Electroacoustics Readings
Electroacoustics Readings
Electroacoustics Readings
In Electroacoustics
2006 - 2007
EAMT 203 / 204
EAMT 205
Professor Michael Pinsonneault
Professor EldadTsabary
Professor Kathy Kennedy
Professor Christian Calon
NAME: ______________________________________
email: ________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
READINGS-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
ELECTROACOUSTICS AN INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------2
History---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
General Overview---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
Artistic Practice ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
Acousmatic------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4
Post Partum: But is it Music?----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
READING I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
AN INFORMAL INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, THE VOICE, AND THEIR
SOUNDS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
Linguistic Organization---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6
Vocabulary, Syntax and Cases, Semantic (elements, order, meaning) -------------------------------- 6
Stress------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8
Code------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
Sound As Symbol: Letters and Spelling ----------------------------------------------------------------- 9
IPA: The International Phonetic Alphabet ------------------------------------------------------------ 9
Voice as Sound-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
Segmentation of Text and Speech ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
A Quick Phonetic Reference Guide --------------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Place of Articulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13
Alphabets and Pictograms------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14
READING II --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
DESCRIBING SOUND(S) I-------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
Function and Context ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16
Mass Structures and the Cocktail Party Effect -------------------------------------------------------- 16
Segregation and Streaming & ASA -------------------------------------------------------------------- 17
ASA A Brief Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
Psychoacoustics------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18
Spectromorphology ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
Transducers Sound to Electricity to Sound ----------------------------------------------------------Microphones--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Loudspeakers-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Headphones--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Because of speakers coloration, why not mix sounds with headphones?---------------------------Feedback ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27
27
28
29
30
30
READING IV---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32
JUNGIAN MODELS FOR COMPOSITIONAL TYPES ------------------------------------32
READING V ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34
PARAMETERS OF SOUND I PERCEPTUAL------------------------------------------34
Duration/Time-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dynamics/Amplitude ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Spectrum (timbre)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Envelope shape ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Morphological Classification ------------------------------------------------------------------------Psychological Implications/Effects -------------------------------------------------------------------
34
34
34
35
35
35
READING VI---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------37
PARAMETERS OF SOUND II PHYSICAL & THE HARMONIC SERIES----37
Sound, Frequency and Amplitude ---------------------------------------------------------------------Some more characteristics-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Sound Waves, Their Shape and Partials (Harmonics)-------------------------------------------The Harmonic Series La srie harmonique --------------------------------------------------------Intervals------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Amplitude and Frequency -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Pitched Instruments, Unpitched Instruments and the Voice ----------------------------------------Instrumental Families---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Electronic sources---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Frequency Ranges of Instruments ------------------------------------------------------------------
37
37
38
39
40
41
42
42
45
46
READING VII--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------48
RESONANCE, VOWEL FORMANTS AND FREQUENCIES, TEMPERAMENT---48
Resonance-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Mouth, Vowels and Formant Frequencies--------------------------------------------------------Schematic View of the Voice -------------------------------------------------------------------------Diagramatic representation of the vowel /i/.-------------------------------------------------------Frequencies of Notes in Equal Temperament ----------------------------------------------------------
48
48
49
50
51
CHART 1------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 52
INTERVALS & INTONATION SELECTED INTERVALS FROM EQUAL
TEMPERAMENT, THE HARMONIC SERIES, AND THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS -- 52
CHART 2------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 53
FORMANT FREQUENCIES OF SPOKEN & SUNG VOWELS BY MEN, WOMEN AND
CHILDREN--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53
READING VIII------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 56
ANALOG AND DIGITAL -- SOUNDS AND SIGNALS --------------------------------- 56
Analog / Digital ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56
SAMPLING RATE conversion -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60
READING IX--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63
THE EAR AND SOUND PRESSURE LEVELS (SPLS) -------------------------------------- 63
The Ear--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63
Hearing and Thresholds-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 64
Hearing Loss--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 64
Typical Sound Pressure Levels (SPLs)------------------------------------------------------------------ 65
READING X---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 66
PSYCHOACOUSTICS, LOUDNESS AND LOUD SOUNDS ---------------------------- 66
Psychoacoustics------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 66
Frequency and Pitch ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 66
Loudness and Intensity ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 66
Loudness Curves ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 67
Frequency Response of Human Hearing and Hearing Loss -------------------------------------------- 68
Causes---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68
Cautions, Adaptation and Coping---------------------------------------------------------------------- 69
Hearing Protection -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 69
Tinnitus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 70
READING - XI----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 71
SPATIAL ACTUALIZATION --------------------------------------------------------------------- 71
General Considerations --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 71
Speaker to fader----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 72
Specific Aspects of Speaker Placement ---------------------------------------------------------------- 73
Calon Minuit (timeline)------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74
Calon Minuit (Projection Score)----------------------------------------------------------------------- 79
READING XII--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------87
REFLECTION AND REVERBERATION-------------------------------------------------------87
Velocity, Wavelength and Frequency ----------------------------------------------------------------Propagation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Absorption----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reflection ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reverberation Within a Room------------------------------------------------------------------------Reverberation Time and Reflection Density ---------------------------------------------------------Free Field - Reverberant Field------------------------------------------------------------------------Flutter Echo and Room Resonances--------------------------------------------------------------------Electronic reverberation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total Absorption: Anechoic Chambers and Out-of-Doors--------------------------------------------
87
87
88
88
89
91
91
92
93
93
94
94
94
95
95
96
READING XIV-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------97
COMPOSITIONAL STRATEGIES---------------------------------------------------------------97
Structural and Gestural Types ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 97
TERMS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 97
CATEGORIZATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 104
ARTICLE A--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------126
PARAMETRIC CONTROLS ---------------------------------------------------------------------126
ARTICLE B --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------127
CONCRETE TRANSFORMATIONS----------------------------------------------------------127
ARTICLE C--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------127
FAMILIES OF SOUNDS AND FAMILY RELATIONS -----------------------------------128
ARTICLE D--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------129
GENERALIZED SONIC TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES ---------------------129
Spectrum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------129
Time-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------129
Amplitude ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------129
The compressor - limiter / expander ------------------------------------------------------------------129
ARTICLE E --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------130
ON AMPLITUDE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------130
Graphic Representation of Wave ---------------------------------------------------------------------130
Envelope Follower -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------131
Processing of Envelopes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------132
Gating ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------134
Timeline------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 137
http://cec.concordia.ca/
http://www.sonus.ca/index.html
http://www.ircam.fr/?L=1
http://www.sonicartsnetwork.org/about.htm
http://www.ears.dmu.ac.uk/
and follow links from each
Google new and unusual terms.
READINGS
ELECTROACOUSTICS AN INTRODUCTION
OverView
This collection of readings provides a small introduction into parts of the discipline
of electroacoustics (ea). Assembled from shorter individual readings from 1984 to
the present, there are some repetitions and some contradictions. Electroacoustics:
sound that comes from loudspeakers. http://www.ears.dmu.ac.uk/
HISTORY
The term electroacoustics comes from electrical engineering where it refers to the study of devices
which convert electrical energy to acoustic energy, or vice versa loudspeakers and microphones
mostly.
The term has been adopted by the sonic arts community from time to time and was partly
synonymous with electronic music, musique concrte, tape music , and has been spelled as
Electro Acoustic, electro-acoustic, Electro-acoustic, and (as now widely adopted)
electroacoustic. There are also on going discussions as to whether there are differences (and
what they might be) between electroacoustics, electroacoustic music, electro-acoustic music
(see below)
GENERAL OVERVIEW
A discipline as broad as electroacoustic studies is bound to encompass many (and growing)
cognate disciplines. With sound, electricity and people at its core, it touches upon:
engineering
computer sciences
medical
psychology (and
psychoacoustics)
linguistics
artificial intelligence
communications studies
and journalism, radio
often mostly text, but often free sound that sets the context
and describes the environment
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sound design
sonic arts
Computer Music
electroacoustic studies
People working in these specific areas require some degree of competence in several other areas:
the acoustician needs to know about psychoacoustics and perception; the recording engineer
needs to be conversant with acoustics, engineering and music, sound designers require sensitivity
to the dramatic and the narrative
The history of the artistic / creative discipline of ea (see last section) dates from the end of the
nineteenth century with various (uncoordinated) activities through the first half of the twentieth
century. The major change / breakthrough occurred almost simultaneously in a number of
countries France, Germany, the USA, England (and less well-known, Canada and Japan). In the
space of a few years, from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, the field grew from an experimental
practice to an art and a generalizeable practice, and, a study for media and communications.
Paris in the late 40s saw the building of the first studios devoted to the artistic creation practice
of electronic sound art, and soon had both the first public concerts and radio broadcasts.
ARTISTIC PRACTICE
The breadth of artistic practice of sound employing electricity is extremely wide ranging from the
basic live-recording with no editing (sonic documentation), to creation or manipulation of digital
information that later becomes sound. An electric-guitar player with processing employs many of
the same pieces of equipment and software that the studio composer uses.
