Instruction Manual

530 Editing Audio
Digital Audio Fundamentals
Clipping is not usually desirable and may have unpleasant audible effects.
Sudden irregularities in the waveform of any type can cause clicks, pops,
and distortion of the original sound.
See:
Digital Audio Fundamentals
The Decibel Scale
In acoustics, the decibel (dB) scale is a scale for measuring the relative
loudness of two sounds. For example, environmental noise is often
measured as follows:
L = 20 log (p/p0)
where L is the sound pressure level (in dB), p is the sound pressure
amplitude, and p0 is a reference amplitude of 20 micropascals (less than
one billionth of atmospheric pressure). On this scale, a barely audible
sound (p = p0) has a sound pressure level of 0 dB, normal conversation (p
= 1,000*p0) is at a level of around 60 dB, and a jet engine at close range (p
= 1,000,000*p0) is at a level of around 120 dB.
Similar decibel scales are used in other branches of science and
engineering to measure electrical power levels and other signal levels,
always with respect to some reference level.
In SONAR, decibels are used in several places:
• To indicate volume levels of audio tracks in the Track view and Console
view
• To indicate the effects of filters and equalizers
The reference level (0 dB) usually corresponds to the current loudness of
the sound. A positive change in decibels makes the sound louder; a
negative change makes the sound quieter.
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