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1.3 AN OVERVIEW OF HARD DISK RECORDING
The term Hard Disk Recording refers to the conversion of analog audio signals
from a microphone or instrument into digital form (data) and storing it on a hard
disk drive. A hard disk could be compared to a roll of tape used in analog
recording.
This is where the comparison ends, because once the data is stored on the disk it
can be manipulated in ways much superior to tape (such as less generational loss
during copying, instant location to any point with in the program material and
word processor or sequencer type editing of sound.)
The digital conversion process is done by the analog-to-digital converter which
takes a snapshot (sample) of the analog signal forty-four(or forty-eight) thousand
times a second and transforms it into a number. This number is represented as a
word in binary form eg. 1010110010100101. RADAR II is a 24-bit system
meaning that the data word has 16.7 million different levels of resolution per
sample. This sample is sent to RADAR II's DSP (Digital Signal Processing) unit
and on to the disk drive where it is stored as a tiny magnetized area.
A hard disk is similar to a phonograph in that it has spinning platters and a
pickup mechanism. The main difference would be that the pickup arm of a hard
disk never makes contact with the platter, but merely hovers over it and reads the
data magnetically. Hard disk technology has improved dramatically in the last
few years to the point where disk lifetime is measured in hundreds of thousands
of hours of constant use; this is with absolutely no maintenance.
Converting back to audio form is done when the drive reads the data and sends it
back to the CPU. From the CPU, the signals travel to the digital-to-analog
converters and on to the mixer to become sound again. When sound is recorded
and played back digitally it accumulates extremely low levels of distortion from
analog to digital and back to analog form. The dynamic range (the difference
between the quietest and loudest sounds) of the original signal is preserved so
well that compression or gain riding is unnecessary to achieve a high signal to
noise ratio.
Edition 1
1-6
S E C T I O N 1
Summary of Contents for RADAR II
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