Along the artistic continuum from the folk-singer with a microphone to the on-line digital hypersound convoluter, there are many types and styles of sonic interest. Whether musical pitch and
meter (regular rhythmic structures with beats, notes and chords) play a central role (cf MIDI),
whether the purely sonic is central, or text (sung or spoken) is critical, and perhaps the acoustic
environment (and social implications) is important including soundscaping and historical
sound documentation, the discipline of electroacoustic studied embraces them all.
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ACOUSMATIC
One small sub-set of the entire sonic arts practice focuses on a rather specific application of
electroacoustic technologies to sound acousmatics. While the practice cannot be precisely
defined, it does have at its center working in a studio environment, and presenting in a concert
situation, the materials frequently having originated from recording with a microphone. The
manner of presentation will not include live performers or real-time processing, and will employ a
sound projection system, most often with a minimum of 12 loudspeakers without visual
accompaniment.
At the level of the aesthetic, the origins of the sounds are expected to be hidden from the hearer
so that the sound is heard purely as sound, and not as representative of a known object. But
theres more to this discussion for later!
QUESTIONS
1.
Can you hear a sound in your head? Is listening to a sound in your head an
electroacoustic activity?
2.
In the (incomplete) organigrams on the next page determine those areas which are most
important for the researcher who would want to prepare a radio documentary on the history and
impact of technology in sound.
3.
Compare the impact of technology on artistic evolution with the impact of artistic
evolution on technology.
4.
In listening to many types of music (non-western and western) it is possible to listen to
various parts of the music: beat, melody, harmony, text, phrase structure? Do you do this all at
once? Do you hear layers, or mass structures?
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ARTISTIC PRACTICE
Artistic Practice
With Text
Studio
Live
Popular Musics
Fixed
medium
Radiophonic
Concrete
poetry
Synthesized Computer
based
concrete
Mixed
Concerts
Live
with
processing
Live
electronics
Dissemination
With text, studio, live electronics, mixed, radiophonic, poetry, synthesizer, computer music
SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
Theoretical
Analysis
Medical
Hardware
Audiology
Software
Psychoacoustics
Historical /
Documentary
Linguistics,
Artificial intelligence
Sociological
/ cultural
Applications
Popular Musics
Recording Arts
Dissemination
Pop Industry
Acoustics
Hardware
Software
Games
With Text
Journalism
Direct
Digital
Media
CDs, Video
Film
Theater
Communication
Studies
WWW
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READING I
AN INFORMAL INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, THE VOICE, AND THEIR
SOUNDS
OverView
This reading examines aspects of vocal language with the objective of providing a
basic understanding of its many levels of organization. From the larger-scale
elements of vocabulary, syntax and semantics, to the most basic sound components
(vowels and consonants), a framework and terminology are developed that will be
applicable to electroacoustic composition, analysis and synthesis. Following is an
introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
LINGUISTIC ORGANIZATION
There are many ways of approaching an analysis of sound and electroacoustics. It is possible,
and sometimes even desirable to use the human voice, the original instrument, as a model for this
study. This is especially true in electroacoustics.
Spoken language and the various ways of looking at it are good starting points to examine the
nature and structure of any of the arts. Here well find a model to explore and develop many of
the concepts and structures that will be useful in this course, and in many other areas.
This examination of spoken or written language will start from the word, and examine larger
(macro-) and smaller (micro-) structural aspects of it. While it will be a little simplistic language
and language structures are definitely open for other interpretations and models, for now well
start with this tri-partite model.
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English however lacks a strong case structure and the order of words is often critical to the
meaning: The man fell on the sidewalk, has a different meaning from The sidewalk fell on the man.
Man is the subject in the first form, but the object in the second. In languages with a strong case
structure, the word man would be different in each sentence.
Let us imagine a language with the following three words: MAN = hom; FALL ON = tombe;
SIDEWALK = planch. If a word is the subject it takes an A as an ending; as an object, it takes
an I. Therefore,
HOMA tombe PLANCHI, means man falls on sidewalk;
HOMI tombe PLANCHA, means sidewalk falls on man.
(Or closer to home, the old headline Man Bites Dog.) Note how in sound the sequence: <SCREAM!!
Crash!> has a different meaning to <CRASH!! Scream!>
This has led to a sense of an innately or structurally correct sequence for words. There are often
preferred (normal or correct?) ways in which words follow one another. In traditional western
music, and extending through the popular music and early jazz idioms, there are also norms or
rules for the correct sequencing of chords. (II usually goes to V to I if a particular meaning is to
be understood.)
The following sentence (sequence of words) is considered possible (correct) in English: The man
with the big black hat saw us as if in a dream. If the words were to be presented in a different order,
an English composition teacher may consider the sequence as being wrong: The black big man with
the dream saw as in a hat if us.
A psychoanalyst or creative writing teacher may see in the new sentence profound significance
or banal meandering. It could be said that the syntax of the second version is not right.
What would be the result of having words (vocabulary elements) appearing in any order?
any appearing be elements having in of order result the vocabulary What words would ()?
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This
text
has
meaning.
has
text
/h////z/
/s/
//
/I/
//
/m//i\//n//I///
meaning
this
/s/
/s/ //
/k/
/I/
/I/
//
/t/
/z/
//
//
/z/
/m/
/t/
/z/
//
/k/
/k/
/k/ //
/m/
//
/z/
/t/
/I/
/m/
//
STRESS
In speech, many verbal characteristics effect understanding, including the rate of deliverypaced,
deliberate, nervousand the stress on different words:
Im not going to do that
Im not going to do that.
Im not going to do that.
Im not going to do that
Im not going to do that.
It is possible to have the words of a sentence have one meaning, while the delivery (intonation /
stress) conveys another or even the opposite meaning. (Why dont you come over some time?
said sarcasticaly!)
English is a language that stresses syllables by using both time (length) and amplitude (loudness).
French, and a number of other european languages (eg German), create stress patterns mostly by
the length of syllables. This helps to explain how accent works in a language, for a native english
speaker will frequently place accents in french words where none belong, and may often stress the
wrong syllable. (In french, the syllable has the middle syllable lengthened in english, the first
syllable is stressed. Compare the english and french pronunciations of: english / anglais, Paris /
Paris, music / musique.)
Up to this point, the examination of language (and sound) has been macro-structural: the smallest
unit examined has been the word. Below, we examine the more fundamental elements, microstructural, which when taken alone, do not carry specific meaning (they have no semantic
dimension).
CODE
The semantics of a phrase may also contain code which can only be understood by those who
have been initiated into its meaning. The surface features may be obscure grok, or oblique the
bug cheese, or opposite smart alec. Political correctness is a way of having newspeak where
the real meaning is obscured with a euphemism. In academia, the phrase problems with time
management implies something else. Humor is frequently based on such double meanings
(semantic dualities).
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VOICE AS SOUND
The human voice is the most complex and universal of any natural sound source. Physiologically,
there are three major parts used in the production of voice sounds:
the lungs (which provide the energy),
the vocal cords / vocal folds (which vibrate and produce the basic sound), and
the mouth which creates the changes in the sound that we recognize as speech.
There are two basic types of sounds, consonants and vowels, and a continuum of categories
around them: consonants (voiced and unvoiced), semi-consonants or semi-vowels, vowels (oral
and nasal) and diphthongs (etc).
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Voiced sounds are characterized by the vibration of the vocal cords, and un-voiced sounds have
no vibration of the vocal cords, but are basically forms of spectrally modified, filtered (wind)
noise. Since the vocal cords are involved, voiced soundsvowelsmay be sung, but unvoiced
sounds, not have a vibrating source, cannot be sung. Unvoiced consonants and whispering are
unvoiced sounds.
Many voiced sounds are able to be sustained, and changed as they occur. Say the word music
very slowly, taking about ten seconds on the vowel u. (It starts with a long e quality that
becomes an oo quality. There is a formant glissando between the two parts of this diphthong.)
Some unvoiced sounds can be sustained, sh, but others are transient /p/ . Try to sustain the
sound /p/. While it is possible to sustain the hhhhh quality, the identity of the /p/ is in the
way in which it starts and stops its envelope.
While working at this micro-structural level, the semantic dimension of the text is (frequently)
lost. As you continue to work at this level of the voice as sound, try to carry this form of
abstracted hearing in listening to regular speech. Ask someone who speaks a language that you
dont understand to speak to you: even just to tell you about the weather. Listen with abstracted
hearing.
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vowel moves from front to back, and they all terminate with /t/ an alveolar stop, which in
much speech is substituted with /:/ (back of mouth stop).
Segmentation is also a musical problem, for while (on the surface at the level of notation) notes
appear to be quite distinct, when viewed as continuous sound (eg in a sound editing program),
unless there are clear stress markers such as very strong beats or (regular) attack transients, it
can be quite difficult to find the points of articulation. This also doesnt account for players not
playing (quite) together, or dealing with recorded reverberation where parts of the sound are
carried over into subsequent sounds. Musical segmentation is also about forming logical groups
at the level of phrasing and grouping, not just where notes start and stop. This too is an AI
problem which is on-going.
