Instructors:

Jonathan S. Abel (abel@ccrma.stanford.edu)
David P. Berners (dpberner@ccrma.stanford.edu)
Office hours after class and by appointment.

Teaching Assistant:

Song Hui Chon (shchon@ccrma.stanford.edu)

Time and Place

Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:15 - 2:30 PM CCRMA (the Knoll), room 217 (map)

Grading and Credit

The course is given for three units credit; students successfully completing an optional project will receive one unit additional credit. Projects may be proposed in the first two weeks of May, and are due the day of the final exam. Grading is based on performance on problem sets, laboratory exercises and midterm and final exams, weighted as follows: 30% Problem Sets and Labs, 30% Midterm Exam, and 40% Final Exam.

Collaboration on problem sets and labs is encouraged, but students must write up their submissions individually. Problem set and lab solutions will typically be available at the first class meeting after the due date. The TA will set policy with respect to problem sets and labs, including accepting late problem sets and labs and grading.

Course Material

There is no required text. Lecture notes can be purchased from TA. Other materials, such as articles and journals will occasionally be provided as handouts and posted to the course web site.

Course Outline

We plan to cover most of the following topics:

  1. Dynamic Range Control (Compression)
    • Definitions; Processing Architectures
    • Detection and Gain Computation; Analog Detectors
    • Applications, Architectures and Improvements
  2. Reverberation and Impulse Response Measurement
    • LTI Systems, Statistics Review
    • Golay Code, Allpass Chirp Impulse Response Measurement
    • Specular Refections and the Image Method
    • Reverberation Analysis and Psychoacoustics
    • Reverberation Acoustics and Impulse Response Synthesis
    • Low-Latency Convolution
    • Feedback Delay Network Reverberation
  3. Equalization and Filtering
    • z-Plane, s-Plane and Fourier, Laplace relationships
    • Parametric Sections and Shelf Filters
    • Optimal Filters
    • Filter Phase, Linear and Minimum Phase
    • Critical-Band Smoothing, Bark and ERB Frequency Scales
    • Frequency Warping
    • IIR Filter Design and Prony's Method
    • Time-Varying and Envelope Filters
  4. Delay and Distortion Processing
    • Fractional Sample and Time Varying Delay
    • Echo, Chorus, Flanging; Phasing
    • Sampling Rate Conversion and Antialiasing Filter Design
    • Distortion Processing
  5. Panning and Spatialization
    • Stereo and Multichannel Panning
    • Spatial Hearing and 3D Audio