Sound for music technology: An introduction

Whether you're a professional musician, play music with your friends on the weekends or just like to listen to CDs, music technology affects your life. In this free course, Sound for music technology: An introduction, you will learn some of the basics of music technology, starting with what sound is, how it is created and how it travels.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Sound basics
• 1 Sound basics
• 1.1 Music and technology
• 1.2 What is sound?
• 1.3 Describing sound
• 1.4 Summary
• 2 Sinusoidal pressure waves
• 2 Sinusoidal pressure waves
• 2.1 The importance of sine waves
• 2.2 Pressure in the atmosphere
• 2.3 Pressure waves and cycles
• 2.4 Period
• 2.5 Wavelength
• 2.6 Pressure variations in one place
• 2.7 Summary
• 3 Frequency
• 3 Frequency
• 3.1 Frequency and period
• 3.2 Summary
• 4 The speed of sound
• 4 The speed of sound
• 4.1 The experimental result
• 4.2 Frequency, wavelength and the speed of sound
• 4.3 Summary
• 5 Phase
• 5 Phase
• 5.1 Phase and phase difference
• 5.2 Cancellation and reinforcement
• 5.3 Summary
• 6 Amplitude
• 6 Amplitude
• 6.1 Defining amplitude
• 6.2 Practical units of amplitude
• 6.3 Root-mean-square amplitude
• 6.4 Summary
• 7 Pitch and loudness
• 7 Pitch and loudness
• 7.1 The subjective experience
• 7.2 Summary
• 8 The octave
• 8 The octave
• 8.1 The octave sound
• 8.2 Octave pitch and frequency increments
• 8.3 Summary
• 9 The ranges of human hearing
• 9 The ranges of human hearing
• 9.1 Frequency range
• 9.2 Dynamic range
• 9.3 Summary
• 10 The decibel
• 10 The decibel
• 10.1 Introduction
• 10.2 Adding decibels
• 10.3 The decibel as a measure of sound amplitude
• 10.4 Summary
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements