Unit 17: Audio Production1. Effects unit

(Definitions from Wikipedia)

-Reverberations: Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed.

-Distortions: A distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation.

-Talk box: This effect can be heard in the Bonjovy track ‘living on a prayer’ A talk box is an effects unit that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by lip syncing, or by changing the shape of their mouth. The effect can be used to shape the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto a musical instrument, typically a guitar (its non-guitar use is often confused with the vocoder) and keyboards.

-Pitch bender: Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" (carriage of the voice), denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used interchangeably with anticipation. It is also applied to one type of glissando as well as to the "glide" function of synthesizers.

-Delay: Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.

-Chorus: In music, a chorus occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one. While similar sounds coming from multiple sources can occur naturally (as in the case of a choir or string orchestra), it can also be simulated using an electronic effects unit or signal processing device.

-Autotune: Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal tracks without needing to sing in tune. While its main purpose is to slightly blend sung pitches to the nearest true semitone (to the exact pitch of the nearest tone in traditional equal temperament), Auto-Tune can be used as an effect to distort the human voice when pitch is raised or lowered significantly.[3] The overall effect to the discerning ear can be described as hearing, for example, the voice leap from note to note stepwise, like a synthesizer.

-Tremelo: Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration

Of a single note, particularly used on bowed string instruments and plucked strings such as harp, where it is called bisbigliando or "whispering".

Between two notes or chords in alternation, an imitation (not to be confused with a trill) of the preceding that is more common on keyboard instruments. Mallet instruments such as the marimba are capable of either method.

A roll on any percussion instrument, whether tuned or untuned.

-Vibrato: Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation ("extent of vibrato") and the speed with which the pitch is varied ("rate of vibrato").

-Gating: Gating is used in sound engineering with oscilloscopes, analog signal processing and more specifically audio signal processing.

-Compression:

-Limiter: In electronics, a limiter is a circuit that allows signals below a specified input power to pass unaffected while attenuating the peaks of stronger signals that exceed this input power.

-Surround sound: Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and presents a fixed or forward perspective of the sound field to the listener at this location. There are other non surround based formats. The three-dimensional (3D) sphere of human hearing can be virtually achieved with audio channels that surround the listener. To that end, the multichannel surround sound application encircles the audience with surround channels (left-surround, right-surround, back-surround), as opposed to "screen channels" (center, [front] left, and [front] right), i.e. ca. 360° horizontal plane (2D).

-Mono: Mono is considered to refer most often to:

anything single, e.g. as in monorail, a train system using a single rail, as opposed to the conventional two-rail system

monaural (or monophonic) sound, which uses a single channel, as opposed to stereophonic (or stereo) sound

infectious mononucleosis, also referred to as "glandular fever", "kissing disease" or "mono"

-Stereo: The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two or more independent audio channels through a configuration of two or more loudspeakers in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing. Thus the term "stereophonic" applies to so-called "quadraphonic" and "surround-sound" systems as well

as the more common 2-channel, 2-speaker systems. It is often contrasted with monophonic, or "mono" sound, where audio is in the form of one channel, often centered in the sound field (analogous to a visual field). Stereo sound is now common in entertainment systems such as broadcast radio and TV, recorded music and the cinema.

Note to self: Add Examples from youtube in own time.