Ultimate Quiz On Music Engineering
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People think that playing an instrument is the hardest part of releasing a music album. Well, they are dead wrong. Recording music and releasing it are often ignored perspectives on music creation. The following quiz will teach you the sophistication and depth of recording music and engineering the environment in which the music is created. The experts of this can use this for refreshing their knowledge. Good Luck!
- 1.What is a 'glass master'?
- A.
An award when you exceed sales of 100,000 albums
- B.
The device used to inspect the grooves on a lacquer master
- C.
It is used as the first step in vinyl mastering
- D.
A master disc from which the mother then stampers are made in
- 2.What is the sampling rate standard for compact disc mastering?
- A.
48 kHz
- B.
44.1 kHz
- C.
44.036 kHz
- D.
20 kHz
- 3.This contains: Table of contents, artist information, producer information, date, copy protection, start and end times, song length, pause time, etc.
- A.
PW Code
- B.
UPC Code
- C.
Original Master
- D.
PQ Code
- E.
Index
- 4.What does PMCD stand for
- A.
PQ Mastered CD
- B.
Post Mastered CD
- C.
Pre Mastered CD
- D.
Post Mortum CD
- 5.Red Book CDs are capable of storing how many minutes of audio?
- A.
12 minutes
- B.
60 minutes
- C.
100 minutes
- D.
74 minutes
- 6.Multi-Band Compression
- A.
Allows you to adjust the width of the stereo field
- B.
Allows you to independantly compress different frequency ranges on a single audio signal
- C.
Not often used in mastering
- D.
Does not increase (loudness)
- 7.Using this kind of processor allows you to independently process the mono and side signals of a file.
- A.
Paragraphic eq
- B.
Multiband Shuffler
- C.
Multiband Compressor
- D.
MS Matrix (sum and difference)
- 8.DSD
- A.
Stands for 'difference-side-difference' processing
- B.
Is not used in audio
- C.
Is how digital audio is encoded for DVDs
- D.
Stands for 'direct stream digital' and is how digital audio is encoded for SACD
- E.
None of the above
- 9.A limiter is used in mastering to
- A.
Increase the peak-to-average ratio
- B.
To make a track sound punchier and clearer
- C.
To remove clicks and pops
- D.
To control the peak signals, thus allowing the overall level to be increased
- E.
None of the above
- 10.What is a good listening level when mastering?
- A.
95 dB SPL
- B.
60 dB SPL
- C.
120 dB SPL
- D.
83-85 dB SPL
- E.
Whatever level feels right
- 11.PCM is the digital audio encoding method used on
- A.
Pro Tools
- B.
Red Book CDs
- C.
DVD-A
- D.
Logic
- E.
All of the above
- 12.Limiters in mastering are usually set to have a
- A.
Fast attack and slow release
- B.
Slow attack and fast release
- C.
Slow attack and slow release
- D.
Fast attack and fast release
- E.
None of the above
- 13.Peaks shorter than about 10ms can usually be limited up to 6dB without audible penalty
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 14.When material seems to lack punch or strength, consider
- A.
EQing
- B.
Compressing
- C.
Expanding
- D.
Limiting
- E.
None of the above
- 15.Why is it important to balance the perceived levels from track to track in CD mastering?
- A.
So that there is a consistent flow from track to track.
- B.
So the lister does not have to adjust their volume from track to track
- C.
So that one track does not sound "small" by comparison to the previous track.
- D.
All of the above
- E.
None of the above
- 16.The 3 "tiers" of mastering are Professional, Indie Professional, and Demo Quality
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 17.What is the mastering engineer's most important "tool"?
- A.
EQ
- B.
Compressor
- C.
Monitors
- D.
Ears
- 18.Pro Tools meets all of the criteria necessary for a professional mastering DAW
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 19.Adding more compression helps increase dynamic range.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 20.Intensity is a...
- A.
Objective term used to describe SPL
- B.
Subjective term used to describe SPL
- C.
Objective term used to describe loudness
- D.
Subjective term used to describe loudness
- 21.Which term is used to describe the relationship between Peak and Average Levels?
- A.
Dynamic Range
- B.
Crest Factor
- C.
RMS
- D.
VU
- 22.Re: subjective terms for describing a recording - It is easier to perceive "excess" than "absence"
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 23.Why is a Mastering Engineer's job best described as pre-mastering?
- A.
"Mastering" is done at the manufacturing plant.
- B.
They not only master, but also pre-master.
- C.
Pre-mastering is just a more professional term
- D.
They are also mixing engineer's
- 24.AIF and WAV are PCM Audio formats
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 25.Which file format is not "full-quality"?
- A.
WAV
- B.
AIF
- C.
DSD
- D.
AAC
- 26.It is possible for a DAC to record signals that exceed 0 dBFS
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 27.Why is POW-r Dither different than standard dither?
- A.
Created by industry standard consortium
- B.
Psycho-acoustically optimized
- C.
Specifies 3 "flavors" with easy to understand guidelines for usage
- D.
All of the above
- E.
None of the above
- 28.What does bandwidth limiting mean?
- A.
Compressing for online streaming
- B.
Compressing individual bandwidths
- C.
Limiting the range of the frequency bandwidth
- D.
Limiting the output level of a signal
- E.
Giving the band less creative freedom
- 29.Why can working with near-field monitors in mastering be problematic?
- A.
They may have hype in certain areas of the bandwidth to compensate for acoustic inconsistencies
- B.
They may not truly represent the full compression of a signal
- C.
They cannot always reproduce the full bandwidth
- D.
Insufficient bass response
- E.
All of the above
- 30.Monitoring too loud whilst mastering can leave material lacking low end
- A.
True
- B.
False
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