Electronic Music - Sound Study Guide

ELECTRONIC MUSIC SOUND STUDY

GUIDE

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What is Sound?

Intro to Sound,
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Put simply, sound is vibrations.
Sounds are produced when something vibrates.
The most common medium within which we perceive sound is air.

Vibrations disturb the air, creating variations in air pressure

Sound cannot travel in a vacuum, such as in Space.

Sound also travels through water and solids, such as wood, brick, iron, etc.
The ease with which sound travels depends upon the composition of the medium, and the
nature of the sound itself.
Different frequencies can move more easily through certain substances than others, and some
frequencies travel farther than others.
For example, approaching a concert you may well hear the thumping of the bass drum
before all else.

Various movements around us cause vibrations in air molecules, and this sound energy is
transported outwards as waves.
Sound is a longitudinal wave.
Longitudinal waves are made up of areas where the wave is compressed together, and
other areas where it is expanded.
Much in the same way as waves move across the surface of a pond, so does sound move
through the air.
Once the action that caused the waves ceases, then the pond will gradually return to its
original position, as if nothing had happened.
This would agree with the way that humans themselves make sounds.
We force air, sometimes harder, sometimes softer, through our vocal cords.
In the process the air is either squished or allowed to move freely, making the air into a
longitudinal wave.
As the sound wave travels through the air, air molecules are pushed together or pulled apart
creating alternating high and low pressure.
As the wave passes through, the particles in the air oscillate back and forth about their
equilibrium positions but it is the disturbance which travels, not the individual particles in
the medium.
The higher pressure of molecules pushed together is called compression (positive
polarity).
The lower pressure molecules pulled apart is called rarefaction.(negative polarity)

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The Four Fundamental Characteristics of Sound.

Speed
Frequency (Pitch)
Amplitude (Loudness)
Timbre

Speed of Sound
You can observe an example of how the speed of sound affects when you hear it compared to
the occurrence of the event that caused the sound.

During a thunderstorm, watch for a lightning strike.

You see it first because light travels at a very high speed (3.00e8m/s), which is so fast it travels
to your eye from the lightening almost instantly.
Now compare that to the thunder.
The sound is traveling at a sluggish (compared to light) 340m/s behind the flash of light.
For every 3 seconds that you count between the flash and the sound there is a distance of
about one kilometer between you and the lightning.

The medium of transmission also affects the speed of the sound.

The speed of sound in liquids is quicker than in gases, and the speed of sound in solids is
even quicker.
This is because the atoms are closer together, so they transfer the sound more efficiently.
You might have even seen people in movies listening for an approaching train by putting an
ear on the train tracks and listening for it.
Dont try this! Its very dangerous!
The sound of the train travels faster and more efficiently through the solid train tracks.
Frequency (Pitch)
Pitch is determined by how many times a sound wave repeat itself within one second of time.
Each repetition of a waveform is called a cycle.
The number of repetitions that occur per second is called the frequency.
Frequency is measured as cps = cycles per second or in Hz called hertz.
Hz is derived from the name of Heinrich Hertz, a German scientist who did pioneering work in
electromagnetic waves during the 19th. Century.

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The closer the peaks are together, the higher the pitch.

When a frequency is doubled, we get an octave.

Doppler effect
o change in the apparent frequency of a wave as observer and source move toward or
away from each other

Humans have a finite range of hearing between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz)

20 Hz would be very deep, low, rumbling sounds.
20 000 Hz would be a very high pitched, squealing sort of noise
Check out the specifications for headphones printed on the back of the package.
o Theyll list their range from 20 20 000Hz, since thats what the average person can hear.

Name

Frequency
Range (Hz)

Characteristics

Infrasonic

0 - 20

Very low frequencies of sound that the human ear cant detect,
but you may feel the rumbling of the waves through your body.

Sonic (AKA
Audio)

20 - 20 000

Normal range for human ears, although not everyone (especially

the elderly) will hear to the extremes of this range.

20 000 +

Beyond normal hearing for humans, although some animals

(like dogs) hear part ways into this range. Also used in medicine
(e.g. ultrasounds for pregnant women).

Ultrasonic

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Loudness

The relative strength of the deviations in air pressure created by a vibrating object
determines the loudness (or volume).
The greater variations in air pressure, the louder we perceive the sound.
These deviations are referred to as the amplitude of the waveform

This is why a stereo system has an amplifier, a device that increases the amplitude of
sound waves.
The louder a sound, the bigger the amplitude
This is also a way of measuring the amount of energy the wave has.
The intensity level of a sound is measured in a unit known as the decibel (or dB)
The decibel system is based on logarithms, which means for every step up by one, the sound
is actually ten times louder.
For example, a 15dB sound is ten times louder than a 14dB sound
The decibel is actually a fraction of a bel, the original unit for measuring sound (1 db = 0.1 b).
The "bel" was originally named after Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.
Because the bel was too high a value for day to day situations, the decibel became a standard
The use of the capital B in the abbreviation is in his honor.
Hearing Range Link

The softest sound that a person can hear the threshold of hearing- is defined as 0dB.
Range
Description Examples
(dB)
0 - 30

Very Quiet

This is the threshold of human hearing, up to the sound

of a quiet whisper.

