Presentation for UGC Sponsored National Seminar on Understanding Digital Sound- Music/Sound Recording Techniques organised by SVT College of Home Science, SNDT Women’s university, Mumbai. March 8-9, 2016

1. SOUND AIR WAVES:
DIGITISATION IN INDIAN SOCIETY
Mira K Desai
Associate Professor & I/C Head
University Department of Extension Education,
SNDT Women’s University, Juhu Campus,
Mumbai

2. Sound in Human Existence

3. Fourth Industrial Revolution
• 1st : Water and Steam to
mechanise production
• 2nd : Electric power for mass
production
• 3rd : Electronic & IT to
automate production
• 4th : Digital Revolution
[Source: World Economic Forum
http://www.weforum.org ]

4. Sound to Audio.....
Technological
Evolution

5. Digital Audio: Media & Processes
• Music
• Film
• Television
• Radio
• Recording
• Transmission
• Reception
• Reproduction
• Storage

6. Audio Recording Evolution
[Sound recording using mechanical devices]
• ‘Acoustic era’ between 1877 to 1925 when
sound only from 250 Hz up to about 2,500 Hz
• ‘Electrical era’ was from 1925 to 1945 till
television arrived.
• ‘Magnetic era’ from 1945 to 1975 witnessed
developments of tapes.
• ‘Digital era’ post-1975 but the word digital
came first time in 1938.

7. Audio Formats
1988 1991 1993 1993
FILM

8. Digitalization in India
• 1995- Airwaves/Frequencies as ‘Public Property’
• 1996- FM Radio licenses to private broadcasters
• 2002/06 - Community radio movement in India,
Beginning of TV digitisation through CAS
• 2012 - Analog sunset in four metros, 31 Dec 2016
new deadline for closing of analog TV in India
• 2015 July- Launch of Dept of Electronics and IT,
GOI Digital India Project in three phases

9. NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2015: Our Digital Future by Padmasree Warrior, CISCO,
12 Feb 2015 URL: http://www.slideshare.net/nasscom/nasscom-ilf-2015-44598308

10. Implications of Digitization
• 4A: Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere, Anything
• Oppotunities: Creation, Less space and more
Storage, Transmission, Consumption, Sharing
and archiving, Giving VOICES
• Challenges: Infrastructure, Privacy, data
ownership, Loss of formality and camouflaged
connectivity, Lack of patience/depth,
Temporariness, Losing Reality and lived
virtuality.