Many users of audio software at some time face some problem that requires understanding things like signal to noise ratio, dynamic range, operating levels, etc. For example, someone making recordings of acoustic instruments would want them to be less noisy. Does he or she need a better microphone, or another preamp? What does it mean if a microphone has a S/N ratio of X dB? At the same time the published specifications of most hardware are usually incomplete in the best case, or deliberately misleading in most.
The workshop has two major aims: to provide a theoretical introduction that enables the participants to interpret and correctly understand audio specs, and to show how to measure an verify the real performance of some hardware using free software.