A Guide to the Sampling Distribution
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There is a lot of talk in the audio world of “sampling distribution” and what it means for producers and artists. So, what is sampling distribution, and why is it so important?
A sampling distribution is how a sound is sampled – how a digital audio file is divided into individual “samples” or “pitches.” Sampling distribution can greatly impact the quality of a sound file because it determines the amount of variation in the sound that is
For example, suppose a producer samples a sound from a live instrument and divides it into 10,000 individual samples. In that case, each sample will represent only 0.1% of the sound’s overall range. If the producer wants to create a digital file that sounds like the sound came from a live instrument, they’ll need to capture a lot of variation in each sample – which means the file will be large and may have a lot of “noise” (unwanted sounds). On the other hand, if the producer samples the sound from a recorded instrument and divides it into 100,000 individual samples, each sample will represent only 1% of the sound’s overall range. In this case, the file will be smaller and have less noise.
So, the sampling distribution is important for two main reasons: first, it affects the quality of the sound file; and second, it affects the amount of data that needs to be captured to create a realistic-sounding file.