Joint (audio engineering)

In audio engineering, joint refers to a joining of several channels of similar information in order to obtain higher quality, a smaller file size, or both. In audio engineering, joint refers to a joining of several channels of similar information in order to obtain higher quality, a smaller file size, or both. The term joint stereo has become prominent as the Internet has allowed for the transfer of relatively low bit rate, acceptable-quality audio with modest Internet access speeds. Joint stereo refers to any number of encoding techniques used for this purpose. Two forms are described here, both of which are implemented in various ways with different codecs, such as MP3, AAC and Ogg Vorbis. This form of joint stereo uses a technique known as joint frequency encoding, which functions on the principle of sound localization. Human hearing is predominantly less acute at perceiving the direction of certain audio frequencies. By exploiting this characteristic, intensity stereo coding can reduce the data rate of an audio stream with little or no perceived change in apparent quality. More specifically, the dominance of inter-aural time differences (ITD) for sound localization by humans is only present for lower frequencies. That leaves inter-aural amplitude differences (IAD) as the dominant location indicator for higher frequencies. The idea of intensity stereo coding is to merge the lower spectrum into just one channel (thus reducing overall differences between channels) and to transmit a little side information about how to pan certain frequency regions to recover the IAD cues. This type of coding does not perfectly reconstruct the original audio because of the loss of information which results in the simplification of the stereo image and can produce perceptible compression artifacts. However, for very low bit rates this type of coding usually yields a gain in perceived quality of the audio. It is supported by many audio compression formats (including MP3, AAC, Vorbis and Opus) but not always by every encoder. M/S stereo coding transforms the left and right channels into a mid channel and a side channel. The mid channel is the sum of the left and right channels, or M = L + R {displaystyle M=L+R} . The side channel is the difference of the left and right channels, or S = L − R {displaystyle S=L-R} . Unlike intensity stereo coding, M/S coding is a special case of transform coding, and retains the audio perfectly without introducing artifacts. Lossless codecs such as FLAC or Monkey's Audio use M/S stereo coding because of this characteristic. To reconstruct the original signal, the channels are either added L = M + S 2 {displaystyle L={frac {M+S}{2}}} or subtracted R = M − S 2 {displaystyle R={frac {M-S}{2}}} This form of coding is also sometimes known as matrix stereo and is used in many different forms of audio processing and recording equipment. It is not limited to digital systems and can even be created with passive audio transformers or analog amplifiers. One example of the use of M/S stereo is in FM stereo broadcasting, where L + R {displaystyle L+R} modulates the carrier wave and L − R {displaystyle L-R} modulates a subcarrier. Another example of M/S stereo is the stereophonic microgroove record. Lateral motions of a stylus represent the sum of two channels and the vertical motion represents the difference between the channels. Joint frequency encoding is an encoding technique used in audio data compression to reduce the data rate.