Audio Information and
Media
Lesson 14
Learning Objectives
• Describe the different dimensions of audio information and
media. MIL-11/12AIM-IVd-11
• Discuss how audio information and media is/are formally
and informally produced, organized, and disseminated.
MIL11/12-AIM-IVd-12
• Evaluate the reliability and validity of audio information
and media and their sources using selection criteria.
MIL11/12-AIM-IVd-13
• Produce and evaluate a creative audio-based presentation
using design principles and elements. MIL11/12-AIM-IVd-14
Types and Categories of Audio Information
a. Radio broadcast - live or recorded audio sent
through radio waves to reach a wide audience.
b. Music - vocal and/or instrumental sounds combined
in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony,
and expression of emotion. It is composed and
performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic
pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an
entertainment product.
Types and Categories of Audio Information
c. Sound recording - recording of an interview,
meeting, or any sound from the environment.
d. Sound clips/effects - any sound, other than music
or speech, artificially reproduced to create an effect
in a dramatic presentation, as the sound of a storm or
a creaking door.
e. Audio Podcast - a digital audio or video file or
recording, usually part of a themed series, that can
be downloaded from a website to a media player or
computer.
Ways of Storing Audio Media
a. Tape - magnetic tape on which sound can be
recorded.
b. CD - a plastic-fabricated, circular medium for
recording, storing, and playing back audio, video,
and computer data.
Ways of Storing Audio Media
c. USB drive - an external flash drive, small enough
to carry on a key ring, that can be used with any
computer that has a USB port.
d. Memory Card - (aka flash memory card or
storage card) is a small storage medium used to
store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video,
for use on small, portable, or remote computing
devices.
Ways of Storing Audio Media
e. Computer hard drive - secondary storage
devices for storing audio files.
f. Internet/Cloud - websites or file repositories for
retrieving audio files, and more precisely the files
are stored in some datacenter full of servers that
is connected to the Internet.
Audio File Formats
a. MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer 3) - a common format
for consumer audio, as well as a standard of
digital audio compression for the transfer and
playback of music on most digital audio players.
b. M4A/AAC (MPEG-4 Audio/Advanced Audio
Coding) - an audio coding standard for lossy digital
audio compression. Designed to be the successor of
the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better
sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates.
Loss and Lossless Audio
Audio File Formats
c. WAV - is a Microsoft audio file format standard
for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It has
become a standard file format for game sounds,
among others.
d. WMA (Windows Media Audio) - is an audio data
compression technology developed by Microsoft
and used with Windows Media Player.
Hearing vs Listening
“Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by
the ear. If you are not hearing-impaired, hearing
simply happens. Listening, however, is something
you consciously choose to do. Listening requires
concentration so that your brain processes
meaning from words and sentences. Listening leads
to learning.”
(http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/ss_hearing.html)
Elements of Sound Design
– the objects or things that we have to work
with:
• Dialogue - speech, conversation, voice-over.
• Sound Effects - any sound other than music or
dialogue.
• Music - vocal or instrumental sounds (or both)
combined in such a way as to produce beauty of
form, harmony, and expression of emotion.
• Silence - absence of audio or sound.
Principles of Sound Design
-the techniques for combining the different elements
or objects.
• Mixing - the combination, balance and control of
multiple sound elements.
• Pace - Time control. Editing. Order of events: linear,
non-linear, or multi-linear.
Principles of Sound Design
• Transitions - How you get from one segment or element
to another. Types of transitions:
- Segue - one element stops, the next begins ("cut" in
film).
- Cross-fade - one element fades out, the next fades in,
and they overlap on the way.
- V-Fade - First element fades to inaudible before the
second element begins.
- Fade to Black - V-Fade with some silence between
elements.
Principles of Sound Design
• Waterfall - As first element fades out, the second
element begins at full volume. Better for voice
transitions, than for effects.
• Stereo Imaging - Using left and right channel for
depth.
