The Current State of Audio Technology

With the expansion of multimedia in all aspects of our life, inclusion of audio in that equation is increasingly important. Audio technology has expanded dramatically over the last few years. It has released the professional musician from the expensive commercial studio, allowing him/her to record from the home with the aid of a computer and a multi-tracking recording software program. It has also allowed the non-musician to successfully work with musical formats--editing, mixing, creating new effects, and manipulating sound waves. For multimedia delivery, audio compression technology has allowed the internet user to quickly download music in the format of MP-3s, and also let web designers compress music so that it can be easily added to web sites and other multimedia output formats. In this essay, I will explore the basics of digital audio, as well as some of the fundamental software, editing and compression tools.