MIL: Audio Information and Media

• Audio -

  • Any signal, sound, or waveform that can be heard, as distinguished from ultrasonic sound, radio-frequency signals, or video signals.
  • Made of electrical energy (analog or digital signals) that represent sound electrically.
  • The recording of a sound using a piece of electronic equipment. 
  • Can be manipulated.
• Sound -

  • Wave that travels through a medium (solid, liquid, or gas).
  • A mechanical wave energy (longitudinal sound waves) that propagate through a medium causing variations in pressure within the medium.
  • A mechanical disturbance or a vibration that is traveling through an elastic medium such as air, wood, metal, glass, water, etc.
  • In media, this includes music, dialogue, sound effects, ambient noise, and/or background noise and soundtracks.
• Melody - The linear/horizontal presentation of pitch (the highness or lowness of a musical sound).
• Harmony - Combination of different musical notes. The concept of combining different sounds together in order to create new, distinct musical ideas.
• Rhythm - A strong, regular, repeated pattern or movement or sound. The element of “time” in music.
• Duration and Tempo are under Rhythm.
• Duration - How long a sound (or silence) lasts.
• Tempo - The speed of the beat.
• Dynamics - All musical aspects relating to the relative loudness (or quietness) of music.
• Piano - Soft.
• Mezzo-piano - Medium soft.
• Pianissimo - Very soft.
• Forte - Loud.
• Mezzo-forte - Medium loud.
• Fortissimo - Very loud.
• Crescendo - The gradual increase in loudness until the loudest point.
• Decrescendo (Diminuendo) - The decrease in loudness.
• Timbre - “Tone color.” The character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity.
• Mixing - The combination, balance and control of multiple sound elements.
• Audio Mixing - The process by which multiple sounds are combined through adjustment of audio levels.
• Pace - Time control, editing, and order of events: linear, non-linear or multi-linear. Equivalent to tempo, it connotes speed.
• Transition - The process of blending or merging two or more audio tracks or clips to ensure a smooth flow of sound. Audio effects to ensure smooth flow; describes how you get from one segment or element to another.
• Segue - One element tops, 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.
• Water fall - As first element fades out, the second element begins at full volume.
• Audio Codes - The use of sound elements such as music, dialogue, and sound effects in audio-visual media to convey meaning, emotion, and information.
• Audio Conventions - The established norms and techniques for using sound elements in various media forms, such as film, television, and digital media.
• Diegetic -

  • Music is part of the action.
  • The actual sound.
  • Any sound that comes from within the world of the film, either on-screen or off-screen.
  • Ex: phone ringing or character putting on a record and dancing around
• Non-diegetic -

  • Not part of the action but added during post production.
  • Sound only heard by the viewers; does not come from within the film’s world and that characters cannot hear.
  • Ex: background music
• Dialogue -

  • A written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange.
• Sound Effects - Any sound, other than music or speech, artificially reproduced to create an effect in a narrative presentation.
• Music - Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Sets the mood.