International Phonetic Alphabet:
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipachart.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
French:
http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-ipa-french.htm
Font download:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=encore-ipa
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Sounds
like:
long e
/\/
/iu/
(*) dialect forms
english
french
feel
fit
ami
short i
short e
short a
big
get
fat
short u
ah
short o
hard o
short oo
long oo
short er
sun
(are)
box
Consonants
unvoiced voiced
bte
papa
good
rule
fern
/f/
//
/s/
//
/t/
/t/
lche
mort
faux
fou
de
fut
les
neuf
mur
peu
/k/
/h/
//
Nasal
vowels
/ a~ /
/~ /
/ ~ /
/ ~ /
/ ~ /
moor
you
banc
un
bon
bain
vin
/b/
/w/
//
/m/
/v/
//
/z/
//
/d/
/d/
/n/
/g/
/l/
/r/
/j/
//
/R/
paper
fat
thing
seal
ship
chew
to
car
home
huge
ball
wet
where
man
veal
this
zeal
vision
jump
do
none
game
like
rest
you
sing
(fr) rade
Diphthongs (*)
feuille
/aI/
/I\/
/eI/
/a/
/\/
/o/
/I/
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high *
near *
way
now
air
so
boy *
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PLACE OF ARTICULATION
Another way of categorizing sounds is by their manner of productionthe shape of the mouth
and lips, and the position of the tongue and teeth.
Some of the major places of articulation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1. 2. 3.
4.
6.
Bilabial
Labiodental
Dental
Alveolar
5. Palatal
6. Uvular
7.
7. Pharyngeal
8. Glottal
8.
stop fricatives
// //
/f/ /v/
// //
/s/ /z/
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
stops
(plosives)
/p/ /b/
glides
(liquids)
semivowels
// /w/
nasal
/m/
/t/ /d/
/t/ /d/
/n/
// /l/
// // /r/ /X/
/t/ /d/
/k/ /g/
// /j/
/h/
//
/R/
VOWELS
Vowels may be described approximately as front, central or back with varying degrees of
openness.
Front
Central
Back
very open
//
//
/a/
quite open
//
//
medium
/e/
/\/
//
quite closed
/I/
/o/ //
almost closed
/i/
//
/u/ //
http://www2.unil.ch/ling/english/phonetique/api1-eng.html
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bat
bat
vat
go
do
yet
yonder
vision
zoo
ea se
yet
kick
well
mix
nut
pot
pit
row
site
tall
cool
fill
loch
bits
chair
shut
shch
let
muse
yard
The alphabet below developed by early North American native peoples scholars for the
transcription of plains indian languages. Point out some of the weaknesses of the approach (eg
sounds which are not present in english!).
at
ate(*)
all
bow
fast
goat
hat
bit
bite (*)
jaw
king
lot
old(*)
look
out(*)
boy(*)
thirst
there
up
do
you(*)
v est
RUSSIAN
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sell
chair
dip
hen
he
her
kiss
low
m usic
no
pipe
run
shore
top
yes
zebra
wig
14
azure
HINDI
Readings
QUESTIONS
1.
From this brief view it is seen that vocal sounds can be static or changing, transient or
sustained. Give a short list of natural or mechanical sounds which fall into each (or more) of these
categories.
computer fan
drops of water
clock ticking
Static
X
Changing
Transient
Sustained
X
2.
Would it be possible to group sounds into families based upon this proposed
categorization? What would be the advantages? What would be the disadvantages?
car
wind
truck
ocean
bus
distant traffic
train
plane
3.
If a person is presented with a sequence of sounds that they have never heard before, is it
possible for them to determine / discover the meaning? What would this tell you about the nature
of vocabulary? syntax? semantic?
4.
Given only the sounds of an event, how easy / difficult is it to describe the event? Why?
What is the role of a distinctive sound signature? Name some.
5.
What would a syntax of electroacoustics look like? How would (have) the rules be(en)
developed?
6.
Is there such a thing as a generalized semantic (ie universal meaning) for ea? How is the
semantic of electroacoustics determined?
7.
If electroacoustics is considered to be a language, would it need to have some / all of the
elements of vocabulary, syntax, and semantic?
8.
Could there be dialects of electroacoustics that have their own vocabulary, syntax, and
semantic? Find examples.
9.
10.
Words vocabulary elements of verbal language are the smallest meaningful unit. Is there
such a limit to sound? What is the smallest meaningful unit of sound?
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READING II
DESCRIBING SOUND(S) I
OverView
This reading starts an on-going examination of the methods of describing sound(s)
with words. The approach is partly psychological and introduces the model that
joins the psychological, the perceptual and the scientific in the study known as
Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA). Other models are briefly introduced to begin to
develop a framework and terminology applicable to electroacoustic analysis and
composition.
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A single wave of an ocean can be considered to be more ambiguous. Striking the bell results in the
same sound, but a single wave may not be so easily as a wave on water was it a passing car?
or wind in the trees? and no two waves are identical, similar but not quite the same. The wave is
identifiable a part of a collective sound, a single breaking wave is more difficult to contextualize.
The bell has a rather clear shape (energy profile) attack (klang) > decay, while an ocean wave is
the result of the action of many smaller parts forming a larger mass structure. A small wave of
say 15 meters in width is the action of millions of individual actions brought together at one
moment when the wave breaks, which itself is not a single action. Having broken, the wave
(energy) does not stop but melds into the other parts of the dying wave.
There are a number of parallels here to the sound of a piano which has bell-like characteristics,
and the mass structure characteristics of a wave. Microphones placed over different parts of a
piano will produce different qualities of sound, but at some critical distance, all of these
individual qualities will have joined to become the sound of the piano.
An individual speaking will be heard as speech. To describe the sound of a crowd (or mob), is
different. There are many individual sound sources and they merge into a mass structure
(composite event), however, through the psychological attribute of selective hearing (known both
as the cocktail party effect where one is able to listen to a specific train of speech even with very
high background noise levels, and also the deaf teenager effect, where the adolescent is unable to
hear the parent, but is able to listen to a CD, watch tv and talk on the phone at the same time
selective psychological filtering), individual channels / streams of sound can be perceived.
Sound complexes (multiple source / additive, op cit deaf teenager effect) exist on a continuum
from multiple discrete sources (sometimes also discreet), for example a string quartet, to multiple
indistinguishable sources (eg an amusement center / video-pinball arcade). With the quartet (or
even an octet) it is possible for a trained listener to hear (and follow) up to (about) 8 independent
parts (lines), whereas the video-pinball machines, while each may be different, meld into a mass
structure very quickly.
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PSYCHOACOUSTICS
Psychoacoustics (see other sheets), describes certain individual response aspects of sounds.
Individuals are asked to evaluate certain things, and their responses are brought together to
provide a psychometric response. Psychometric responses attempt to be context independent,
although in reality this is very difficult to achieve.
If it is 12 degrees and 25 people are asked if it is warm, their responses will depend upon such
st
st
contextual matters as: Is it July 1 at 1:30 pm, or February 1 at 7:30 am? Is it indoors in
July, or indoors in February!
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In the field of psychoacoustic study, and acoustic flow analysis, models are presented showing
possible relationships of three parameters and (the expected) psychological responses.
SOURCE
car engine
car engine
alarm buzzer
alarm buzzer
siren
wind (complex)
speaker
CHANGES
accelerating
accelerating
constant
beeping
cyclical
aperiodic
vocal
articulations
crowd (mob)
vocal
articulations
MEDIUM
sitting inside car
standing on sidewalk as car goes by
indoors / outdoors / moving away from it
(ditto)
(ditto)
in trees
3 cm from ear / 90 cm in front / 2 meters
behind / 10 meters to the left;
in a closet, in a bathroom, in a classroom,
outside,
a year ago
3 cm from ear, 90 cm in front, 2 meters behind,
100 meters to the left; in a closet, in a bathroom,
in a classroom, outside, in a car with a siren
going
Further readings will look into the three major areas proposed here:
psychological representations (intuitive / learned)
ASA / Auditory Scene Analysis (intuitive / learned / trained) [psychoacoustics]
acoustics (measurable / repeatable)
SPECTROMORPHOLOGY
There is a quasi-descriptive system that has evolved from the acoustic model: spectromorphology. The acoustic model describes sound in the static condition (sic) as having two
parameters:
amplitude (volume / loudness)
spectrum (tone color / timbre)
When time is added to amplitude = amplitude envelope (simple or complex)
When change is added to envelope = continuous / reiterative / periodic (and rhythmic) aperiodic
Spectrum can be simple (pitched); complex; noise-like. This quasi-continuum would contain a
sequence similar to:
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Readings
pure tone
bell
piano note
whistle
metalic complex
lotsa notes
rush / rumble
complex clang
even more notes
jumbled noise
(white) noise
The surface features of a spectrum are often described in the psychological / psychoacoustic
domain as: smooth, liquid, hollow, buzzy, granular, highly textured, uneven, edgy, coarse, fine, pitted,
knoby, fuzzy, silken, transparent, translucent, metalic (check any good Thesaurus for more terms
borrowed from the visual domain).
