Matthew Range

Physics of Sound
Acoustics and the sound around
What is sound?
Sound is vibrations which travel through the air continuously from a source, which travels in the
form of waves which allows it to reach a humans or animals ears for it to be heard.
Sound can be created using many different objects, one example is by hitting an object such as a
saucepan with another object such as a spoon. The force of the spoon hitting the saucepan will
create sound waves which will travel to your ear and will allow you to hear the sound itself.
Vibration on stringed instruments, such as guitars, create soundwaves as the speed of the vibrations
create sound which then creates the soundwaves.
It is important to know all about sound as once you understand the main concept of it you can then
edit how an instrument plays the note, which will then possibly give you a new sound which no one
else has and you can add it into your music and sound unique.
Sound energy is Omnidirectional which means it can travel in any direction from the source of which
it has come from. For example if you was standing behind a guitarist strumming the strings you will
still be able to hear it as the sound waves travel in all directions from the where the strings are being
strummed.
A good visual example on omnidirectional sound is having a stone being
dropped into the water, the stone creates ripples around where it has
been dropped. Those ripples can then be represented as the sound
waves being generated from an instrument or force.

Sound waves
What is a sound wave?
A soundwave is a visual example of how sound travels throughout
the air from a source to our ears, this example is really helpful as it
shows how the sound travels and what it looks like when it comes
into contact with obstacles. A sound wave is actually a bubble as are
all of the other gas particles such as oxygen and nitrogen, this is so it
can travel throughout the air to reach your ear.
Sound waves and be reflected and also absorbed by objects when
travelling through the air, this is because not all of the sound wave
can go through an object so only some of it can be absorbed, when
the obstacle is very large it cannot pass around it so it will not be
heard as clearly if you was on the other side of this object.

An example of how sound waves work is by using a pitching fork which creates compression and
rarefactions in the air particles. The vibrations of the fork arms causes collisions with the particles, as
this keeps happening the force of the arms vibrating creates regular high and low pressured periods
causing a wave within the air, this is called compression and rarefaction. These create a frequency

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which means that we can hear it. The compressions are regions of high air pressure whereas
rarefactions are regions of low air pressure.

Waveforms
What is a waveform?
A waveform is a visual shape which you can see which shows the change of current within a current.
The waveform can vary over time as this is because the particles begin to drift apart which means
near to the end of the length of the sound it begins to quieten down, then you cannot hear it.
Firstly you need to know about waveforms which are these below:
Sine:

Square:

Rampl:

Saw tooth:

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Triangular:

All of the above waveforms are different in their own way, for example the most common
waveform, sine, as it represents energy all from one frequency, this means that it only shows one
frequency. The sine frequency is measured in megahertz (MHz) and everything can be measured by
using the sine waveform. Whereas other wavelengths such as square or sawtooth can only be
produced by certain oscillators.
You can see waveforms within logic when a note is
being played, this can be done by zooming in on a
midi region with notes within it.

As you can see this is showing the sine wave.

Complex waveforms:
Once you know what a wavelength is you can know understand
complex waveforms. Complex waveforms is the result of two or
more sine waves which creates on odd shape wave.

Frequency, Amplitude and envelope

Frequency:
What is frequency?
Frequency is measured as the number of wave cycles that occur in one second, it is measure in Hertz
(Hz). One compression with one refraction is a cycle an example of this is when it is 1Hz it means
that only 1 sound wave cycle per second.
The human frequency spectrum is between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz (20 kHz) however this can change
over time, so as you get older and your hearing gets worse you are unable to hear high frequency
sounds. This is why some shops and places at which they do not want younger people hanging
around use a thing called a mosquito alarm. This alarm emits high frequency sounds at around 17.4
kHz, this is a high frequency which will only affect younger people so older people tend o put them
in to keep troublesome teenagers away from their area.

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Musical notes have specific frequencies, and each instrument is different, even every note on the
keyboard this is different. If you go an octave higher on the keyboard the frequency would double,
and if you go an octave lower it is halved.
An example of this is if the A key is set at 440 Hz if you go an octave higher it will be 880 Hz and if
you go an octave lower from the original it will be 220 Hz
Every instrument we hear is joined up from loads from different frequencies, as you can see some of
the instruments are similar to each other depending on what sort of instruments they are. As the
stringed instruments are set in similar groups.

Another example of frequency is the Doppler Effect, the

Doppler Effect is when soundwaves travel towards you
from a passing object. For example when you are walking
down the street and you hear a police car behind you, in
order for you to hear this sound the soundwaves from the
siren has to travel far, so the noise will not sound loud. But
as the police car begins to come closer the sound police car
is right next to you then it sounds so loud you strain as this
is the least distance the soundwaves have to travel. It
begins to get quieter as it drives away, as the soundwaves
have to travel further to your ear.
Amplitude:
Amplitude links in with wavelengths as this shows the height of the wave. The amplitude determines
how loud the sound will be as it can increase the vibration of the sound wave, the larger at which
the amplitude is the larger the sound will be.

