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The Open University

Sound for music technology: An introduction

The Open University via OpenLearn

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Overview

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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.

Syllabus

  • 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

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Reviews

3.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

5 rating at OpenLearn based on 9 ratings

Start your review of Sound for music technology: An introduction

  • Anonymous
    I finished this one yesterday and honestly it was pretty descent I was looking for deep analysis of frequencies while producing music, Studied Wave optics instead which was cool.
    Including hearing tests it felt nice to learn what im learning right now in physics. The points were accurate and quite understandable
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