Microphone Configurations

189

(9)

Time-of-Arrival Stereophony

191

(1)

Intensity Stereophony

192

(2)

Near-Coincident Configurations

194

(1)

Support Microphones

195

(1)

Channel Configurations

195

(3)

Treating and Mixing Audio

198

(22)

Effects: Introduction

198

(2)

Effects = Filtering

198

(1)

Filtering = Delay

198

(1)

Effects Processors and Word Length

199

(1)

Long Delays: Audible Echoes

200

(1)

Simple Delay

200

(1)

Multitap Delay

200

(1)

Feedback Delay

200

(1)

Building Blocks of Delay-Based Effects: Comb and Allpass Filters

201

(4)

Comb Filters

201

(4)

Allpass Filters

205

(1)

Delay-Based Effects

205

(3)

Flanging

205

(1)

Chorusing

206

(1)

Phase Shifting

206

(1)

Reverberation

206

(2)

Non-Delay-Based Effects

208

(3)

Ring/Amplitude Modulation

208

(1)

Compression/Limiting and Expansion/Noise Gating

209

(2)

Mixing

211

(9)

Channels

212

(1)

Phantom Power

213

(1)

Channel Insert

214

(1)

Equalization

214

(2)

Channel Fader

216

(1)

Mixer Buses

216

(1)

Auxiliary Buses

216

(1)

Mute/Solo

217

(1)

Pan

217

(1)

Output Buses

217

(1)

A Final Note on Levels

218

(2)

Digital Instruments

220

(15)

Samplers

220

(1)

Sampler Variations

221

(1)

Synthesizers

221

(1)

Sound Fonts

221

(1)

Groove Boxes and Looping Software

221

(1)

Tracking Software

222

(1)

Software Synthesis

222

(13)

Building Blocks of Sound Synthesis

223

(3)

Additive Synthesis

226

(1)

Subtractive Synthesis

226

(3)

Phase Modulation

229

(3)

Vector Synthesis

232

(2)

Latency

234

(1)

Afterword

235

(1)

Appendix 1: Suggested Class Projects

236

(5)

Appendix 2: Web Page Template with MIDI File

241

(1)

References

242

(2)

Index

244

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What Is Music Technology? This newly defined component of music education means many things to many people. Music technology, a broad subject, has meanings that may differ for music educators, composers, performers, audio producers, electrical engineers, computer programmers, or perceptual psychologists. All of the music activities in these fields intersect in the personal computer. Within the span of the last decade or so, computers in music have gone from being a niche subject to becoming a ubiquitous presence that all music students are bound to encounter in their professional lives. Furthermore, the new and varied role of the computer in music making brings about surprising overlaps with all of these fields. Prior to the 1980s, "music technology" (if the term was used at all) would most likely have referred to audio engineering, the conversion (transduction) of musical material into electricity for purposes of amplification, broadcasting, or recording. The first step in the process was the microphone, which performed the acoustic-to-electronic conversion. Once the musical material existed in the form of electrical current, it could be sent to an amplifier that would drive a set of speakers, thus relaying the material over a public address system. Alternatively, the electromagnetic radiation that resulted from the electrical current could be broadcast from an antenna for television or radio reception. Or, if the signal were to be recorded, the musicians were likely to be assembled in a recording studio, with a number of microphones strategically placed for optimal sound capture. The signals from the various microphones were combined in a mixer, which allowed a technician to adjust the relative volumes and stereo positions of each microphone's signal. With a mixer, it was also possible to send the signal to processing devices to adjust the character of the sound, making it, for example, sound as though it were occurring in a large room. Following effects processing, the mixed signals could be sent to tape for storage. Other possible meanings for "music technology" might have included the use of synthesizers for composing electronic music, an activity attractive to musicians who had a penchant for electrical assembly or who had the means to employ technicians to create and maintain the machinery. Perhaps least known to the general public were those who worked in high-end research institutions who had access to computers, sharing time on these mysterious machines with engineers and rocket scientists and programming them to emit sounds and music. The personal computer has generalized and expanded these models and affected every area of education. Music technology, implying "the use of computers as an aid to music making" is now a subject that all music educators must address in some way. Small desktop computers may now be part of every step of the musical production process just described, acting as performer, mixer, processor, and storage medium. This development has implications for all practitioners of music, regardless of their specialty. Whether they find themselves working at a school, a recording studio, or concert hall, musicians can count on finding computers at work in the production of musical activity. Performers are often expected to send CDs of their performances as part of applications for jobs. Educators are expected to employ the resources of the Internet and multimedia technology to teach students about music rudiments. Composers are expected to provide performers with laser-printed scores and parts. Thus, knowledge of music technology is becoming a core skill of musical training, along with history, figured bass, and Roman numeral notation. Purpose of This Book Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. -- Albert Einstein With any learning endeavor, it is typically th