It is frequently useful to break the texture into component parts (segregation), to represent the
channelization (streaming), or perceived layers eg
As they sat in the living room, through the slightly ajar window, sadly, the neighbors
childrens sharp scream-laughs are underpinned by an oboe playing a liquid melody over the
sound of a door bell, while church bells behind complement the distant roar of the ocean, like
the ever/never dying sleeping breath of the once and forever dead.
There are many possible levels and types of analysis applicable here, requiring a model such as
auditory scene analysis / acoustic flow analysis, which would be most useful for film and video
soundtrack producers, but it is also possible to consider what is heard by each of the people
sitting in the room: the four-year old who wants to be outside playing, the wife awaiting news of
her husband missing at sea, the Catholic father having heard the bells marking the moments of life
every day for the past 65 years.
It is to also be noted that there are many individual envelopes in this multi-layered scene: from
the continuous nature of the ocean to the punctuations of the childrens sharp scream-laughs.
This particular description is simultaneously (and variably),
programatic [refering to some aspect of narrative or story],
emotional [appealing very directly to the listener, producing involuntary, and
unmediated responses], and
associative [that reminds me of / about]
for each listener.
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Questions:
1.
Is there a common way to hear sounds? Do people hear sounds in the same way? Do
they interpret them in the same way? Which sounds are understood the same way by most
people? Give examples of sounds which are understood in different ways by different groups of
people.
2.
Sounds can appear as being in the foreground or the background. When you are
downtown walking along the street, which sounds do you put into which category? Which (types
of) sounds will move from one category to the other. What will cause this shift? Is it voluntary?
3.
In creating an ea piece, how is it possible to focus listeners attention on specific aspects of
the sounds you are presenting? How could you create a piece in which no two people would
really hear the same things?
4.
Could you create a work in which the same listener would not hear the same things
twice? How?
5.
6.
7.
What is the maximum number of sounds you can hear at the same time? What effects this
limit?
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READING IIA
DESCRIBING SOUND(S) II OPPOSITIONS
OverView
This reading continues the examination of the methods of describing sound(s) with
words. The approach is drawn from the (dualistic) model of oppositions, from the
basic is / is not division, through the addition of modifying (or clarifying)
parameters, towards a model of description along a continuum. This proposed
framework and terminology are applicable to electroacoustic analysis and
composition.
A sometimes useful way of approaching the description of sounds is borrowed from linguistics
(lexical semantics): the use of oppositions for characterizing and delimiting (setting parameters)
of a term or object.
In language one could start to characterize the word father as:
male
not female
having a child
In this case, a single rather simplistic definition has been produced. Greater extension and clarity
could be produced by adding refinements:
responsible adult
legal guardian
loving
etc.
Similarly, some sounds (or families of sounds) can be given sets of parameters that draw them
together, or separate them.
noise
loud
static (still)
simple
single event
simple spectrum
high frequency
vocal
sung
pitched
voiced
calm
seductive
red
synthesized
straight
woodwind
singular
same
not noise
not loud
dynamic (changing)
complex
recuring event
complex spectrum
low frequency
not vocal
spoken
un-pitched
un-voiced
agitated
repulsive
green
concrete
processed
brass
mass (group or collective)
different
etc
Such lists can be created by choosing terms and seeking their (logical) opposite, or by asking
questions that can be answered yes or no. This method is sometimes used as an example of
Aristotelian logic.
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>
It may happen from time to time that through this process you will find sounds which are closely
related, creating a family (or network) of sounds. Surface features may hide underlying
commonalities, for example spoken voices played at extremely high speed may sound like
swarming insects, while slowed down 3 octaves may sound like hungry trolls.
It will be up to the individual as to whether grouping sounds whose surface characteristics are so
different is a worthwhile categorization. Members of a family may be in opposition to each other,
while sharing a common heritage at some point.
As seen in the first list, the oppositions can easily include psychological parameters, auditory
scene characteristics, or simply acoustical ones. Sometimes families of sounds are represented as
being along a continuum, or several continuums.
Many pieces can be understood in terms of this model. Sometimes the oppositions are very wide:
crashing/chaotic
peaceful and slowly evolving
or very narrow
upward female sung glissando
so that what in one context may be an opposition, in another context may be a criteria for unity.
In many cases, the oppositions chosen represent points on a continuum rather than a simple
opposition. In one genre of ea/cm composition loosely called exploration of the object, the
objective is to create families of sounds closely (and not so closely) related to each other through
various sonic transformation processes. Frequently, verbal language is too coarse to be able to
clearly articulate the differences between: a big bell, a bigger bell, a larger bell, an even larger bell
and a humungous bell, but providing end points from the largest bells in the world (in Moscow) to
the minute Tinkerbell (in a childs mind). Such parametric continuums can contribute to the
expression of a profile / identity / classification of a sound.
In some circumstances it is useful to define / articulate the negative space the way a stone
sculptor removes the unwanted pieces of rock. In ea, an example includes acousmatic which has
(a) the non-centrality of pitch, (b) the non-centrality of metric rhythm, and (c) does not have live
performers or real-time processing.
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QUESTIONS
1.
Can you create a series of questions that when answered yes or no will show the
similarities / differences between some short ea pieces?
2.
Is this method of Aristotelian logic applicable to human perception and interpretation?
Give (counter-) examples.
3.
In the table below, where possible provide a similar term, and an opposite word
applicable to sound. In some cases there may be many; in some cases you may decide that there
are none, or they are ambiguous.
Similar Term
Opposition
natural
high
regular
thin
noisy
melodic
calm
weird
jittery
sad
dry
voiced
incomprehensible
gesture
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READING III
SIGNAL PATHS & TRANSDUCERS LOUDSPEAKERS & MICROPHONES
OverView
This two-part reading starts an examination of the signal path and some of its
components It briefly looks at a number of transformations that a sound (signal)
may pass through on its way from being an idea, back into being an idea. A brief
examination of microphones and loudspeakers covers the two main types of
transducers in the studio.
!!
Idea > Receiver
!!
!!
Idea (source) > processor > receiver
!!
The processor (a black box in this case), has an input and an output. It does something to the
input signal and the output is used. The beauty of the black box is that it functions without the
user having to know why or how it does what it does. This particular model however, has no
controls.
Another feature of this model is that the signal changed its form, and was converted from one
medium to another (transduced), and then converted back.
The improved model does this:
Now there are two processors,
and one of them has two
controls.
!!
!!
This basic model can be extended to describe a signal path, where an originating signal (a source),
is converted into various forms of energy (transduced), processed by any number of devices, and
is received.
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!!
neurological
activity
(electrochemical)
transduction
muscular
activity
(electrochemical)
vibration
(mechanical
energy)
vibration
in air
(acoustic
energy)
signal
(electrical
energy)
There are four kinds of energy used up to the point where the idea has become an electrical signal.
transduction
electrical
signal
storage
processing
signal processing
sound
(acoustic
energy)
The electrical signal is processed by any number of devices, and then is converted back into
acoustic energy.
transduction
outer
ear
middle
ear
!!
neurological
transmission
inner
ear
hearing and
cognition
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Transducer
Mechanical
movement (sound)
Microphone
Electricity
Electricity
Loudspeaker
Mechanical
movement (sound)
Analog (electrical)
signals
Analog to Digital
Converter
Digital (electrical)
signals
Digital (electrical)
signals
Digital to Analog
Converter
Analog (electrical)
signals
MICROPHONES
Microphones are available in many types based upon (a) the way in which sound is
transducedcondenser, dynamic, ribbon, crystal and carbon types etc; (b) specific
functionconcert recording, public address, telephone, underwater etc; and (c) directional
characteristics omnidirectional, directional.
In general, dynamic microphoneswhich use a small magnet and coilare quite robust;
condenser microphoneswhich include electret condenser microphonesrequire a power
supply; ribbon microphones are extremely delicate; and crystal and carbon microphones were
used in almost all telephones until a few decades ago.
Different applications have differing requirements for microphones: concert recording requires
extremely wide and flat frequency response; public address microphones need to reproduce voice
very clearly while being robust and tending to reject feedback; telephone mics must be clear,
robust and very small; underwater microphones must be water-proof.
The two basic families of directional characteristics are those that (ideally) respond equally well to
sounds coming from all directionsomnidirectional, and those that respond better to sounds
from one direction (or more) than othersdirectional.
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Within the directional category, there are two basic types, the unidirectional mic (more sensitive to
one side), and the bi-directional mic, or the figure-of-eight. Each has its particular use and
applications. Remember that while the microphone pick-up patterns shown below are two
dimensional, in fact, microphones respond in three dimensions.
