1st Edition

Digital Audio Theory A Practical Guide

By Christopher L. Bennett Copyright 2021
254 Pages 123 B/W Illustrations
by Focal Press

254 Pages 123 B/W Illustrations
by Focal Press

254 Pages 123 B/W Illustrations
by Focal Press

Also available as eBook on:
Digital Audio Theory: A Practical Guide bridges the fundamental concepts and equations of digital audio with their real-world implementation in an accessible introduction, with dozens of programming examples and projects. Starting with digital audio conversion, then segueing into filtering, and finally real-time spectral processing, Digital Audio Theory introduces the uninitiated reader... Read more

1 Introduction

1.1 Describing audio signals

1.2 Digital audio basics

1.3 Describing audio systems

1.4 Further reading

1.5 Challenges

1.6 Project – audio playback

2 Complex vectors and phasors

2.1 Complex number representation and operations

2.2 Complex conjugates

2.3 Phasors

2.4 Beat frequencies

2.5 Challenges

2.6 Project – AM and FM synthesis

Bibliography

3 Sampling

3.1 Phasor representation on the complex plane

3.2 Nyquist frequency

3.3 Time shift operators

3.4 Sampling a continuous signal

3.5 Jitter

3.6 Challenges

Bibliography

4 Aliasing and reconstruction

4.1 Under-sampling

4.2 Predicting the alias frequency

4.3 Anti-aliasing filter

4.4 Reconstruction

4.5 Challenges

4.6 Project – aliasing

Bibliography

5 Quantization

5.1 Quantization resolution

5.2 Audio buffers

5.3 Sample-and-hold circuit

5.4 Quantization error (eq)

5.5 Pulse code modulation

5.6 Challenges

Bibliography

6 Dither

6.1 Signal-to-Error Ratio (SER)

6.2 SER at low signal levels

6.3 Applying dither

6.4 Triangular PDF dither

6.5 High-frequency dither

6.6 Challenges

6.7 Project – dither effects

Bibliography

7 DSP basics

7.1 Time-shift operators

7.2 Time-reversal operator

7.3 Time scaling

7.4 Block diagrams

7.5 Difference equations

7.6 Canonical form

7.7 Challenges

7.8 Project – plucked string model

Bibliography

8 FIR filters

8.1 FIR filters by way of example

8.2 Impulse response

8.3 Convolution

8.4 Cross-correlation

8.5 FIR filter phase

8.6 Designing FIR filters

8.7 Challenges

8.8 Project – FIR filters

Bibliography

9 z-Domain

9.1 Frequency response

9.2 Magnitude response

9.3 Comb filters

9.4 z-Transform

9.5 Pole/zero plots

9.6 Filter phase response

9.7 Group delay

9.8 Challenges

10 IIR filters

10.1 General characteristics of IIR filters

10.2 IIR filter transfer functions

10.3 IIR filter stability

10.4 Second-order resonators

10.5 Biquadratic filters

10.6 Proportional parametric EQ

10.7 Forward-reverse filtering

10.8 Challenges

10.9 Project – resonator

Bibliography

11 Impulse response measurements

11.1 Noise reduction through averaging

11.2 Capturing IRs with MLS

11.3 Capturing IRs with ESS

11.4 Challenges

11.5 Project – room response measurements

Bibliography

12 Discrete Fourier transform

12.1 Discretizing a transfer function

12.2 Sampling the frequency response

12.3 The DFT and inverse discrete Fourier transform

12.4 Twiddle factor

12.5 Properties of the DFT

12.6 Revisiting sampling in the frequency domain

12.7 Frequency interpolation

12.8 Challenges

12.9 Project – spectral filtering

13 Real-time spectral processing

13.1 Filtering in the frequency domain

13.2 Windowing

13.3 Constant overlap and add

13.4 Spectrograms

13.5 Challenges

13.6 Project – automatic feedback control

14 Analog modeling

14.1 Derivation of the z-transform

14.2 Impulse invariance

14.3 Bilinear transformation

14.4 Frequency sampling

14.5 Non-linear modeling with ESS

14.6 Challenges

Bibliography

Biography

Christopher L. Bennett is a Professor in the Music Engineering Technology program at the University of Miami, Frost School of Music. He conducts research, teaches, and publishes in the fields of digital audio, audio programming, transducers, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and medical acoustics.

"Your background in music, sound, and recording makes you a power-user of digital audio signal processors. Wouldn’t you like to understand what’s going on inside those converters, delays, filters and more? Don’t you want to know what to listen for when it’s time to choose which one to use? And don’t you sort of want to create your own FX? Me too. There is the calculus and coding way into this, and then there is Christopher Bennett’s way in. If you want to understand digital audio theory – to have mastery of the theories and intuition about the possibilities – you don’t need an engineering degree, you need this book."

Alex U. Case, Sound Recording Technology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Past President of the Audio Engineering Society, and author of Sound FX: Unlocking the Creative Potential of Recording Studio Effects and Mix Smart: Pro Audio Tips for Your Multitrack Mix

"This book is part of a fresh approach to the challenges that aspiring audio programmers face. Rather than serving as a reference manual, Bennett presents Digital Audio Theory as part of a journey, supplementing the reading material with over 30 video tutorials and code samples. It is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the fundamentals of signal processing. The explanations are clear and well thought out – easy enough for those with a casual math background to follow along, but challenging enough to introduce concepts that reach beyond algorithms covered by other books. Highly recommended!"

Joshua Hodge, a.k.a. The Audio Programmer