Journalism Study Questions For Each Note You May Wish Hand These Students

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR EACH CHAPTER

Note: You may wish to hand these to students at the beginning of the semester or before you

Chapter 1: Production Planning

1. What are some sources for ideas for audio projects?

2. Why should you determine goals and objectives, target audience, and style for your

production?

3. What are some of the major traits and skills that audio production people need?

5. What are different ways that you can incorporate voice, music, and sound effects into an

audio production?

6. When do you need to use schedules and performance releases?

7. Define pitch, rate, tone, and volume as they relate to voice.

9. What can you do to build a strong ethical base on which to make decisions?

Chapter 2: The Studio Environment

1. Describe how a production studio, and on-air studio, and a performance studio differ.

3. What is an audio chain?

4. What are some of the requirements that furniture for production studios should meet?

6. Define direct sound, indirect sound, echo, reverberation ring, and reverb route.

7. What is meant by a live studio and a dead studio?

8. What are some techniques for soundproofing, and how does the absorption coefficient relate

to soundproofing?

10. What is the purpose of an on-air light?

11. How do you give hand signals for “standby,” “cue talent,” “cut,” and “give mic level”?

12. What is a signal-to-noise ratio? What is distortion?

13. What is the difference between a sound signal and an audio signal?

15. Describe the four stages of a wave envelope.

Chapter 3: Digital Audio Production

1. How does analog technology differ technically from digital technology?

3. What are some of the reasons for editing?

4. What is “desktop audio” and what are some of the elements needed in order for it to work?

5. How are MIDI and SMPTE time code similar, and how are they different?

7. Briefly explain how you would edit out a word and how you would copy a word in a digital

audio editing system.

8. What is overdubbing?

10. What is ping-ponging and why it is used?

11. How do voice doubling, chorusing, and stacking differ?

13. What is a track sheet?

Chapter 4: Microphones

1. Compare and contrast dynamic microphones and condenser microphones.

3. Define lavaliere, wireless, PZM, parabolic, and shotgun as related to microphones.

5. What is the difference between a pickup pattern and a polar pattern?

6. Define impedance, sensitivity, proximity effect, bass roll-off, and feedback.

7. What are two ways to prevent multiple microphone interference?

10. What is the purpose of a windscreen?

11. What types of mic stands and booms are used for microphones and how do they interact

with shock mounts?

Chapter 5: The Audio Console

1. How do digital audio consoles differ from analog audio consoles?

3. What is the purpose of an input selector?

4. How do the terms fader, variable resistor, potentiometers, and gain trim relate to volume

control?

5. What are the main pieces of equipment related to monitoring?

7. What is a VU meter? What should a board operator do if a VU meter is peaking in the red,

pegging the meter, or riding in the mud?

8. Where might a sound be sent if the output selector is in the program position? The audition

position? The auxiliary position?

10. What is the purpose of an equalizer? A pan pot? A tone generator?

11. What is the difference between a solo switch and a mute switch?

Chapter 6: Digital Audio Players/Recorders

1. What are some of the features of a CD player that make it desirable for playing music on

the radio?

3. What is a CD’s sampling rate and how much information does it hold?

4. What are some principles related to the care of CDs?

5. What is the difference between CD-R and CD-RW?

6. What are some of the advantages of recorders that use removable media cards?

Chapter 7: Monitor Speakers and Studio Accessories

1. What is the most common type of monitor found in a broadcast studio and how does it

operate?

3. How is the construction of the acoustic suspension speaker system different from that of a

bass reflex system?

4. What is a flat frequency response and why is it important in speakers?

5. Describe three acceptable possibilities for positioning speakers in an audio facility.

7. How is it possible for speakers to be out of phase?

8. What is meant by a speaker’s sensitivity?

9. What is the difference between a closed cushion headphone and a hear-through cushion

headphone?

11. What are the major characteristics of each of the following types of connectors: RCA,

XLR, phone, miniphone, BNC, Toslink, and FireWire?

12. How many wires are in a balanced cable system and how many wires are in an unbalanced

system?

14. What is the purpose of a telephone interface?

Chapter 8: Signal Processing and Audio Processors

1. What is the difference between a wet signal and a dry signal?

3. What are the main differences between a graphic equalizer and a parametric equalizer?

4. What is the purpose of equalization?

6. Compare and contrast Dolby and dbx noise reduction systems.

7. How does reverberation affect the imaging of sound?

8. What are two uses for digital delay?

9. How is dynamic range measured?

10. What is the difference between a compressor and an expander?

Chapter 9: Production Situations

1. How are music beds and looping used for commercials?

2. What are some audio elements that people at a radio station can produce to enhance the

station’s image?

4. What are some ways disc jockeys can avoid “walking over” a music ending?

5. What is voice tracking?

7. What are some principles to which newscasters should adhere in order to broadcast an

effective newscast?

8. Give several examples of good ways and bad ways for an interviewer to phrase questions.

9. What are some traits that a talk show host needs?

11. What are some production elements to keep in mind when performing radio drama and

variety shows?

Chapter 10: Location Sound Recording

1. In what ways does location recording differ from studio recording?

3. What are some of the most common location sound problems and how can you correct

them?

5. What are the best types of mics to use on location in terms of construction and

directionality?

6. What factors do you need to take into consideration when miking a musical group?

8. What factors should you be aware of if you plug into house sound?

9. What types of headphones are commonly used on location?

11. What are some things you should do to ensure that the vehicle you use for location work

will serve you and others well?

12. What personal precautions do you need to take if you are a field news reporter?

Chapter 11: Sound Production for the Visual Media

1. Why is sound important to video and film production?

3. What types of video productions most need the microphones to be invisible? Why?

4. Why are cardioid microphones the work horses of video and film production?

6. Describe how microphones are sometimes hidden on a set.

8. What is the difference between single-system sound and double-system sound?

9. Define sound effects, ambient sound, atmosphere sound, room tone, and walla walla, and

tell how each of these are used within the video and film context.

10. What are several different ways that music is provided for video and film productions?

11. Why is ADR needed in video and film production?

13. What is sweetening and why is it needed in video and film production?

14. What is the purpose of the final mix?

Chapter 12: Internet Radio and Other Distribution Platforms

1. What is the purpose of each of the following in relation to streaming audio: sound card,

encoder, server, and player software?

3. What is the difference between streaming files and nonstreaming files?

4. How does bit depth relate to signal-to-noise ratio?

5. How is compression used to reduce bandwidth?

7. What are the three major music licensing agencies and how do they operate?

8. What role does RSS play in podcasting?

9. What are several things you should consider if building a home studio for Internet audio

production?

10. What service do Internet radio listing sites provide?

12. What is a digital distribution network?

13. What are the technical transmission differences between AM and FM?

14. What is another name for HD radio and how does it operate?

Appendix: Analog Audio and Digital Audio Equipment

1. How is analog equipment still used today?

4. How should records be cleaned and stored?

6. What is the head arrangement on tape recorders and why are the heads in the order they are?

8. Describe the tape track configurations of full-track, half-track mono, two-track stereo, and

quarter-track stereo.

9. What are print-through and drop-out and what can you do to prevent them?

10. What is the purpose of sel sync?

11. Describe how cassette and cartridge tapes are mounted in their cases.

13. How does dub editing differ from cut ’n’ splice editing?

14. What are some similarities and differences of analog and digital audio consoles?

15. Describe a Mini-Disc.

16. What technological parameters are used for MiniDisc recording?

17. Why has the DASH format not received wide acceptance in radio stations?