31 - 50 Quiet

This is an average quiet house, with maybe the sound of

a fridge running or someone moving around.

51 - 70 Normal

Regular daily sounds like people talking.

71 - 90 Loud

This is the point where a sound becomes annoying or

distracting. Vacuums or a noisy car on a busy street are
at these levels.

91 110

Very Loud

Most people will try to avoid being in areas this loud.

Prolonged exposure can cause permanent ear damage.
Temporary effects, like "stereo hiss", may happen.

111 +

Painful!!!

Even limited exposure to levels this high will cause

permanent hearing loss.

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Most concerts you go to will have sound levels between 100 130 dB easily into the
permanent damage range.
Lots of old rock stars have permanent hearing loss.
Many modern day musicians wear ear protection of some sort while in concert.

One of the loudest man-made sounds is created by the space shuttle lifting off.
It will generate sounds at an incredible 215 dB
The sound is so loud that it would actually cause damage to the launch tower, and as a
reflected echo, to the shuttle itself.
To absorb the energy, huge amounts of water are pumped to the base of the launch pad
seconds before takeoff.
The water absorbs the sound, as well as a lot of heat.
When you see video of a shuttle launch, most of the white stuff you see billowing from the
launch pad right at takeoff is not smoke... it's steam.

Phase cancellation occurs when two signals of the same frequency are out of phase with
each other resulting in a net reduction in the overall level of the combined signal.
o If two identical signals are 100% or 180 degrees out of phase they will completely
cancel one another if combined.
o When similar complex signals (such as the left and right channel of a stereo music
program) are combined phase cancellation will cause some frequencies to be cut, while
others may end up boosted.
o Phase and phase difference is a real-world issue in areas such as electrical wiring of
audio equipment, signal path, and microphone placement during the recording process.
o Phase reversal can be a serious compromise of sound quality or a special effect
affecting the perceived spaciousness of the sound depending on the context of its
occurrence.

Sonic Boom
o an explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the
speed of sound; "a sonic boom follows an aircraft as a wake follows a ship"

The

threshold of pain is about 120 dB.

Decibel Chart

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Timbre
In music, timbre (pronounced /tmbr/, like the "tambour" of "tambourine", or spelling
pronunciation /tmbr/; French: [t b]) is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that
distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments.
Harmonic Series Link

Why does a flute sound different than a clarinet when they play the same note?
The number of harmonics present in their sound, and the relative amplitude of each
harmonic.
The property of a sound that allows us to determine the difference between a saxophone and a
flute is called timbre, or tone color.
Different timbres occur because most sounds actually contain many frequencies.
The predominant pitch is called the fundamental frequency of the sound.
The other frequencies present occur in a mathematical series called the harmonic series, or
overtone series.
The frequency of each harmonic is a whole number multiple of the fundamental frequency.
(i.e.; 2x,3x,4x, etc..)
The amplitude of each harmonic determines the timbre of the sound.
The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum
and envelope.
When a string vibrates to create a sound, it has several compressions and rarefactions
occurring simultaneously.

Creating different timbres electronically.

Different timbres result in different shapes in the plotted waveform.

Certain waveforms(and consequently certain timbres) have long been used a building blocks
of synthesis.

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A sine wave consists of only the fundamental.

o No other harmonics are present.

A square wave consists of only the odd harmonics.

A triangle wave consists of only the odd harmonics, however there is a decrease in
amplitude of the upper harmonics.

o Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics.
o However, the higher harmonics roll off much faster than in a square wave (proportional
to the inverse square of the harmonic number as opposed to just the inverse), and so its
sound is smoother than a square wave and is nearer to that of a sine wave.

A sawtooth wave consists of all harmonics.

The Science Of Noise

Colors of noise
White noise
White noise is a sound that contains every frequency within the range of human hearing
(generally from 250 hertz to 8,000 kHz) in equal amounts.
Most people perceive this sound as having more high-frequency content than low, but this is
not the case.
This perception occurs because each successive octave has twice as many frequencies as
the one preceding it.
For example, from 100 Hz to 200 Hz, there are one hundred discrete frequencies.
In the next octave (from 200 Hz to 400 Hz), there are two hundred frequencies.
Pink noise
Pink noise is a variant of white noise.
Pink noise is white noise that has been filtered to reduce the volume at each octave.
This is done to compensate for the increase in the number of frequencies per octave.
Each octave is reduced by 6 decibels, resulting in a noise sound wave that has equal energy
at every octave We mix white, super white and pink noise to the perfect frequencies to mask
human speech, and deliver it in one third octave equalization tuning, as per ASTM, (American
Society of Testing and Materials).
Browian Noise - Brownian noise also known as Brown noise or red noise, is the kind of
signal noise produced by Brownian motion, hence its alternative name of random walk noise. The
term "Brown noise" comes not from the color, but after Robert Brown, the discoverer of
Brownian motion.