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Beats tutorial:
The beats tutorial within logic will help you understand the frequency and amplitude.
Two tones that only are different slightly in frequency and have roughly the same amplitude will
produce an effect known as beats. The effect sounds like repetitive volume surges that are equal in
frequency to the difference between two tones.
This is used to tune things such as instruments because the beats slow down and the two notes
approach the same pitch and finally stop when the pitches match.
This results in a third frequency thats created from the phase sum and different values between the
two notes.

This is how you do it:

Envelope:
The envelope is helpful to producers as this can allow you to fully edit a sound which comes from
things such as synthesisers and other electrical equipment within a production software, the change
that can be done can make a big difference to production so by learning about this will be very
helpful.
Envelope is split into 4 different aspects, these are ADSR (Attack, Delay, Sustain and Release)
Attack: this is how quickly the sound reaches full volume
after being activated
Delay: this is how quickly the sound drops down to sustain
level after reaching full volume
Sustain: the constant volume of the sound until the note is
released
Release: How quickly the note fades after it ends
It is important to know this as it will allow you to edit notes to how you would like, so you can be
100% happy with your project.

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Speed of sound
The speed of sound is how fast a sound wave travels per unit. This is measured
in metres per second (m/s) in dry air at 20 C the speed of sound is 344 m/s
To work out the speed of sound you do;
Velocity = Frequency X Wavelength

Phase
Phase tutorial:
Whenever two or more waveforms arrive at a single location out of phase (time) their signal levels
will be added together to create one single level of amplitude at that one point in time.
Whenever two or waveforms which the same frequency, amplitude and shape are completely in
time with no relative mass difference the new combined waveform will have the same frequency
and shape but it will double in amplitude. If the same two waves are put together out of phase, at a
difference of 180 degrees, they will cancel each other out.
When this happens it results in a line of zero amplitude, if the second wave is out of phase, by a
degree different from 180 degrees, the levels will be added at points where the combined
amplitudes are positive and the combined result will be negative.
In order to do this you should have three separate tracks within logic ready and they should all have
different waveforms between them.
1. The first track should have 0 degree line with the signal panned to the centre
2. The second track should have the same as the first track but with no signal panned to the
centre
3. The third track should have 180 degree line
4. Then listen to tracks 1&2 only, it should produce a summed signal that 3 dB louder
5. Listen to tracks 1&3 only and it should cancel out producing no input
6. Offsetting track 3 should produce varying degrees of cancellation
All the waveforms should look differently
Harmonics
What is harmonics?
Harmonics links in with waveforms.
The ear sees frequencies as ratios that are whole numbers that are related to one another, for
example if a sound is 440Hz the ear hears 880Hz as being the next loudest frequency as it sounds
most like the first sound.
As these notes are even frequencies they are known as even harmonics. Frequencies that are odd
multiples are called odd harmonics. In general even harmonics are seen as creating a sound that is
pleasing and entertaining to the ear, whereas odd harmonics will create a harsher tone that is
displeasing.
It is important to use harmonics as if you create a sound which is not pleasing to the ear of your
audience, so ensure your waves are even will ensure your audience stays and continues listening.

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Decibels
What is decibels?
The decibel (dB) is used to measure sound but it also is used to measure things such as electrical
signals, decibels basically mean the level of the sound and is used in a way to show how loud
different objects are in comparison to each other.
For humans if a sound is at 90-95dB with a
sustained exposure can result in hearing loss. If a
sound is at 140dB it will cause hearing damage
with short term exposure, anything over this you
should wear hearing protection.
The smallest audible sound is 0dB, a sound 10
times louder is 10dB and a sound 100 times
louder is than 0dB is 20dB.
As you can see from the image some instruments
can be extremely loud, so in live performances
especially loud rock music you should take ear
plugs to protect your ears.
Equalisation
Equalisation is a device or plugin that works with any music software that you are using and it allows
you to control the amplitude of different frequencies within a piece of audio.
Equalisation allows us to;
o
o
o
o

Correct specific problems within a recorded sound

Correct the deficiencies within the frequency response of a microphone or instrument
Create a better monitor mix through all of the instruments within a project to ensure better
quality sound and pleasing to the ear
Music creativity

Shelving EQ:
The shelving EQ is the drop and rise of the frequency level and
certain frequency points during an audio piece.
I believe using a shelving EQ is good as it give a good effect to a
sound that you have and with certain instruments it sounds
complex.

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The Bell (peak) EQ:
This is the most common EQ that is used and it consists of a
peaking filter which is given the name a peak-shaped bell curve.
This can either be boosted or decreased depending on how you
want the effect to be around the selected frequency.
This is also a good EQ effect to use as it gives a good filter sound,
especially when you only want certain frequencies to pass
through on certain instruments.
Semi parametric EQ:
A semi parametric EQ is a bell (peak) EQ without the quality factor which means
the band width of the bell curve will remain the same.

Parametric EQ:
The parametric EQ has the ability to widen or narrow a
selected bandwidth.

I believe that it is important and good to know all of this if you are an amateur producer as it will
give you a good clear example of many things that you will need to know to make and create a
successful project within a producing software. Knowing the physics of sound will allow you to
create clear recordings, as having good sound quality will ensure that the people that view your
work will enjoy it. Using the likes of EQ will make your work sound independent to you as it is
something that you have set up yourself which is possible what no one else has.