Sound Notes

Sound basics
Without sound life would not be able to be.
sound waves
Sound is in a wave.
Sound vibrates through the molecules and it is only the energy that moves
Good Vibrations
when the speaker vibrates so does the air around it
the moluclues dont move very far they just pass on the energy
Sound is our perception of this vibrations
Through matter
Sound waves can travle through matter
For sound t move through things they must have two defined characteristics-elasticity and
inertia
Elasticty-compress then return to original shape
Inertia- Object in motion stay in motion and object at still stays at still
Sine Wave
frequency is the distance between the bottom and top of wave energy
when cone moves out is called compression
when the cone moves back it is called rarefaction
this going from push out to in is one cycle
Frequency/pitch
the amount of cycles is called frequency
higher the frequency higher the pitch
Period
period=1/frequency 20 cycles per second is a period of .5 seconds per cycle
Wavelength
Wavelength is the actual physical distance covered by one complete cycle. based on speed of
sound
sound wave travels about 1130 feet/second
wavelength=speed of sound/frequency
Amplitude
Amplitude is the height of the sound wave
sound of higher amplitude are louder
Adding sine waves
Every musical sound is composed of a combination of sine waves
Phase
when 2 waves of the same amplitude and frequency come in contact with each other the create a
new wave with the same frequency but doubles the amplitude these 2 waves are in phase

Harmonics
-the tone of a voice or instrument is cause by its specific wave form
-the creation of a sound by combining several related sine waves
-inherent to musical instruments, or by means of electronic combinations
-Fundamental note is the loudest of the set of sine waves. The following harmonics sine waves
will be composed of frequencies which are multiples of the original
-The quality of an instrument is a direct reflection of the quality of the harmonics, the result of
a good instrument is resonances

Non-harmonic relationships
-drums and other similar instruments are know as non-harmonic, because the sound is made of
of waves which are not multipliers of the fundamental note

Waves you hear

-20Hz-20000Hz

THE electrical representation of Sound

Signal Voltage/Amplitude
-an audio signal is an electrical representation of a sound.
-audio signal is proportionally identical to the sound wave it represents

Properties of electricity
-voltage, current, resistance and power

Power
voltage x current = power, power is measured in watts
Resistance/Impedance
Resistance allows us to use electrical current
reactance is frequency based
Impedance like resistance is measured in ohms
ohms law
impedance is symbolized with a “Z”
[I=E/Z] [Z=E/I] [E=I x Z]
Power Calculators
[P=E x I] P=power in watts, E=electrical potential in volts, I=current in amps
dB or not dB....that is the question
the decibel is both electrical and acoustic values
Logarithms
Logarithms are exponents
base is number being raised, log is power being to which it is raised, and antilog is the resultant
number.
dBm
dBm is a measurement of electrical power, it is 1 milliwatt

dBu
dBu is a voltage measurement, .775 volts is the zero reference for dBu
dBV & dBv
0 dBV = 1 volt rms
dBv and dBu both refer to .775 volts
dBW
dBW referenced to 1 watt
Mic Level
includes microphones, record cartridges, and tape heads
no signal to -20 dBu
Line Level
-20 dBu to +30 dBu (24.5 volts). It includes outputs, preamp outputs, mixing board outputs, and
amplifier inputs
Speaker Level
all levels above +30 dBu, mostly the speaker outputs of power amplifiers
How these levels work together...
Perception of Sound
Measurement of Sound
Sound Pressure
A source which vibrates the air is transferring energy to the air which is then radiated in
the form of sound waves. In other words a sound source radiates acoustical energy.
the measurement for power is the acoustical watt and there is a huge difference in
loudness from the lowest acoustical watt we can hear to the highest
Relative vs. Absolute Levels
there are many factors affecting how loud a sound is and it's hard to measure
for example doubling power at a sound source doesn't double the sound it actually
creates a barely perceptible shift in the sound pressure level (approx 3 dB)
because of all the factors, our common measurement of loudness is SPL, and it measures
the difference between two values, rather than measuring the values themselves
it is a ratio value and is expressed by the decibel