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Difference between white and pink noise

White noise is equal energy per frequency and pink noise is equal energy per octave.
While you most certainly could use white noise to eq a room, it would most likely kill small
dogs, and at least be painful to you.
Pink noise is very useful for tuning audio equipment and calibrating studio monitors,
microphones, and speakers

Most natural sounds form complex waves.

Equipment for dealing with sound

Equipment for generating or using sound includes musical instruments, hearing aids, sonar
systems and sound reproduction and broadcasting equipment.
Many of these use electro-acoustic transducers such as microphones and loudspeakers.

musical tone is a steady periodic sound.

A musical tone is characterized by its duration, pitch(frequency), intensity
(amplitude or loudness), and timbre (or quality).[1]
The notes used in music can be more complex than musical tones, as they may include a
periodic aspects, such as attack transients, vibrato, and envelope modulation.
A simple tone, or pure tone, has a sinusoidal waveform.
A compound tone is any musical tone that is not sinusoidal, but is periodic, such that it can be
described as a sum of simple tones with harmonically related frequencies. [2]

Sound Applications
Energy Medicine
In the growing field of "energy medicine" it is well known that our universe is created through
patterns of frequency.
Science is now documenting what mystics of many traditions have known forever.
Everything that exists in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual realms does so on a
vibratory basis.
This is obvious if you consider that electrons are always moving and vibrating
Bio Resonance
The underlying theory is based on all matter having resonant frequencies and every cell in the
body resonates at a particular frequency.
Groups of cells which together make bodily systems, organs and structures have particular
resonant frequencies and patterns.
At times of illness the bodys complex frequency and electromagnetic field can change or
become distorted.
The body is helped to heal and rebalance itself by being connected to healthy frequencies.

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The application of frequencies to the body can be done through water, electromagnetic fields,
vibration or light.

MRI
The largest area of application of NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is in medical
diagnosis.
In this area, the technology is usually referred to as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The principle of MRI is identical to that of the use of NMR in chemical analysis.
Essentially, the different materials in the body resonate at different frequencies depending on
their chemical compositions.
Position information is obtained by using an external magnetic field which varies with position,
so that resonance at a particular frequency with a given substance, such as fatty tissue, will
occur only at a particular position or set of positions within the body.
The resonant response is then analyzed and displayed using a computer.
Sonar
Sonar (originally an acronym for sound navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound
propagation (usually underwater) to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels.
There are two kinds of sonar: active and passive.
Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo
characteristics of "targets" in the water.
Acoustic location in air was used before the introduction of radar.
Sonar may also be used in air for robot navigation, and SODAR (an upward looking in-air
sonar) is used for atmospheric investigations.
The term sonar is also used for the equipment used to generate and receive the sound.
The frequencies used in sonar systems vary from infrasonic to ultrasonic.
The study of underwater sound is known as underwater acoustics or sometimes hydroacoustics.
Doppler radar
Radar that makes use of the Doppler Effect to produce data about objects at a distance.
It does this by beaming a microwave signal towards a desired target and listening for its
reflection, then analyzing how the original signal has been altered by the object(s) that
reflected it.
Variations in the frequency of the signal give direct and highly accurate measurements of a
target's velocity relative to the radar source and the direction of the microwave beam.
Doppler radars are used in air defense, air traffic control, sounding satellites, police speed
guns and radiology.

Continue to next page for study items.

Study items.

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Test will not be limited to these, but will be limited to this

entire study guide.
1. Sound is Vibrations
2. Why is air important?
3. In sound, what is meant by medium?
4. How sound travels.
5. Longitudinal Wave
6. How humans make sound
7. Compression
8. Rarefaction
9. Positive and negative polarity
10. Four components of sound
11. Speed of sound
12. Frequency
13. CPS
14. Hertz
15. The Doppler effect
16. Humans range or hearing
17. Infrasonic
18. Sonic
19. Ultrasonic
20. Amplitude
21. Perceived doubling of volume
22. Decibels
23. Alexander Graham Bell
24. Hearing range/Threshold of hearing
25. Ear Protection
26. Space Shuttle
27. Sound Dampening
28. Phase cancellation
29. Sonic Boom
30. Threshold of Pain
31. Timbre
32. Harmonic Series
33. Sine Wave
34. Square Wave
35. Triangle wave
36. Saw tooth Wave
37. Colors of Noise
38. White Noise
39. Pink Noise
40. Brownian Noise
41. Difference between white and pink noise
42. Complex Wave
43. Musical Tone
44. Sound applications
45. Energy Medicine
46. Bio Resonance
47. MRI

48. Sonar
49. Doppler Radar