The document is a glossary of terms related to sound design and production for computer games. It contains definitions for 15 key terms that were researched by the student. For each term, the student provided a short definition found on the internet along with the URL source. They also explained how each term relates to their own production practice for a games design project. The terms covered include Foley artistry, sound libraries, uncompressed and compressed audio file formats like .wav and .mp3, limitations of sound hardware like RAM, and concepts like mono versus stereo audio.

1. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
1
Produce a glossary of terms specific to the methods and principles of sound design and production. Using a provided template, you must
research and gather definitions specific to provided glossary terms. Any definitions must be referenced with the URL link of the website you
have obtained the definition.
You must also, where possible, provide specific details of how researched definitions relate to your own production practice.
Name: Ben
Atherton
RESEARCHED DEFINITION (provide short internet researched definition
and URL link)
DESCRIBE THE RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCHED
TERM TO YOUR OWN PRODUCTION PRACTICE?
SOUND DESIGN
METHODOLOG
Y
Foley Artistry
Foley artists match live sound effects with the action of the picture.
The sound effects are laid "manually"and not cut in with film.
Foleying is an excellent means ofsupplying the subtle sounds that
production mikes often miss.The rustling ofclothing and a queak of a
saddle when a rider mounts his horse give a scene a touch of realism that
is difficult to provide using other effects methods.
http://www.filmsound.org/terminology/foley.htm
Foleyartistrywas used whenwe were recording sounds for
the cut scene we usedit to generate sounds suchas
footsteps which we thenmanuallyedited intoour cut
scene, we tookanaudiorecorder andthenhad someone
walk onthe spot onconcrete andheldthe microphone
close to it andthen we hadcreateda footstep soundwhich
then imported intoreaper andusedwhere appropriate on
the cut scene
Sound Libraries a collection of sounds stored on file (for example on CDs, DVDs, or as
digital audio files)
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sound-library
Sound libraries were used on multiple occasions during my
productionI used the college
SOUND FILE
FORMATS
Uncompressed Uncompressed audio files are the most accurate digital
representation of a soundwave, but can also be the most resource-
intensive method of recording and storing digital audio, both in
terms of storage and management. Their accuracy makes them
suitable for archiving and delivering audio at high resolution, and
working with audio at a professional level, and they are the 'master'
audio format of choice.
http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/uncompressed-audio-file-
formats
I useduncompressedaudio filesinmygame as these are
the best qualityaudiofiles to use and theyuse the least
memoryon the computer andas mygame is onlysmall the
large file size that these use doesn’t reallyaffect the game
.wav A Wave fileis an audio fileformat,created by Microsoftthat has become
a standard PC audio fileformatfor everything from system and game
sounds to CD-quality audio.A Wave fileis identified by a filename
extension of WAV (.wav). Used primarily in PCs,the Wave fileformat has
been accepted as a viableinterchangemedium for other computer
I used.wavfiles for everything that I renderedout of
reaper as this is the most common file format and
compatible withalmost everything

2. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
2
platforms,such as Macintosh.This allows contentdevelopers to freely
move audio files between platforms for processing,for example.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Wave-file
.aiff Audio Interchange File Format - developed by Apple and Amiga.
Works similarly to WAV but uses a different method of dividing the
PCM data into manageable chunks. Widely available free codecs
for all platforms. AIFF is the native format for audio on Mac OSX
[Note: Mac OSX is also WAV compatible at all levels].
AIFF also has the facility to store a loop point for the audio, and
also a musical note, both of which features are useful for playing
back musical samples.
.aiff is the audiofile format mostlyusedonmacs because
of this I have not used thisformat as I have not usedmacs
and it wouldn’t be compatible witha lot of pc programmes
however thiswouldbe a useful format for creating sounds
on a mac because of the fact that you canstore a loop
point in the audio soyou don’t have to dothis manuallyin
external software
.au (AUdio file) A digital audio file format from Sun that is used on the I
nternet and can be played by a Java program. It provides toll-
quality sound and uses the .AU extension. Itgenerally uses the u-
Law (mu-Law) encoding method, and raw u-
Law files and AU files are the same except for the file header.
I have not used .auas this is a java audioformat and
nothing I have neededto put mysounds into have used
java so this wouldbe incompatible withmost of the
software that I have used
.smp An ".smp" file may be one of several different types of audio file. For
example, it could be a SampleVision audio sample file. This 16-bit audio
file was originally used by Turtle Beach SampleVision; you can open it
with Adobe Auction, Sound Forge Pro or Awave Studio. It could also be a
sample file for AdLib Gold, a PC sound card released in 1992; Scream
Tracker, a mid-1990s music editing program; or Swell. Reason, a music
recording and production program, uses the ".smp" extension for sampler
instrument patches.
http://www.ehow.com/info_12198596_file-smp.html
I have not used smp’s as thisis quite anoldfile format and
wouldnot allow for the qualityof audiothat I have used
Lossy
Compression
lossycompressionis a type of compression where a certain amount of
informationis discarded.
As an aside, the time maysoon come whenstorage is socheapthat there is no
need for lossycompression.
lossycompression, onthe other hand, means some data are lost duringshrinking.
I have not practicallyusedlossycompression as I haven’t
wantedto dropthe qualityof the audio as all myprojects
are quite small andI wanted to maximize the qualityof my
audiohowever I can see Lossycompression beingvery
useful inlarger projects where keeping the size lower is a
priorityas people don’t want to downloadmultiple
gigabytes worthof uncompressed soundfiles
.mp3 There are many audio file formats of which the first was MPEG-1
Audio Layer 3 -- or more commonly referred to as MP3. It is
I haven’t used MP3 as all myaudio was done in.wav
however I know that thisis a standard audioformat and

3. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
3
a lossy compression algorithm that removes certain frequencies
that humans can't hear. When creating an MP3 file, the bitrate that
is used to encode the audio has a big effect on the quality of the
sound. Setting a bitrate that is too low can produce a file that has
poor sounding quality.
http://mp3.about.com/od/glossary/g/mp3def.htm
wouldbe better to use innone windows onlybased
projects
AUDIO
LIMITATIONS
Sound Processor
Unit (SPU)
Also called a "sound board" or "audio adapter," it is a plug-
in card that records and plays back sound. Supporting both digital a
udio and MIDI, sound cards provide an inputport for a microphone o
r other sound source and output ports to speakers and amplifiers. S
ound circuits are typically built into the chipset on the motherboard,
but can be disabled if a separatesound card is installed
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Audio+processing+unit
A sound processor unit is the part of the computer that
process sounds that a computer makes and allows you to
record sound most moderncomputers come with these
built inwiththe motherboardhowever you canstill buya
specializedsound card if you want better qualitysound
within your computer andthe abilityto do most things
with it
Digital Sound
Processor (DSP)
A digital signalprocessor (DSP) is a specializedmicroprocessor designed
specificallyfor digital signal processing, generallyinreal-time computing. The DSP
processes digital signals converted(usinganAnalog-to-digitalconverter (ADC))
from analog signals. Output is then convertedbackto analogform usinga Digital-
to-analog converter (DAC).
A digital soundprocessor is a processor withinthe
computer that canconvert analogue signalsintodigital
signals and back again
Random Access
Memory (RAM)
RAMis volatile memorythat stores data for a temporaryamount of time before
either moving it to the ROMor wipingIt, it handlesdata that doesn’t needto be
kept for verylong suchas what you have copiedandis wipedwhenthe computer
is turnedoff
RAMis volatile memorythat stores data for a temporary
amount of time before either moving it to the ROMor
wipingI, it handlesdata that doesn’t needto be kept for
very long such as what you have copiedandis wiped when
the computer is turned offyou have to take this into
consideration when dealing withsoundas you don’t want
the sounds to take uptoomuchram as other things need
to use this as welland if your soundis using all of the ram
then you hinder everyother aspect ofthe project as they
have muchlessram to work withandsoundshouldonly
use a minimum amount comparedto other things suchas
the picture that you’re looking at
Mono Audio 1. Commonly called mono sound, mono, or non-stereo sound, this
early sound system used a single channel of audio for sound
output. In monophonic sound systems, the signal sent to the sound
system encodes one single stream of sound and it usually uses just
one speaker.
Mono audiosends the exact same soundto everyspeaker
it doesn’t give anyillusionof space and everythingsounds
like it’s inthe same space I didn’t use monoaudioas it
hinders the qualityof the audiothat you canproduce
Stereo Audio Stereophonic sound or, more commonly, stereo, is a method of
sound reproduction that creates an illusion of directionality and
Stereo audiois what I workedin as it allows you to create
the illusion ofspace andyou can make sounds seemlike

4. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
4
audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two or more
independent audio channels through a configuration of two or
more loudspeakers (or stereo headphones) in such a way as to
create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in
natural hearing Thus the term "stereophonic" applies to so-called
"quadraphonic" and "surround-sound" systems as well as the more
common two-channel, two-speaker systems. It is often contrasted
with monophonic, or "mono" sound, where audio is in the form of
one channel, often centered in the sound field (analogous to
a visual field). Stereo sound is now common in entertainment
systems such as broadcast radio and TV, recorded music and the
cinema.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereophonic_sound
theyare closer or further awayfrom the listener or directly
walkingpast the listener it allows you to create much
higher qualityaudioanddo a lot more withinediting and
therefore wasa much better choice for myaudio
Surround Sound Surroundsoundis a speaker setupwhere the listener is surrounded byspeakers
this gives the illusionof sound comingfrom all directions andmakes for a much
more pleasant listeningexperience andis the highest qualityaudio setup however
surround sound setups tendto be a lot more expensive thanother setups
I didn’t use surroundsoundwithin myproductionas I
didn’t have access to surroundsoundtechnology so I
couldn’t use thisas I wouldn’t be able to hear most of the
effects of thisto see what theysoundlike
Direct Audio
(Pulse Code
Modulation –
PCM)
“Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used
to digitally represent sampled analogue signals. It is the
standard form of digital audio in computers, Compact
Discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a
PCM stream, the amplitude of the analogue signal is sampled
regularly at uniform intervals, and each sample is quantized to
the nearest value within a range of digital steps.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-code_modulation
Direct Audio PCMallows you to digitallyrepresent
analogue audio
AUDIO
RECORDING
SYSTEMS
Analogue An analogue recording is one that is made by changing the
sound waves into electrical signals of the same type.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/analogue
An analogue recordingis one that is made bychanging the
soundwaves intoelectricalsignals ofthe same type.
Digital Mini Disc a digital discmediumforstoringmusicordata where a small discis
housedin acartridge and iseitherrecordable orplayback
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/minidisc
A digital minidisc is a mediumfor storing audioon a small
diskthat canboth recordaudio and playit backI didnot
use thisas I have not exportedanyaudiointoa physical
format
Compact Disc
(CD)
Compactdisc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format.The format
was originallydeveloped to store and play only sound recordings butwas
later adapted for storage ofdata (CD-ROM). Several other formats were
further derived from these,including write-once audio and data storage
A CD is the most commonstorage mediafor anyaudio and
is the one supportedbymost systems that canplaymusic
off a physical media if I exportedaudiointoanyphysical
media I wouldof most likelyuseda CD

5. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
5
(CD-R), rewritable media (CD-RW),Video CompactDisc (VCD), Super
Video CompactDisc (SVCD), Photo CD, PictureCD,CD-i, and Enhanced
Music CD. Audio CDs and audio CD players have been commercially
available since October 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc
Digital Audio
Tape (DAT)
1. Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and
playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In
appearance it is similar to a Compact Cassette, using 4 mm
magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the
size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm.
2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Tape
DAT is a oldphysical medium for storing data that is almost
redundant nowas it’s veryeasilydamaged and cannot
store as muchaudio as the more modern formats
MIDI MIDI Stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface." It is a connectivity
standardthat musicians useto hook together musical instruments (such as
keyboards and synthesizers) and computer equipment.
http://techterms.com/definition/midi
I have usedMIDI to produce some sounds ofmyown I
usedthe MIDI keyboardto produce sequencesof sounds
and uploadedthem soundcloud
Software
Sequencers
1. A music sequencer (or simplysequencer) is a device or
application software thatcan record,edit, or play back music,by handling
note and performance information in several forms,typically MIDI or
CV/Gate, and possiblyaudio and automation data for DAWs and plug-ins.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_sequencer
I have useda software sequence calledREAPER media this
allowedme to edit sounds change pitches adjust panand
also the playbackspeeds ofaudio clips it also allowedme
to use of MIDI andsoftware plugins to addeffects
Software Plug-ins An audio plug-in, in computer software,is a plug-in that can add or
enhance audio-related functionalityin a computer program.Such
functionality may include digital signal processing or sound synthesis.
Audio plug-ins usuallyprovide their own user interface,which often
contains GUI widgets thatcan be used to control and visualise the plug-in's
audio parameters
I usedsoftware plugins inmyproduction to make the voice
acting inthe cutscene soundless ridgedandtune the
voices to eliminate the wrong tones beingusedand to
make the actors soundmore like there characters
MIDI Keyboard
Instruments
1. A MIDI keyboard is typically a piano-style user interface keyboarddevice
used for sending MIDI signals or commands over a USB or MIDIcable to
other devices connected and operating on the same MIDIprotocol interface.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI_keyboard
I usedmidi keyboard instruments to create some custom
sounds I never reallyused it for anythingpractical as I
didn’t needit however I did make some sounds just to get
the feel of how it workedshouldI ever need it
AUDIO
SAMPLING
File Size
Constraints - Bit-
depth
In digital audio using pulse-code modulation (PCM), bit depth is the number
of bits of information in each sample, and it directly correspondsto the resolution of
each sample. Examples of bit depth include Compact Disc Digital Audio, w hich uses
16 bits per sample, and DVD-Audio and Blu-ray Disc w hich can support up to 24 bits
per sample.
In basic implementations, variations in bit depth primarily affect the noise level
fromquantization error—thus the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and dynamic range.
How ever, techniques such as dithering, noise shaping and oversampling mitigate
Most of myaudiowas created in16 bit as I didn’t feel the
need to use 24bit as it was never going to be exported into
anybig projects andnothing I was goingto be use it for
wouldreallybenefit byusing24 bit sounds and anything
below 16 bit limits what I candowith mysounds quite
greatlyas most 8 bit sounds are ‘chiptunes’ anddon’t
allowfor the fullsounds that we knowtoday

6. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
6
these effects without changing the bit depth. Bit depth also affects bit rate and file
size.
Bit depth is only meaningful in reference to a PCM digital signal. Non-PCM formats,
such as lossy compression formats like MP3, AACand Vorbis, do not have
associated bit depths. For example, in MP3, quantization is performed on PCM
samples that have been transformed into the frequency domain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth
File Size
Constraints -
Sample Rate
A frequency of how many times audio is measured per second,usually
measured in kilohertz(kHz); a usual number you mightsee is 44.1kHz.
This is tied directly to bit depth or the number of bits measured in each
cycle
http://superuser.com/questions/388382/what-does-the-sample-rate-and-
sample-size-of-audio-means
I kept mysample rate as default as I didn’t particularlyfeel
a needto change this