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Information about Monoaural

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Label for 1.0 sound, mono.
Monaural (often shortened to mono) sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or, in the case of headphones or multiple loudspeakers, they are fed from a common signal path, and in the case of multiple microphones, mixed into a single signal path at some stage.

Monaural sound has been replaced by stereo sound in most entertainment applications. However, it remains the standard for:

History

While some experiments were made with stereophonic recording and reproduction from the early days of the phonograph in the late 19th century, until the second half of the 20th century monaural was the rule for almost all audio recording.

Monaural sound is normal on: Incompatible standards exist for:
  • Later records (monophonic records, which had almost disappeared by 1968, could be played with a stereo cartridge, but not the other way around).
  • Reel-to-reel audio tape recording (Depending on track alignment)
Compatible monaural and stereophonic standards exist for: No monaural standard exists for: At various times, artists have preferred to work in mono, either in recognition of the technical limitations of the equipment of the era or due to a simple preference. This can be seen as analogous to film makers working in black and white. Some early recordings such as The Beatles Please Please Me were re-released in the CD era as monophonic in recognition that the source tapes for the earliest recordings were two track, with vocals on one track, instruments on the other, and this was actually intended to provide flexibility in producing a final mono mix, not to actually provide a stereo recording, although due to demand, this was done anyway and the early material was available on vinyl in either mono or stereo formats. In the 1970s, it was common in the pop world that stereophonic versions of mono tracks were generated electronically using filtering techniques to attempt to pick out various instruments and vocals, but these were often considered unsatisfactory due to the artifacts of the conversion process.

Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick both shot in mono because of personal preferences. Until Eyes Wide Shut, which used 6-track stereo (for use in an array of speakers behind the screen), Kubrick's only stereo film was .

Monaural LP records were eventually phased out and no longer manufactured after the early 1970s. During the 1960s, it was common that albums were released as both monaural LPs and stereo LPs, occasionally with slight differences between the two (again detailed information of The Beatles recordings provide a good example of the differences). This was because many people owned mono record players which were incapable of playing stereo records, as well as the prevalence of AM radio. Because of the limited quantities pressed and alternate mixes of several tracks, the monaural versions of these albums are often valued more highly than their stereo LP counterparts in record collecting circles today.

Among the harder-to-find monaural albums from the late 60's and early 70's...

See also

microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or mic (both IPA pronunciation: [maɪk]), is an acoustic to electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal.
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You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since February 2007.
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Headphones (also known as earphones, earbuds, stereophones, headsets, or by the slang term cans) are a pair of tiny loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, with a way of holding them close to a user's ears and a means of connecting them
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In telecommunication, signalling (UK spelling) or signaling (US spelling) has the following meanings:
  • The use of signals for controlling communications.

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Stereophonic sound, commonly called stereo, is the reproduction of sound, using two or more independent audio channels, through a symmetrical configuration of loudspeakers, in such a way as to create a pleasant and natural impression of sound heard from various directions,
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A radiotelephone is a communications device that allows two or more people to talk using radio. There is disagreement about the definition of the term. There is a conflict between British English usage, American English usage, and historic use.
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The telephone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly speech). Most telephones operate through transmission of electric signals over a complex telephone network which allows almost any phone user to communicate with almost anyone.
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induction loop is a simple coil wire transceiver.

One use of an induction loop is in inductive loop detection where the coil is used to detect metal objects. Applications for this include vehicle detection at traffic lights and car parks in Parking Guidance and
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hearing aid is an instrument that brings sound more effectively to the listener's ear,[1] helping hearing impaired people hear sounds better. Early devices were passive, and attempted to gather sound energy and direct it to the ear.
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Edison cylinder phonograph ca. 1899]] The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the 1870s through the 1980s.

Terminology

Usage of these terms is not uniform across the English-speaking world (see below).
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For the periodical, see .
The 19th Century (also written XIX century) lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar. It is often referred to as the "1800s.
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twentieth century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar. Some historians consider the era from about 1914 to 1991 to be the Short Twentieth Century.
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Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, usually used for the voice or for music.

The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
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phonograph cylinders. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1888–1915), these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played on a mechanical phonograph.
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gramophone record (also phonograph record, or simply record) is an analogue sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove starting near the periphery and ending near the center of the disc.
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Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, r/min, or r·min−1) is a unit of frequency: the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis.
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For the song by Everclear, see .


AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using Amplitude Modulation.

History

:
Main article: History of radio

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Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette.
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MiniDisc

The Sony MZ1 MiniDisc player, the first to hit the market in 1992.
Media type: Magneto-optical disc
Encoding: ATRAC, linear PCM (with Hi-MD)
Capacity: 80 min (standard MiniDisc), up to 45 hours of audio (1 GB capacity) (with Hi-MD)
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Compact Cassette

Typical 60-minute Compact Cassette
Media type: magnetic tape
Encoding: analog signal
Capacity: 23 minutes per side (C46)
30 minutes per side (C60)
45 minutes per side (C90)
50 minutes per side (C100)
60 minutes per side (C120)
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FM broadcasting is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation (FM) to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio.
Main article: frequency modulation

Broadcast bands


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For the song by Everclear, see .


AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using Amplitude Modulation.

History

:
Main article: History of radio

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Radio is the wireless transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space.
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Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults.
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NICAM stands for Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex. It is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks.
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Television (often abbreviated to TV, T.V., or more recently, tv; sometimes called telly, the tube, boob tube, or idiot box in British English) is a widely used telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures
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NICAM stands for Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex. It is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks.
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Stereo 8

An 8-track cartridge of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Media type: magnetic tape
Encoding: analog signal
Capacity: Four pairs of stereo channels
Read mechanism: tape head
Write mechanism: magnetic recording head
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Compact Disc

The closely spaced tracks on the readable surface of a Compact Disc cause light to diffract into a full visible colour spectrum
Media type: Optical disc
Encoding: Various
Capacity: Typically up to 700 MB
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Black-and-white is a broad adjectival term used to describe a number of monochrome forms of visual arts. Most forms of visual technology start out in black and white, then slowly evolve into color as technology progresses.
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