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CREDITS:

Opening sound effect of scooter passing by Doppler screeching wheel from Freesound.org

Courtesy of Henri Kähkönen

Licensed under the Creative Commons 0 license

https://freesound.org/s/682176/

The photograph of the Washington National Cathedral by Vince Reinhart, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

The binaural Catholic Gregorian chant mass liturgy recording heard at the end is from Freesound.org

Courtesy of Suso Ramallo

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license

https://freesound.org/people/Suso_Ramallo/sounds/320530/

TRANSCRIPT:

Episode 1: Welcome

Welcome to the Acoustics Terminology for Musicians podcast, brought to you by your host, Robert Willey.

[ image = BackusCover.png ]

https://willshare.com/courses/acoustics/podcast/welcome/ChapterArt/BackusCover.pngThe order that the terms are introduced will follow the organization of John Backus’ book, The Acoustical Foundations of Music.

[ image = TermAcoustics.png ]

The first term in this series is “Acoustics”. Acoustics is the branch of physics that deals with how pressure waves are generated, transmitted, controlled, and received. Psychoacoustics is concerned with how those signals are perceived as sound by a listener’s brain.

Scientists use the principles of acoustics to study how waves pass through solids, liquids, and gases. Developing a vocabulary of terms relating to acoustics, can help better understand concepts and communicate with others.

Applying the principles of acoustics can make musicians be more effective when playing their instruments, and help engineers produce better recordings.

While we will usually use the word “acoustics” when talking about an area of science, it is sometimes used to refer to the properties or qualities of sound in a room.

You’ll sometimes hear people say that a room has good or bad acoustics when they are talking about the quality of its sound. Factors that contribute to a room’s “acoustics” include ambience and reverb time. You will hear how differences in construction and a listener’s position in a room make speech easier to understand, and music more enjoyable.

[ image = SmallRoomReflections.png ]

This is what it sounds like to listen to a lecture in a small room whose walls are covered with absorbing material. The small amount of reverberation makes it easy to understand the words. The arrows in the diagram show how parts of the wave travel longer distances to reach the listener as they reflect off the walls.

[ image = LargeConcertHall.png ]

If we go into a large concert hall the reverberation from the reflective walls could make the speech harder to understand.

Music has evolved along with the spaces in which it is played. Some types of music sound better in rooms that have a lot of reverb.

Here is some music intended to be played with a long reverb tail.

Here is the same music in a lecture hall with absorbing surfaces. Which sounds better to you?

Each episode in the podcast will define and demonstrate a different term from the study of acoustics.

You will have a better experience if you listen to the examples through a pair of good-sounding  speakers, headphones, or ear buds.

See the links in the episode show notes for information on using a Podcasting 2.0-compliant player app, which will allow you to see transcripts and graphic illustrations of the concepts. The episode show notes also has a link to the host’s free online companion material with readings and activities.

This podcast and associated course are offered using the “Value for Value” model, where you are asked to consider whatever value you think you received, put a number to it, and then send it in as a boost in the podcast player or via PayPal.

Goodbye, and see you next time.

[ image = cathedral.png Binaural Catholic Gregorian chant mass liturgy recording from another location ]