TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE06MODELANSWERS

Doallharddiskrecordingsystemsrequireapersonalcomputertowork?

No,someareselfcontained.

WhatistheadvantageofaharddiskrecordingsystemthatdoesnotrequireaPC?

Ifthereisaproblem,thenthemanufacturercanbeexpectedtoknowthesolution.Thisisnotalwaysthe
casewhensystemsarebuiltfromcomponentsmadebyanumberofmanufacturersandsoftware
developers.

Listfourcommonproblemsofharddiskrecordingsystemsthatrequireapersonalcomputer.

Softwareotherthanaudioandmusicsoftwaremaybeinstalled,whichmaycauseincompatibilityproblems.

Theoperatingsystemmaybeupgraded,whichmayintroducenewbugsandincompatibilities.

Gamesandutilitiessoftwaresmaybeinstalledthatmaycompromisereliability.

Anoperatormaychangethesystemsettings.

WherewouldyoucommonlyexpecttofindanAMSNeveAudioFilesystem?

Inastudiodoingaudiopostproductionforfilmorvideo.

HowistheIZRADARmarketed,accordingtothetext?

Asanalternativetoatraditional24tracktaperecorder.

ThetextmentionsthatitisusefultolearntheYamahawayofstandaloneharddiskrecordingsystem
operation.Whyisthis?

Yamahamakedigitalmixingconsolesoffullyprofessionalquality.Theknowledgegainedontheirlower
costsystemswillbeusefulforprogressionintotheindustry.

Ifatraditionalanalogtaperecorderhas24tracks,howmanyinputsandhowmanyoutputsdoesithave?

24inputsand24outputs.
Woulditbepossibleforaharddiskrecordingsystemtohave2inputs,becapableof32tracks,andhave
2outputs?

Yes,thisisentirelypossibleandperfectlyusable.

Whatinformationdoesasessionfilecontain?

Amongotherinformation:theprojecttitle,theaudiofilesused,editdata,trackassignments,mixandplug
indata.

Doesthesessionfilecontainaudiodata?

No.

Wouldyouexpectasessionrecordingononemanufacturerssystemtoplayonanothermanufacturers
system?

Module06ModelAnswers
No,itprobablywillnot.

Wouldyoualwaysexpectasessionfiletoplaycorrectlyonanothersystembythesamemanufacturer?

Itmayplay,butitmaynotplayexactlyasrecorded.

Whyistherotationalspeedofaharddiskimportant?

Thefasterthedisk,themoresimultaneoustracksitcanrecordandplay.

ListfiveadvantagesofFireWireinterconnectionoverotherbussystemssuchasATAandSCSI.

NoIDnumberstobesetbytheuser.

Abletohotswap.

Buspower.

Thin,flexiblecableandrobustconnectors.

Targetmode.

WhichisgenerallypreferredforaudioFireWireorUSB?

FireWireitwasdesignedforsignalsratherthangeneraldata.

Whatisfragmentation?

Wheretheaudioisspreadoverthediskindiscontinuouschunks.Thedrivemechanismhastoworkharder
toretrieveallthedataquicklyenough.

WhatistheprobleminarchivingamultitrackrecordingtoDVDRmedia?

Acomplexsessionmayinvolvefarmoreaudiodatathancanfitontoasingledisk.

Accordingtothetext,whataretheadvantagesofharddiskrecordersovertapebasedrecorders,either
analogordigital?

Instantaccesstoanysectionoftheaudiowithoutrewinding.Flexibilityofediting.

Whatarevirtualtracks?
Somesystemsmayonlybeabletoplayacertainnumberoftrackssimultaneously.Howevertheymayallow
moretrackstobestored.Theadditional'virtual'tracksdonotplay.

Whenaregionofaudioiseditedandsomeremovedfromthescreen,whathappenstotheaudio
materialthatisremoved?

Itisonlyremovedfromthescreen.Itremainsonthediskandcaneasilyberetrieved.

Whatisthemeaningofeditdensity?

Iftherearealotofeditsinvolvingshortdurationsofaudio,thentheeditdensityissaidtobehigh.Thehard
diskmaynotbeabletoretrievealloftheaudiofastenoughtoplaysuccessfully.

BrieflydescribeSlipmode.

Audioregionsmaybemovedanywhereonthescreen.

BrieflydescribeShufflemode.

Module06ModelAnswers
Whenanaudioregionismoved,itwillbuttupexactlyagainstthepreviousregion.Aregioncanalsoeasily
belocatedbetweentwoadjacentregions.Thelatterofthetworegionswillmovetomakeway.

BrieflydescribeGridmode.

Thegridmarksoutminutesandsecondsorbarsandbeats.Regions'snap'tothegridboundarieswhen
moved.

BrieflydescribeSpotmode.

Onsomesystems,whenregionsarerecorded,theirtimepositionisloggedalongwiththatregion.Evenif
theyaremoved,theycaneasilybe'spotted'backtotheiroriginalpositions.

Accordingtothetext,whatistheprofileofafade?

Theshapeofthecurvethatdescribesitsrateofdecay.

Describethetwowaysinwhichaharddisksystemcanperformacrossfade.
Duringthecrossfade,itisrequiredtoplayaudiofromtworegionssimultaneously.Thiscanbedoneinreal
timeandthesystemperformsthefadesastheyhappen.Thisisintensiveonsystemresources.Alternatively
thecrossfadecanbecalculatedandwrittenasafile.Thistakesalittlelongerbutdoesnotconsumeany
extraresourcestoplayback.

Whatisbouncing?

Inharddiskrecording,theterm'bouncing'isusedtomeanmixingtracks.Thiscaneitherbeaspartofthe
recordingprocess,orthefinalmixintostereoorsurround.

Whatareplugins?

Additionalsoftwaresthatmaycomefromthirdpartydevelopers.Theyperformprocessesandeffects.

Whatislatency?
Latencyisadelaybetweeninputtothesystemandoutputfromthesystem.Thereisalwayssomelatency.
However,pluginsmayincreasetheamountoflatency.

WhydoesaDSPbasedsystemhavelowerlatencythanahostbasedsystem?

ADSPsystemisoptimizedforsignalsratherthangeneraldata,whichmeansitcanprocesssignalsfaster.

Whatisdelaycompensation?

Differentpluginscausedifferentamountsofdelay.Sometimesitisimportanttocorrectforthis.Some
systemsdothisautomatically.

Module06ModelAnswers