How do I become a multimedia programmer?

Recently I'm interesting in multimedia programming but all I know about multimedia is simple and basic concepts related to codecs and container formats. So can you tell me from where to begin and is there some good books which explain multimedia concepts from softwa开发者_如何学Gore programming standpoint. In fact, I'm looking for the prerequisite knowledges and key concepts of multimedia programming which a software developer must master

If you have a little mathematical background, you should learn something about DSP (Digital Signal Processing), there are lots of books and websites Eg: http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm

And in that area it's quite popular Matlab (there are free clones, as Octave) , its high level language well suited to experiment with DSP and grasp the main concepts.