Introduction To Music Production at Coursera.org. In this text I am going to cover how sound is generated and propagated. I will also cover characteristics of sound such as amplitude fre!uenc" and tim#re. Sound Generation and Propagation: $ound is created #" vi#ration in form of pressure and displacement in a medium. If two o#%ects hit each other the" vi#rate. These vi#rations are passed on to the medium in form of push and pull. &hen there is no sound we sa" that the molecules in a medium are evenl" spaced. &hen two o#%ects in the medium hit each other the" vi#rate there#" affecting the distri#ution of the molecules in the medium. The compressions and rarefactions continue periodicall" until the vi#ration energ" in the o#%ect dies out. 'lso with distance the energ" of compressions and rarefactions in air also reduced and hence the loudness of a sound heard is less if we are far awa" from it. The figure #elow shows a graphical wa" to represent the vi#rations. This representation makes it eas" to see anal"(e and process sound. Amplitude: 'mplitude is the measure of the range of maximum compression and maximum rarefaction of air molecules in response with a sound. In simple terms we can see amplitude as the height of the waveform we see on oscilloscope. 'mplitude is the term measura#le #" the computer when fed with a sound. However the term loudness is mistakenl" seen as amplitude. )oudness is the perception of sound. Because two different sounds having the same loudness ma" #e perceived to #e differentl" loud. The following diagram shows how amplitude is related to depth of modulation* Frequency: +re!uenc" is num#er of repetitions in a unit time. +or example the fre!uenc" of a #us is , times an hour. 's a characteristic of sound fre!uenc" is num#er of c"cles of vi#rations in one second. -nit of it is Hert( .H(/. 0ou#le click to hear the sounds of ,,1 H( and 1111 H(* ,,1 H( 1111 H( The vi#rations created in the source of the sound cause compressions and refractions in air. Thus repeated push and pull #" the sound source causes the air to repeatedl" vi#rate. These vi#rations propagate through a medium and are sensed #" a listener. The term pitch is mistakenl" used for fre!uenc". However fre!uenc" can #e measured as num#er of repetitions in unit time while pitch is the perception. Humans are ideall" a#le to hear from 21 H( to 21111 H(. However the range of hearing capacit" reduces with age. Timbre: It is not possi#le to naturall" produce a sound which contains a single fre!uenc" #e it a 3note4 pla"ed on a musical instrument. It contains a group of fre!uencies which are present in form of harmonics. Tim#re is a tone or a specific !ualit" of a sound. Two sounds with same pitch and same loudness can have different tim#re. +or example if we hear a flute producing C5 tone and a singer singing C5 tone with same loudness the" sound different to us. That is the difference #etween their tonal !ualities precisel" their tim#res. 0ifference #etween tim#res can #e anal"(ed on spectrum anal"(er. The followings are the spectrums of two sounds .guitar and piano/ pla"ed on same tone .C5/ and same intensit" Click to pla" Piano tone .C5/ Click to pla" 6uitar tone.C5/ Piano tone includes lower fre!uencies more as compared to 6uitar. However fre!uencies around 7 kH( are more in 6uitar. The inclusion and intensities of various fre!uenc" components make separate tim#res for #oth of the sounds and there#" different sound !ualities. It was a nice experience of explaining #asics of sound in a detailed manner. I used audio files photos and text in the assignment. The audio files and photos are extracted from )ogic Pro 8 'udacit". +or understanding some topics in detail I have also taken help of internet in addition to the course videos. I would like to get a feed#ack a#out what is explained in a good manner and what needs to #e improved. 9our feed#ack is valua#le to me. Thank "ou.
Bo Earle, Involuntary Narration, Narrating Involition. Proust On Death, Repetition and Self-Becoming, MLN, Vol. 117, Number 5, December 2002, Comparative Literature, Pp. 93-97.