Source coding
Digital radio - Source coding, formatting, data protection

Digitizing an analog audio signal in a professional production studio generates a so-called "native" digital audio format. This consists of the digital results of the physical measurement of the amplitude of the analog signal, taken from the transducer (microphone). This measurement is performed by an analog-to-digital converter circuit (figure 1).

The main parameters specifying this measurement process are :

• the number of measurements taken per second, called the "sampling frequency", the value of a sample corresponding to the amplitude of the analog signal at a given instant;

• measurement accuracy, determined by the number of steps of the measurement scale applied...