School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science

ECS415U Introduction to Digital Audio

Module code: ECS415U

Credits: 15
Semester: SEM2

An understanding of digital audio is essential if you would like to pursue a career in music technology or audio engineering and is a highly useful skill for anyone studying multimedia.

This module covers the entire field of digital audio, including some depth in the subfields and related subjects. This module aims to provide you with knowledge of the fundamentals of acoustics and sound; understanding of digital audio and its representations; the ability to create and edit audio; critical listening skills.

Topics covered include:

  • introduction to the basics of sound, and the key concepts of acoustics that are required to understand how sound is created, represented and transmitted.
  • the important characteristics of sound, such as intensity, frequency, pitch and timbre.
  • how sound may be accurately represented digitally. Different representations, such as wav, midi and mp3 are introduced.
  • critical listening skills, including the ability to properly create, record and discern sounds, identify subtle problems, identify frequencies, and hear hidden distortions.

Level: 4