Just as different guitar amplifiers have a different sound qualitya function of their unique
frequency responsenot all microphones respond equally well to all frequencies. It is sometimes
desirable to have this characteristic as it helps color and give a distinctive character to the
sound. Microphones range in price from $9.95 to over $7,000. All other things being equal, quality
comes with price.
Inside the housing for the microphone, there may be as many as four capsules, which will have
four signal outputs. While most microphones are monophonic, for much live recording, single
point stereo microphones are common.
Some microphones are rugged and can be dropped (eg telephone and rock vocalist mics), most
are quite delicate. Avoid dropping microphones, for while some may not break, others may cost
from $200 to $1000+ to repair.
LOUDSPEAKERS
There is no perfect loudspeaker, and as with microphones, a loudspeakers use will largely
determine its prefered characteristics. Size, weight and required frequency response vary from
application to application as for example in sound reinforcement (amplification) for a concert,
headphones, music in a cafeteria, recording studio monitors, bus or train station public address
systems, or telephones.
All loudspeakers change the quality of the (electrical) signal that goes to them. The amount of
change that is acceptable (or desirable) is a function of many things: the intended use and the
inherent limitations of the use, what the designer thinks a sound should sound like, and the
amount of money that you want to spend.
There are physical limitations for a vibrating body, which is what a loudspeaker is. Given this,
loudspeakers often contain two or more different speakers inside them, each designed to handle
a particular range of frequencies. A two-way speaker system will have a larger woofer to handle
the low frequencies, and a tweeter to handle the highs. A three-way system will have three
components, the previous two and a mid-range driver.
It sometimes happens that each of these loudspeaker components will have its own power
amplifier, in which case, the system is referred to as a bi-amped or tri-amped loudspeaker
system. Sub-woofers for handling very low frequencies are common in hometheater systems,
and as low frequencies are not directional, the sub-woofer can be placed almost anywhere.
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Typical loudspeakers.
(A) Small full-range loudspeaker.
(B) Two-way loudspeaker system, with a horn (tweeter)
(C) Three-way loudspeaker, similar to a home stereo loudspeaker
Loudspeakers cost from $9.95 to over $20,000+ a pair for your home or studio stereo system. The
actual quality of the sound you hear is strongly dependent upon the environment and placement
of the speakers, especially for low frequencies.
A loudspeaker which is hung in the middle of a room radiates (more or less) in all directions,
particularly at low frequencies. If the speakers seem to lack bass, putting them against a wall will
improve the bass output, since the low frequencies radiate through only half a sphere. Putting a
speaker in a corner will increase its bass response more again, as it will be radiating the same
amount of energy through one-quarter of a sphere. Placing it at the junction of two walls and the
floor will increase it even more. The bass is radiated through only one eighth of a sphere.
You may have also noticed that closed rooms have more bass, or better low frequency response
than rooms with open doors or windows. (This is used to great advantage (?) by boom-box /
earthquake cars.)
Because the loudspeaker is creating sound in a room, if the room has unusual acoustical
characteristics, a bad echo or is particularly absorbent at some frequencies, the sound heard will
also have these characteristics. What you will hear will be the original sound, plus the coloration
added by the loudspeaker, plus the unusual acoustical characteristics of the room. Well, wouldnt
it be better to use headphones then?
HEADPHONES
Headphones are, if not carefully used, dangerous. It is very easy to produce very high sound
pressure levels with very little power because the transducer is so close to the ear. It is also quite
natural to turn up the volume to be able to overcome ambient noise from the outside. In general, a
listener needs about 20dB more signal than is leaking in from noise.
The danger is that if the ambient outside or surrounding noise is 75 80 dB, such as streets
downtown, you will need sound pressure levels of 95 100 dB in order to hear everything on the
CD / radio. Similarly, the mtro sometimes has levels even higher than that. These sound pressure
levels (90 dB and higher) are dangerous for your hearing as both long term and short term hearing
loss will be an eventual result.
There are times and places for headphone listening, however the electroacoustic studio is NOT
one of them. As you will or already may have experienced, it is possible to unexpectedly get very
loud sounds in the studio (feedback, fast forward tape on the heads, a loose synthesizer cable
that suddenly makes contact, a system beep ). You do not want these sounds right next to your
ears. Such sounds have the potential to destroy the speakers. What will they do to your ears?
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There are three general types of headphones: those that cover the entire ear; those that sit
on the ear (open to the air); and those that fit into the ear canal. The first type have the
advantage of most effectively blocking external noises, but after long periods of use may be
somewhat uncomfortable. The second type often need higher sound pressure levels to be
effective, and therefore are potentially dangerous. The third type, while small, may need high
sound pressure levels, and through physical contact, may irritate the ear canal. The second and
third types also have irregular low frequency response since the bass depends upon the exact
placement of the earphone.
Loudspeakers
Direct sound
Sound leaking
to the other ear
Reflected sound
The headphone directs sound into one ear, while with loudspeakers in a room, each ear receives
sound from both loudspeakers, and at least two reflections from nearby surfaces.
The ear then converts the sound back into electrical impulses for the brain. There are many
speculative views on trying to develop a method where the acoustical element of sound
transmission would be entirely by-passed, that is, plugging the brain directly into the source
(usually another brain).
FEEDBACK
The general concept of feedback is that the output is returned to the input. With positive
feedback, there will be an increase in the effect, with negative feedback, there will be a reduction.
In a situation with microphones and loudspeakers, a signal from the loudspeaker that gets back
to the microphone (and amplifier), could build up into a howl, whistling or roar.
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QUESTIONS
1.
Given that the acoustics and sound reproducing systems of the creator and the listener are
not the same, what can be done to assure the integrity of the artists sonic conception?
2.
3.
Is the studio dead? What are the advantages / drawbacks to having / not having knobs,
buttons and sliders on equipment?
4.
Popular music recording is all processed and assembled. As foods list the ingredients and
additives, should recordings list their non-living additives?
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READING IV
JUNGIAN MODELS FOR COMPOSITIONAL TYPES
OverView
This reading approaches compositional and analytic concerns by adapting a fourpart model proposed by (among others) Carl Jung. The proposition is presented
largely through a single diagram at the end, which may be familiar to those who have
examined palmistry or astrology.
Carl Jung, in some of his writing, postulated four general personality types which are present in
everyone, with one or more in domination from birth. The individual eventually achieving balance
and completion through knowledge / realization / contact / sense and full utilization
of all of them. Jung describes them as two pairs, a rational pair and an irrational pair, and they
are (roughly speaking): thought and feeling (rational), sensation and intuition (irrational).
Thought: which relates to the intellectual processesthe application of the mind (and
analytical processes) to problems, processes and situations (thoughts, ideas, form,
structure).
Feeling: which relates to the emotional processesthe (immediate / gut) response of the
individual to problems, processes and situations (like, dislike, mood).
Sensation: which relates to the immediate sensory processesthe here and now of the
physical sensation without reference to anything beyond the absolute, immediate present
(absolute perception of stimulus).
Intuition: which relates to the processes of the past and future as reflected through the
presentthe interpretation of the present almost metaphorically, (through the
relationship of symbols). The present is only a set of symbols about other things (this is
not printing on a piece of paper).
It is possible to place these four points in a two-dimensional space, and apply them to
electroacoustic compositional types. Just as it is very rare (if not impossible) to have a pure
personality type, works usually have elements of two (or more) of the compositional types.
Let us (for the moment) slightly rename the categories for our purposes, as: structural (thought),
emotional (feeling), sonorous (sensation), and metaphorical (intuition).
Much of the work of the acousmatic tradition (new French concrete school) appears to be
centered in the metaphorical, emotional domains, with strong support from the sonorous region
(Dhomont, Calon, Normandeau, Harrison, Wishart). The sensation aspect is so important in the
acousmatic tradition that it is often repeated that the original source of the sounds should remain
hidden from the listeners perception.
Much algorithmic composition, and computer-based synthesis appears to draw upon the
structural, sonorous areas. (Truax, Degazio, Xenakis) A good reason why these types of
compositions could seem to come from different worlds.
Much of Stockhausens work seems to fall into all four categories, being structurally conceived,
emotional in impetus, interesting and challenging in terms of sonority, and metaphorical in
meaning.
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These, like all models, are not absolute realities, but potentially useful points of reference.
SENSATION
COMMUNICATION
OTHERS
MARS
JUPITER
sensory / sonorous
MERCURY
SUN
SATURN
Conscious
(artificial)
immediate
air
Active
fire
BODY
feeling
release
SPIRIT
EMOTION
The self and the
inner world
I
R
R
A
T
I
O
N
A
L
SELF
thought / structure control
The self and the outside world
< RATIONAL >
MIND
Passive
THUMB
earth
(real)
logic / will
OBJECTIVES
MOON
water
INTELLECT
SOUL
passive
observation
fundamental
Subconscious
metaphorical
INTUITION
ka 98 - ix - 14
Of interest also may be Jungs proposition of the anima and animus; the anima being the female
element in the male unconscious (feeling / sensuous mirror / revealing), the animus being the
male element in the female unconscious (logic / mechanisms for control object / hidden).
