Commercial Music Software – Final Exam: Fall 2015
I. Matching
1. _____ a person who assists an artist in creating the best possible recording that reflects the artist's vision
2. _____ an acoustic space utilized to capture sound
3. _____ a space utilized as a critical listening environment
4. _____ device which allows an engineer to combine, control, and distribute audio signals
5. _____ creating a composite track that combines the best parts of multiple takes into a single “master” take
6. _____ the process of making fine-tune adjustments such as relative level balancing between songs, dynamic level, EQ, and song sequence editing (if multiple songs are involved) to a final, edited mixdown
7. _____ listening to any of the following: input signals, headphone mixes, control room mixes, final mixes, etc.
8. _____ the phenomenon by which an area of air pressure is created which is below the normal atmospheric level
9. _____ the phenomenon by which loud signals prevent the ear from hearing softer sounds
10. _____ sound waves that bounce off of surfaces and arrive at the microphone or a listener between 0 – 50 ms after the direct sound
Word Bank for Matching a. rarefaction b. compression e. studio f. control room c. reverberation g. monitoring i. producer j. masking k. mixer/console d. early reflections h. overdubbing l. comping m. mastering
II. True or False
1. _____ Equal loudness contours describe how the human ear responds to complex waveforms.

2. _____ The threshold on a gate determines how quickly the gate will go from a state of beingopen (unprocessed) to a state of being closed (processed).
3. _____ The ratio on a compressor ultimately determines how much gain reduction will occur.
4. _____ In Reaper, pressing Shift while clicking and dragging upward at the top of an item will increase that item’s volume.
5. _____ Dynamic mics require phantom power.
6. _____ A bidirectional mic picks up signal from the back, but not from the sides.
7.
_____
A noise gate filters out frequencies of instruments that were not intended to be picked up by a particular microphone.
III. Multiple Choice
1.
The symbol used to represent bandwidth is: a. B b. F c. Q d. W
2. The suggested SPL for monitoring is: a. 80dB b. 85dB c. 95dB
3. Which of the following are waveform characteristics? d. 100dB a. rarefaction b. frequency c. reflection d. release e. amplitude
IV. Fill in the Blank
1. Name two cables that carry digital audio: ________________ _________________
2. Name two types of stereo miking techniques: ______________ ______________
3. Name 4 standard frequencies on a 31-band graphic EQ:
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
V. Sketch a peak filter with bands set as follows:
Low: Boost 3 dB at 60 Hz with a narrow bandwidth
Mid: Cut 6 dB at 500 Hz with a normal bandwidth
High: Boost 3 dB at 8 kHz with a wide bandwidth
What type of EQ is this? __________________________
Merry Christmas!