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Signal Processors. Devices that change some characteristic of a sound. Analog Processors. ANALOG PROCESSORS DIRECTLY MODIFY SIGNALS AS THEY ENTER THE DEVICE . Digital Processors.
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Signal Processors Devices that change some characteristic of a sound.
Analog Processors • ANALOG PROCESSORS DIRECTLY MODIFY SIGNALS AS THEY ENTER THE DEVICE
Digital Processors • DIGITAL PROCESSORS (DSPs) CONVERT THE INCOMING SIGNAL INTO BINARY LANGUAGE AND ARE THEN PROCESSED BY MATHEMATICALLY RECALCULATING THE DIGITAL CODE ACCORDING TO A ALGORITHM
4 Basic Categories of Processors • SPECTRUM PROCESSORS • TIME PROCESSORS • AMPLITUDE PROCESSORS • NOISE PROCESSORS
SPECTRUM PROCESSORS • AFFECT THE SPECTRAL BALANCE (FREQUENCY/AMPLITUDE RESPONSE PATTERN ) • CHANGE TIMBRE • EXAMPLES: Equalizers and Filters
TIME PROCESSORS • AFFECT THE TIME BETWEEN A SIGNAL AND ITS REPETITIONS • CHANGE ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENT • EXAMPLES: Reverbs and Delays
AMPLITUDE PROCESSORS • AFFECT THE DYNAMIC RANGE • CHANGE THE ACOUSTIC ENVELOPE • EXAMPLES: Compressors, Limiters, and Noise Gates
NOISE PROCESSORS • REDUCE ANALOG TAPE HISS • EXAMPLES: Dolby and dBx
EQUALIZATION (EQ) • PROCESS OF ALTERING THE FREQUENCY/AMPLITUDE RESPONSE PATTERN BY BOOSTING OR ATTENUATING SELECTED FREQUENCIES • THE MOST COMMON FORM OF SIGNAL PROCESSING • EQUALIZERS ENABLE US TO EXERCISE TONAL OR TIMBRAL CONTROL OVER A SOUND
EQ USED FOR: • TO OVERCOME RECORDING DEFICIENCIES IN THE ROOM ACOUSTICS, MICROPHONE, OR INSTRUMENT • TO ALTER A SOUND FOR CREATIVE REASONS • TO AFFECT A BETTER BLEND BETWEEN COMPETING INSTRUMENTS
BELL CURVE EQ • THE EFFECT OF EQ TO FREQUENCIES ADJACENT TO A TARGET FREQUENCY, ALSO CALLED A PEAKING CURVE EQ. BANDWIDTH: THE RANGE OF FREQUENCIES AFFECTED BY EQ ON EACH SIDE OF THE CENTER FREQUENCY
QUALITY FACTOR (Q) • REFERS TO THE WIDTH OF THE AFFECTED BAND • HIGH Q VALUE = NARROW BANDWIDTH • LOW Q = WIDE BANDWIDTH
SHELVING EQ • SIMILAR TO BELL CURVE EQ EXCEPT THAT THE CURVE GENTLY FLATTENS OUT INTO A STRAIGHT LINE
EQUALIZERS • FIXED FREQUENCY (OR SELECTABLE FREQUENCY) HAS A SET NUMBER OF FREQUENCIES THAT CAN BE MODIFIED AND HAS A SET BANDWIDTH • PARAMETRIC HAS A "SWEEP-ABLE" OR CONTINUOUS FREQUENCY SELECT AND A BANDWIDTH THAT IS VARIABLE • GRAPHIC EQUALIZER IS A FIXED FREQUENCY EQUALIZER WITH FADER CONTROLS FOR EASY VISUAL INSPECTION
FILTERS • DIFFER FROM EQUALIZERS IN TWO BASIC WAYS 1. THEY ONLY ATTENUATE (CUT) 2. THEIR EFFECT IS MUCH MORE DRASTIC
HIGH PASS FILTER • HIGH PASS FILTERS ATTENUATE ALL FREQUENCIES BELOW A GIVEN FREQUENCY
LOW PASS FILTER • LOW PASS FILTERS ATTENUATE ALL FREQUENCIES ABOVE A GIVEN FREQUENCY
BAND PASS FILTER • BAND PASS FILTERS ATTENUATE ALL FREQUENCIES ABOVE AND BELOW TWO GIVEN FREQUENCIES
NOTCH FILTER • NOTCH FILTERS ATTENUATE A VERY NARROW BANDWIDTH BETWEEN TWO FREQUENCIES
REVERBERATION • SUCCESSIVELY REPEATING DELAYS CREATING CLOSELY SPACED ECHOES IS CALLED REVERBERATION OR REVERB • REVERB UNIT: A DEVICE THAT ARTIFICIALLY REPRODUCES THE SOUND CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENTS
REVERB UNITS • ACOUSTIC ECHO CHAMBER • SPRING REVERB • PLATE REVERB • DIGITAL REVERB
REVERB TERMS • DELAY: THE TIME BETWEEN REFLECTIONS OF SOUND • PRE-DELAY: THE TIME BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL SOUND AND ITS FIRST REPETITION • REVERB DECAY TIME: TIME IT TAKES SOUND TO DECREASE 60 dB
DELAY UNITS • ANALOG DELAY USES PHYSICAL MEANS TO HOLD BACK A SIGNAL • DIGITAL DELAY SIMPLY CONVERTS SIGNAL (A/D CONVERTER), APPLIES A REVERB ALGORITHM AND THEN CONVERTS BACK TO ANALOG (D/A CONVERTER)
COMPRESSORS • AN AMPLIFIER WHOSE OUTPUT HAS A SMALLER DYNAMIC RANGE THAN ITS INPUT • ALSO CALL A LEVELING AMPLIFIER • IT CONTROLS THE DYNAMIC RANGE
LIMITERS • A COMPRESSOR WHOSE COMPRESSION RATIO EXCEEDS 11:1 • A COMPRESSOR WHOSE OUTPUT STAYS BELOW A PRE-SET LEVEL
USES OF COMPRESSOR/LIMITERS 1. SMOOTH THE DYNAMIC RANGE 2. IMPROVE SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY 3. IMPROVE S/N RATIO 4. CREATE THE EFFECT OF LOWERING AMPLITUDE
EXPANDER • INCREASES THE DYNAMIC RANGE
NOISE GATES • A DYNAMIC PROCESSOR THAT ALLOWS A SIGNAL TO PASS AT A PREDETERMINED POINT (THRESHOLD) BUT BLOCKS THOSE OF LESS AMPLITUDE • WORKS LIKE AN ON-OFF SWITCH FOR A MICROPHONE • DO NOT CONFUSE WITH NOISE PROCESSORS
NOISE PROCESSORS • ONLY TASK IS TO REDUCE ANALOG TAPE HISS • USES A UNIQUE DEVICE CALLED A COMPANDER WHICH IS A COMBINATION COMPRESSOR AND EXPANDER