QUESTIONS
1.
Jung also proposes a collective unconscious fundamentals held by all human beings.
Are there similar fundamentals that tie together the discipline of electroacoustics?
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READING V
PARAMETERS OF SOUND I PERCEPTUAL
OverView
This reading draws together a number of elements that can be used to more precisely
and clearly articulate elements related to the description of features of sounds. This
is applicable to composition, synthesis and analysis.
It is useful to be able to dissect a sound and discuss its various aspects and characteristics in
both measurable and intuitive fashions. Analyzing a sound by the following criteria gives one
both detailed information about it as well developing an overall understanding of it as a
composite event/phenomenon. With this information, one can then begin to place single sounds
in the context of other sounds and sound complexes and develop criteria for comparing and
combining similar or very different sound materials.
DURATION/TIME
- continuous
- reiterative
- periodic (metric / unmetered)/aperiodic
This parameter cannot exist in isolation, and most frequently represents a grouping of the
parameters of amplitude and spectrum. Examples from the continuum would include the rumble
of the city (continuous), an air conditioner turning on and off, or elevators arriving and departing
(reiterative), the beat of dance music, your heart (periodic), a bird singing (aperiodic).
DYNAMICS/AMPLITUDE
- steady state
- fluctuating (periodic, aperiodic)
Often difficult to separate from spectrum, the volume of the sound could be roughly continuous
taken over a short period of time a city, the ocean, (virtual steady state), or fluctuating
passing traffic (aperiodic).
SPECTRUM (TIMBRE)
- simple, complex, statistical (noise)
- waveshape (periodic, aperiodic)
- descriptive quality/character
- granular, smooth, liquid, hollow, buzz-like, etc.
Spectrum is seldom static, and occupies an enormous multi-dimensional continuum from simple
(sine tone) to complex (white noise). To find where a sound fits (or doesnt fit) on the
continuum(s), try producing it with your voice. The sound of the wind, while containing more
frequencies than a bell, can be simulated with the mouth, while the bell cannot. A variable
dividing line is the question of the perception of a (single) pitch within a sound. The rumble of
the city has no perceived pitch, but a saxophone does (in most cases). In ea/cm, spectrum its
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evolution and transformation has been the center of much research and composition. Whereas
with other parameters the examples have been drawn from objects and experiences in the
physical world, timbre often borrows terms from the visual and metaphorical arts.
ENVELOPE SHAPE
- Envelope (amplitude/time)
- complex/simple (multi-staged)
- superimposed/juxtaposed events
This refers to the way in which sounds begin and end: attack and decay, and as such is a
combination of time and amplitude, or more frequently, time, amplitude and spectrum. Struck
and keyboard musical instruments tend to have simple envelopes of a basic attack / decay
nature an impulse of energy being applied and being allowed to die away. Many other sounds
have more stages to them, as for example the voice or a bowed string instrument where the
source of energy (air or bow motion) is able to be varied producing multi-stage complex
envelopes. In many circumstances, individual sound envelopes are superimposed and are
perceived as envelope complexes (mass structures) rather than individual events.
MORPHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
- as sound objects (objets sonores)
- in relation to other classes of sound
Sounds are frequently differentiated by whether they are perceived by their unique physical
characteristics (french horn, electric guitar), or are perceived as a modification of a sound
(speech sped up and played backwards). The identity of the sound in these types of
classifications can be understood as having a family type relationship.
The identity of the string family (violin, viola, cello, double bass) is quite strong and quite
coherent. One can imagine instruments that would fit between members of the family. Such a
family is that invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s the saxophones, which number 14, are all
closely related. The seven or eight classifications of voice similarly form a family, if somewhat
looser in description.
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS/EFFECTS
- emotional
- programmatic
- associative
These parameters have been covered elsewhere in the READINGs, and relate almost completely
to the personal and cultural biases of the individual. (The sound reminds me of when I was a
little kid and we used to go to the lake. It just makes me want to cry.)
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QUESTIONS
1.
In the light of this READING, re-read the questions from READING VI. How could you
amplify / clarify some of your answers.
2.
Consider such films as Alien. How are the psychological effects achieved purely through
sound?
3.
How can you tell the difference between messy kids eating and heavy breathing, and the
Alien sounds?
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READING VI
PARAMETERS OF SOUND II PHYSICAL & THE HARMONIC SERIES
OverView
This reading starts the examination of the physical aspects of sound. The most basic
parameters of frequency (high and low), amplitude (volume), and spectrum (tone
color) are introduced. These concepts provide a framework and terminology
applicable in aspects of sound, from simply hearing, to instrument design and
performance, to synthesis, composition and analysis.
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Compression
Rarefaction
The top representation is as the wave would be shown on an oscilloscope, the bottom
representation shows the compression and rarefaction as they would appear in air. From any
point on one wave to the same point on the next wave is one cycle. If there are 400 such cycles
per second (vibrations per second), the frequency is 400Hz.
This is the ideal figure, and refers to the behavior of sound out of doors (free-field condition).
Inside a building or room, this number changes due to reflection from surfaces, echo and
reverberation (see other readings). In a free-field condition, sound which is 65 dB at the distance
of 1 meter from its source, will be about 59 dB at 2 meters, 53 dB at 4 meters, 47 dB at 8 meters,
and 29 dB (very quiet) at 64 meters. (See also Reading XII, following.)
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LA SRIE HARMONIQUE
Touch the string at 3/4, 4/5, 5/6 ... of its length and it will vibrate in 4, 5, 6 ... equal parts. As
the string vibrates in more parts, it vibrates at higher frequencies. (For example: as a whole at 100
Hz, in halves at 200 Hz, thirds at 300 Hz etc.)
The full-length vibration (1/1 or 1:1) produces the fundamental (first partial). The half-length
vibration (1/2 or 2:1) produces a frequency (second partial) one octave above the fundamental
etc. The components of this entire set of vibrations makes up the harmonic series. While harmonic
components theoretically extend to infinity, 32 to 64 partials are usually adequate to synthesize
or represent most natural sounds (except for those which are noise-like).
The frequency of the partials varies inversely as the fraction of the string length that produces
it. The shorter the string length, the higher the frequency.
All of the partials with their different amplitudes combine to form the spectrum of the sound.
There are two basic types of spectra, harmonic and inharmonic.
In a harmonic spectrum, the frequencies of the components are whole number ratios whole
number multiples of the fundamental frequency (ie: x 1, x 2, x 3, x 4 ). With a fundamental
frequency of 55 Hz, the harmonic components (with decreasing intensity) are 55 Hz, 110 Hz, 165
Hz, 220 Hz, 275 Hz, 330 Hz ... (see below).
With an inharmonic spectrum, the components are not whole number ratios. For example, a
timbre with the inharmonic components of :
171 Hz, 306 Hz, 477 Hz, 783 Hz, 1260 Hz, 2043 Hz has ratios of:
1 : 1.79 : 2.79 : 4.58 : 7.37 : 11.95.
Music theory names some of the lower intervals of the harmonic series. Above the fourth partial,
many of the intervals are approximations in relation to equal temperament, for example, 8:9 and
9:10 the major 2nd and the major tone and no common name exists for the 6:7 and 7:8
intervals.
The first twelve components with a fundamental of 55 Hz (A) are:
?
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w
3
w
4
&#
39
w n7
6
11
w
#
#
w
10
12
Readings
INTERVALS
Frequency
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
55 Hz
110 Hz
165 Hz
220 Hz
275 Hz
330 Hz
385 Hz
440 Hz
495 Hz
550 Hz
605 Hz
660 Hz
Name
A1
A2
1:1
1:2
2:3
3:4
4:5
5:6
6:7
7:8
8:9
9:10
10:11
11:12
E3
A3
C#4
E4
(G4)
A4
B4
C#5
D#5
A5
Perfect unison
Perfect octave
Perfect fifth
Perfect fourth
Major third
Minor third
(not used in western music) (n/a)
(not used in western music) (n/a)
Major second (large) [major tone]
another Major second [minor tone]
smaller Major second (n/a)
smaller Major second (n/a)
Notice that the interval is determined by the ratio of the frequencies, for example both 110 : 220
and 330 : 660 are perfect octaves1:2 ratios. The higher in the series, the closer together the
pitches become, and the smaller the intervals. The smaller the ratio, the smaller the interval. (See
Reading VII below for more detail.)
Equal temperament is the standard intonation system used in western music. Sought after for
many hundreds of years, but in general use only since the early 1700s, equal temperament
divides the octave into 12 equal parts, making all 12 semitones exactly the same size. This
arbitrary structure is an important part of tonal music since it allows modulation to any key,
with an equal degree of consonance.
The components in a harmonic spectrum usually have different amplitudes. In most timbres, the
lower partials have greater amplitude than the higher ones. The strength of specific partials varies
from instrument to instrument even from note to note, and with varying dynamics. Differences
between individual tone colors are determined in large part by differences between the intensities
of the partials.
