Sound Design Audio Effects and Signal Processing

Question 1

What does a compressor do to an audio signal?

Accepted Answer

Reduces the dynamic range by attenuating signals above a set threshold

Answer

Boosts all frequencies equally

Answer

Adds harmonic distortion

Answer

Increases the sample rate

Question 2

What is the 'attack' parameter on a compressor?

Accepted Answer

How quickly the compressor responds to a signal exceeding the threshold

Answer

The amount of gain reduction applied

Answer

The output gain added after compression

Answer

The frequency at which compression is applied

Question 3

What type of effect is a 'convolution reverb'?

Accepted Answer

A reverb that uses an impulse response recording of a real acoustic space to simulate that space

Answer

A synthesized reverb using algorithms

Answer

A type of delay effect

Answer

A modulation effect

Question 4

What is the difference between a 'delay' and a 'reverb' effect?

Accepted Answer

Delay creates discrete repeating echoes; reverb simulates dense reflections that blend into a diffuse tail

Answer

Delay only works on high frequencies; reverb only on low frequencies

Answer

Delay is a time-based effect; reverb is a frequency-based effect

Answer

There is no difference

Question 5

What does a 'high-pass filter' do?

Accepted Answer

Allows only high frequencies to pass through, attenuating low frequencies below the cutoff

Answer

Allows only low frequencies to pass

Answer

Boosts high frequencies with a shelf

Answer

Cuts frequencies at a specific band

Question 6

What is 'sidechain compression' used for in sound design and mixing?

Accepted Answer

Using one signal (the sidechain input) to trigger compression on a different signal

Answer

Compressing only the side channels in mid-side processing

Answer

A type of stereo widening compression

Answer

Compressing only frequencies above 5 kHz