Audio technology

Four teachers will work with the students to explore the vast range of audio techniques and ensure that they assimilate the concepts and practices. The team is coordinated by Pierre-Antoine Signoret.

Teaching is organised in thematic modules spread over the first three years of the course.

• First year - Audio basics and concepts: theoretical teaching accompanied by tutorials and practical work. The tutorials are designed to illustrate the theoretical concepts covered by means of practical examples; the practical work involves small groups carrying out an "audit" of the Conservatoire's amphitheatre control room.
• Second year - Further study: Methods and rules of the art in different areas (recording, post-production with or without image, broadcasting, sound, studio design, etc.). Teaching is divided between theory and tutorials (digital metrology, reading installation diagrams and plans, technical appraisal of modular equipment, calibration, verification, optimisation of low- and medium-complexity installations, etc.).

Third year: third year teaching is based around the design and construction of a complex installation at the Conservatoire and a series of lectures covering the various specificities of the audio world.

Course content :

Descriptive parameters of the audio signal.

Characteristics of audio equipment.

Fitting criteria and equipment

Level indicators, listening level measurement, broadcast level measurement

Analogue consoles

Signal digitisation and spectral analysis

Digital codes

Digital audio interfaces

Equipment synchronisation

Sampling frequency conversion

Converter technology.

Digital console technology

Digital filtering

Plug-in development techniques

Media technologies.

Workstation architecture.

Operating systems

File systems

Audio files and their field of use

Audio networks, servers and work sharing

Mass storage and audio archiving

Bit rate reduction

Multichannel coding

Audio techniques for HDTV

Transmission techniques.

Metrology (analogue and digital)

Tutorial topics:

Interface metrology.

Digital audio synchronisation, undesirable effects

Simulation of Sigma DPCM converters

Encoding and listening to the main bit-rate reduction systems.

Encoding and listening to the main systems used in broadcasting (PAD, Dolby E, Cinema, etc.).

Implementation of a medium-complexity installation (cabling, configuration, calibration, checking).

Design and implementation of a complex installation (cabling, configuration, calibration, checking).

Content covered as part of the first year "audit

Introduction to the acoustics of an audio control room and summary acoustic study (specific modes, layouts, etc.)

Descriptive parameters of the audio signal

Technical plan and interfaces used, symmetry and asymmetry, ground and shielding.

Working levels and alignments (dBu, dB Fs), level indicators, optimisation of dynamics

Impedance matching (voltage and power), cabling, soldering

Structure of a workstation, reading synoptic diagrams

Characteristics of a listening selector

Law of intensity panning in stereophony, vinyl RIAA filter

Simple electro-acoustic measurements (loudspeaker, microphone). Response curves, directivity...

Phantom power and consumption

Analogue console

Analogue recording

Professional and consumer equipment

Introduction to audio metrology, simple measurements using a sound level meter, multimeter and oscilloscope

Introduction to audio metrology, elaborate measurements using an Audio-Precision measurement bench (levels, response curves, background noise, distortion, spectral analysis...)

Conference topics :

HF system techniques and their use

Audio and the Internet (integration, indexing, streaming)

Digital consoles

Sound reinforcement techniques (tools, equipment, amplifiers)

Television sets - Implementation techniques, intercom, live, multiplex, etc.

Live music recording and transmission

Major operations (Tour de France, major sporting events, elections, Victoires de la Musique, etc.)

Radio and television transmission techniques for image and sound.

PAD

Digital cinema techniques and connected cinemas

Vintage audio techniques, tubes, FETs, bipolar transistors, operational amplifiers, etc.

Analogue peripherals and their principles (compressors, artificial reverberation, etc.)

Analogue recorders and noise reduction techniques (Dolby A, SR, Telcom, etc.)

FSMS 1-2-3

In the first two years, students are assessed by exams or practical work reports.

An examination at the end of the third year verifies the acquisition of knowledge and judges the student's ability to apply it in a professional environment. During this examination, each student must design a technical installation project and explain his or her choices in front of a jury.