8ve
8ve
AMPLITUDE
8ve 8ve
FREQUENCY
10 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 . . .
(linear graph)
Harmonic partials expressed in a linear graph form. The frequency difference between the
partials remains constant, and since there are more partials in higher octaves, the
representation of the octaves makes them further apart.
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Readings
8ve
8ve
8ve
AMPLITUDE
8ve
12
16
Harmonic partials expressed in an exponential graph form. The distance between the partials
FREQUENCY
gets smaller, as the representation
of the octave (exponential)
is kept constant.
. . .
When looking at the representation of a wave, the amplitude parameter is expressed by the
height of the wave (the vertical displacement): the greater the vertical displacement, the higher
in amplitude (louder). The frequency parameter is expressed by the length of the wave: the
longer the wave, the lower the frequency.
There are many ways of graphically representing sound, some of which are introduced here. After
a period of working with these methods, it often becomes possible to evaluate or assess some
aspects of sounds based upon some of these representations. (See also Article E, p96.)
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Readings
INSTRUMENTAL FAMILIES
Another basic method for categorizing (world music) instruments is based upon the way in which
they produce sound, developed by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs in the early part of the
twentieth century. They proposed four main categories:
Idiophones sound is produced by the natural vibration of the material
Membranophones sound is produced by the vibration of a membrane or skin
Chordophones sound is produced by the vibration of string(s)
Aerophones sound is produced by the vibration of air.
To these acoustic categories has been added:
Electronic sound is produced by electronic means.
These four (five) categories are further divided into 25, 40, 85 or more than 300 sub-categories,
and there are also compound or hybrid instrument (electric guitar).
The brief descriptions below account for most instruments.
Idiophones sound is produced by the natural vibration of the material
Instruments in this group include rattles, tambourines, bells, gongs, cymbals, and bar idiophones
(xylophones etc).
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Readings
Vibrating
material
- gongs
- vessels
- bars
concussion (cymbals)
friction
scraped
plucked
Vibrating
skin
Sound Waves
- goblet
drums
- friction
- frame
- vessel
mirlitons (kazoos)
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Readings
Vibrating
string
Sound Waves
Bridge
Sound box
- violin
zithers
- simple
- long
- chin
- koto
- plucked board
- harpsichord
- struck board
- dulcimer
- piano
Vibrating
air column
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- whistles
- recorder
single reed
- clarinet
- saxophone
44
Readings
double reed
- shawm
- oboe
- bassoon
bagpipes
cup mouthpiece
- cylindrical
- trumpet
- trombone
- conical
- french horn
- tuba
free reed
- accordion
- mouth organ
- sheng
free aerophones
bull-roar
organs
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
Spectrally, the sine tone is the simplest wave shape having only one component the
fundamental. Certain types of sounds, like those of oscillators on synthesizers, have a purely
harmonic spectrum. They may include, the sine wave, the triangle wave, the sawtooth wave and
the square (or variable pulse-width) wave. Each of these waveshapes has a different harmonic
spectrum.
f
f + 1/2 (2f) + 1/3 (3f) +
f + 1/9 (3f) + 1/25 (5f) +
f + 1/3 (3f) + 1/5 (5f) +
Notice that while the partials of the triangle and square wave (odd numbered partials) are the
same frequency, they sound different because their partials have different amplitudes.
Another electronic source is the noise generator (white or pink). It should be noted that in this
way, electronic sources are akin to the voice, with oscillators being like the vocal cords, and noise
being like unvoiced sounds.
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Readings
White noise has a waveshape that is a random fluctuation, and it (theoretically) contains all frequencies.
Bassoon
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Horn
Trombone
Tuba
Bass
Cello
Picc
Trumpet
Violin
Viola
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Piano
Electronic Instruments
16 Hz
65.5 Hz
261 Hz
1046 Hz
4186 Hz
16 kHz
The sustained portion of an instrumental sound is usually relatively constant in frequency and
spectrum, much like a vowel. Instrumental sounds also have a very small period at the beginning
of the sound, the attack or attack transient, which is unstable, and is usually spectrally very
complex, much like a consonant.
Some reference points:
note
A
C
C
freq (Hz)
27.5
65.4
262
reference
lowest note on piano
cello C
middle C
note
A
C
C
freq (Hz)
440
1047
4186
reference
tuning pitch
high C
highest note on piano
QUESTIONS
1.
The approaches to instrumental classification above have taken a particular physical
approach to grouping. When the sound source (eg ea) may not be able to be identified directly,
how could you start to describe the physical characteristics of the source?
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Readings
2.
Frequently in ea, sound sources are complex sources, for example in having been
processed in a number of ways time stretched, pitch shifted, filtered . Is it useful to try to
identify the original sound source and also to identify the processes used in its transformation?
What are the advantages of such an approach? What are the disadvantages?
3.
Create a list of environmental sounds and place them into the three categories of noiselike, un-pitched and pitched. Where would you place the following: a toilet flushing; a bus
pulling away from a stop; a door closing; a squeaky door; chatter; walking down a corridor;
dishes being washed; typing on a computer keyboard. What kinds of modifiers would need to be
added to each of your selections to clarify your classification?
4.
Another classification system could be based upon environment. Describe the sounds
found in a restaurant. Compare this list to the sounds found in a Mtro station. Compare these
lists to the sounds found on a fishing wharf.
5.
Do sounds in a piece which are out of classification draw attention to themselves? How
could you create the effect of drawing attention to them? How could you reduce the effect of the
misplacement?
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Readings
READING VII
RESONANCE, VOWEL FORMANTS AND FREQUENCIES, TEMPERAMENT
OverView
This reading examines the important acoustical characteristic of resonance the
tendency of a system to reinforce particular frequencies. Resonance is central to
speech (formant frequencies), musical instruments (to produce pitches and timbral
identity), and in acoustics (reverberation etc). Following a brief introduction to
intonation, the charts provide numerical and graphical representations of vowel
formants for compositional, synthesis and analysis purposes.
RESONANCE
When a string is plucked, energy is introduced into the system and this energy is lost (as sound
and heat) through the vibration of the string at a particular frequencyits resonant frequency.
Blowing across the top of a bottle, a note is produced. The air inside the bottle is acting something
like the vibrating string, and a flute works on the same principle as a bottle. The air inside a bottle
(or the tube of the flute) vibrates, or resonates, at a particular frequency.
If you sing a note near this resonant frequency next to the top of the bottle, it will resonate a little,
and the closer the note is to the bottles resonant frequency, the more the air in the bottle will
resonate. This is called sympathetic vibration or resonance.
This is a simple form of amplification of a particular frequency. If you play two different notes
near the bottle one of which is at the resonant frequency of the bottle, the sympathetic vibration
of the bottle will amplify that particular frequency.
This sympathetic vibration or resonance, that in effect amplifies particular frequencies, will also
amplify particular partials of a sound that contains frequencies at or near the resonant frequency.
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Readings
f1
f2
f3
/i/ heed
270
2290
3010
// head
530
1840
2480
// had
660
1720
2410
// hot
730
1090
2440
// good
570
840
2410
/u/ whod
300
870
2240
20 dB
10 dB
0 dB
- 10 dB
- 20 dB
1 kHz
2 kHz
3 kHz
0
- 10
- 20
- 30
0
1 kHz
2 kHz
3 kHz
The side view of the mouth shows the position of the tongue (see notes on IPA), and to the
right is a graphic representation of the formant frequencies that this mouth shape produces.
Frequency is shown ascending, left to right. There are three peaks, at approximately 270 Hz,
2290 Hz and 3010 Hz.
Below the mouth is a representation of the harmonic series as produced by the vocal cords and
at the bottom right is the resultant spectrum of this basic spectrum modified by the mouth (a
formant filter).
More detail on the formant frequencies of ten spoken and sung vowels for women, men and
children is provided below, as a table of frequencies, charts, and musical notation. This
information has particular application in voice processing and synthesis.
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Readings
Examine the word I. This is actually a diphthong, or a vowel which changes its quality over its
duration, in this case /aj/ - /ai/ (ah-ee). Note that its final spectral characteristics are very
similar to the /i/ of see. In some dialects, can /k/ ///n/ also contains a diphthong, as in /k/
/a\//n/.
The /k/ of can, is unvoiced as shown by its not having any clearly defined formants or
frequencies below 1.5 kHz, the same as /s/ in see, with no frequencies below 3.5kHz. These are
not fixed frequency ranges for /k/ and /s/, for if you say the /k/ of can, and then the /k/ of
key, and the /s/ of see, and the /s/ of soul, you will notice a difference. (Remember the variants
from the /SSSS/ assignment.)
Knowledge of this, and realtime computer displays of spectrograms have allowed speech
therapists to assist deaf children in learning to speak. The child vocalizes into a microphone,
and the frequency and amplitude of the lowest three vowel formants are displayed on a screen
at the same time as the correct positions and amplitudes are displayed. The child changes the
shape of the mouth to get the formants that they are producing to match the displayed
formants. With this method, the vowels are pronounced correctly.
