Introduction
& Background
Why we wrote the book:
Those of us who have an interest in digital sound processing
in its various spheres - music technology, studio systems, multimedia -
are witnessing the dawning of a new age. The opportunities for involvement
in the expansion and development of sound transformation, musical performance
and composition are quite unprecedented.
Access to sound processing:
These opportunities are brought about by the rapid growth
in the availability of competent technology in the form of powerful
personal computers equipped with specialised sound-processing units. This
technology is supported by software of ever-increasing sophistication,
providing access for the ‘man in the street’ to sound processing operations
which hitherto were the domain of the specialist working in expensively
equipped studios.
The Internet community:
The equally rapid development of the Internet looks set
to revolutionise the distribution and dissemination of musical ideas and
sound processing techniques around the world, with the result that even
more of us will be able to become involved in this exciting phenomenon
of growth. This may indeed give rise to a new ‘electroacoustic community’,
where the development of studio technique and musical thought may be as
much the province of the committed layman - teenager, student or ‘retired’
professional - as that of the specialist and the academic. This
book is dedicated to the new community.
How complicated is the book's material?
Like many other fields associated with contemporary technologies,
audio signal processing and music technology are bedevilled by a blanket
of arcane technique and jargon which can appear to preclude all of those
who are not in training to join the ‘inner priesthood’. This need not be
so. For some time now, the authors have been involved in the running of
a series of courses at the University of York, UK aimed at opening up this
cross-disciplinary activity to students from a variety of backgrounds,
many of a non-technical nature. This has enabled us to develop and prove
an approach which we are convinced is suitable for use by any serious student
who is prepared to commit effort and dedication to the task. The book is
an attempt to provide a text which will demonstrate and support this approach.
It can be used by students from any kind of background who are prepared
to bring a modicum of logical thought to the task. The use of mathematics
has been deliberately kept to a minimum, lying within the scope normally
covered in schools. All other topics are dealt with from first principles.
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Description of the book.
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Sound Processing home-page.