Consonants are produced by tongue position, eg /k/ and /t/. In this case, a small artificial palate
(the roof of the mouth) is placed in the childs mouth. Sensors on the artificial palate, through
a computer, display the tongue position, and again, the child is required to match the position
of their tongue with the displayed position. This however is a little more difficult.
The sustained portion of an instrumental sound is usually relatively constant in frequency and
spectrum, much like a vowel. Instrumental sounds also have a very small period at the beginning
of the sound, the attack or attack transient, which is unstable, and is usually spectrally very
complex, much like a consonant.
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Readings
27.50
29.13
30.87
32.70
55.00
58.27
61.73
65.40
110.0
116.5
123.4
130.8
220
233
247
262
440
466
494
523
880
932
988
1047
1760
1865
1976
2093
3520
3729
3955
4186
7040
7459
7902
8372
14080
14918
15804
16744
A
A#
B
C
C#
D
D#
E
34.64
36.70
38.89
41.20
69.30
73.41
77.78
82.40
138.6
146.8
155.6
164.8
277
294
311
330
554
587
622
659
1109
1175
1245
1319
2218
2349
2489
2637
4435
4699
4978
5272
8870
9398
9956
10544
17740
18796
19912
21088
C#
D
D#
E
F
F#
G
G#
43.65
46.25
49.00
51.93
87.30
92.50
98.00
103.83
174.6
185.0
196.0
207.6
349
370
392
415
698
740
784
831
1397
1480
1568
1661
2794
2960
3136
3322
5588
5920
6272
6645
11176
11840
12544
13290
22336
23680
25088
26560
F
F#
G
G#
The frequency of notes of the equal tempered scale is the 12th root of 2 (1/12 of an octave). this is
an irrational number (approximately 1.05946). Tuning by the harmonic series produces intervals
which are exact ratios of frequencies. A convenient (linear) division of the octave is the cent,
1/1200th of an octave, there being 100 cents in a semitone.
If the perfect fifth (eg the interval from C to G the first two notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little
Star) is tuned from the harmonic series, it is 702 cents; in equal temperament it is 700 cents. When
the two notes C and G in the middle of the piano are played, if they are tuned by the harmonic
series, they produce a very stable sound. If the tuning uses equal temperament, there is a slow
pulsing / beating of the sound. The same is true of other intervals, notably the major third.
Chart 1, following gives a Note Name, an approximation, an Interval (based on having C as the
lower note), the Ratio is the ratio of the frequencies of the two notes. The Cents is size of the
interval in cents (1/1200th of an octave), which is then given in two categories, as found in the
Harmonic Series and the Circle of Fifths. When perfect fifth intervals are used as the basis of
intonation (Pythagorean tuning), the sequence of notes (moving both directions from C) is
Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F
The problem that arises is that Gb and F# differ by 23 cents, as do Db and C# the Pythagorean
comma.
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Readings
CHART 1
INTERVALS & INTONATION SELECTED INTERVALS FROM EQUAL
TEMPERAMENT, THE HARMONIC SERIES, AND THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
Note name
C
B
B
B
Bb
Bb
Bb
A
A
A
Ab
Ab
Ab
G
G
Gb
F#
F#
F
F
E
E
E
Eb
D# / Eb
Eb
D
D
C#
C#
C# / Db
Db
C
Interval
P 8ve
+7
+7
+7
7
7
+6
+6
6
6
6
6
P 5th
P 5th
5th
X4th
X4th
P4
P4
+3
+3
+3
+3
3
+2
+2
2
2
2
2
P unison
Ratio
2:1
243:256
8:15
8:9
4:7
27:32
3:5
5:8
49:62
3:2
729:1024
1024:729
2:3
62:49
4:5
5:6
32:27
9:8
2187:2048
16:15
256:243
1:1
Cents
1200
1110
1100
1088
1000
996
970
906
900
884
814
800
793
Harmonic Series
1200
Fifths
# of Fifths
1110
5 th fifth
996
2 nd fifth (d)
906
3 rd fifth
793
702
4 th fifth (d)
1 st fifth
589
611
6 th fifth (d)
6 th fifth
407
1 st fifth (d)
4 th fifth
294
204
3 rd fifth (d)
2 nd fifth
114
7 th fifth
90
0
5 th fifth (d)
1088 ()
970 ( )
884 ()
814 (+)
702 (+)
700
589
611
600
500
498 ()
407
400
386
316
300
294
204
200
114
112
100
90
0
396 ()
316 (+)
204 (+)
112 (+)
0
(d) = descending
There are many sources of information on this topic, including work by Alain Danilou,
RWYoung and John Chalmers Jr. This table has been freely adapted from Danilous 1958 book,
Tableau comparatif des intervalles musicaux.
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Readings
Chart 2
F(1)
Man
Woman
Child
front
/i/
(ee)
270
310
370
F(2)
M
W
C
2290
2790
3200
1990
2480
2730
1840 1720
2330 2050
2610 2320
1190
1400
1590
1350 1090
1640 1220
1820 1370
840
920
1060
1020 870
1160 950
1410 1170
F(3)
M
W
C
3010
3310
3730
2550
3070
3600
2480 2410
2990 2850
3570 3320
2390
2780
3360
1690 2440
1960 2810
2160 3170
2410
2710
3180
2240 2240
2680 2670
3310 3260
(dB)
4
24
28
3
23
27
2
17
24
1
12
22
1
10
27
5
15
20
1
5
28
0
7
34
1
12
34
3
19
43
M
W
300
400
375
475
530
550
620
600
500
550
400
450
700
700
610
625
400
425
350
400
F(2)
M
W
1950
2250
1810
2100
1500 1490
1750 1650
1200
1300
1150 1200
1350 1300
1000
1240
720
900
640
800
F(3)
M
W
2750
3300
2500
3450
2500 2250
3250 3000
2675
3250
2500 2600
3050 3250
2600
3250
2500 2550
3375 3250
Spoken
Formant
amplitude
Sung
F(1)
/I/
(ih)
390
430
530
//
(eh)
530
610
690
//
(a)
660
860
1010
central
//
(u)
640
760
850
//
(er)
490
500
560
back
//
(ah)
730
850
1030
//
(or)
570
590
680
/U/
(put)
440
470
560
/u/
(oo)
300
370
430
Sources: Peterson and Barney, JASA 24: 175 (1952), Rossing, The Science of Sound (1990) p 320, 352
Sung vowels: Appleman (1967) The Science of Vowel Pedagogy, Indiana U Press
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Readings
The first three formants (ascending) of sung vowels for men, women and children
4000
3500
3000
F3
2500
2000
1500
F2
1000
500
F1
/i/
/I/
// // // // // // /U/ /u/
Children
Woman
Man
The first three formants (ascending) of spoken vowels for women and men.
4000
3500
3000
F3
2500
2000
1500
1000
F2
500
F1
/i/
/I/
// // // // // // /U/ /u/
F Woman
F Man
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Readings
The formant frequencies of the ten english vowels previously given for men, women and children
are presented below in the format of traditional music notation.
, the womens by a
The bottom staff sounds as written, the middle staff sounds one octave higher (8va), and the top
staff sounds two octaves higher (15ma). The childs highest formant is around 3.7kHz, the highest
Bb on the piano. The lowest male formant is around 270 Hz, just above middle C (C3, MIDI 60).
When vowels are sung, highly trained singers shift the formant frequencies slightly with different
vowels so as to take advantage of the resonance characteristics. Note that the range for most
formants (bandwidth = Q) is on average, about a perfect 4th. With a filter, a Q of about 4 to 6
will suffice in many circumstances.
99-IV
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Readings
READING VIII
ANALOG AND DIGITAL -- SOUNDS AND SIGNALS
OverView
This reading presents some of the principles of sampling, and analog to digital
conversion.
ANALOG / DIGITAL
amplitude
Sound is a continuous variation in air pressure occuring above a certain minimum threshold (with
the amplitude measured in decibels), and between the frequencies of (about) 20 Hz and 20,000
Hz. These variations in air pressure are continuous in nature and can be represented in graphic
form in various ways, for example (as a wave shape):
time:
This is roughly analogous to the motion of a transducer (microphone, loudspeaker, ear drum), in
response to these variations in air pressure.
The changes in air pressure, if visualized in air, are more likely to look like:
time:
where low pressure (rarefaction) is represented by the white, and high pressure (compression) is
represented by the black. The scale from white to black in continuously (infinitely) variable: it
does not occur in discrete steps. This is also how it is represented (and recorded) on analog tape:
as variations in the level of the magnetism (flux).
positive pressure
equilibrium
negative pressure
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56
compression
positive flux
equilibrium
equilibrium
rarefaction
negative fkux
Readings
In digital form, the amplitude of the signal (waveform) is measured (SAMPLEd) at fixed times
(RATE), and stored as a number. The analog wave is converted to a digital form (A/D
CONVERSION).
time:
amplitude
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
(sampled value)
30
50
65
TIME:
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
SAMPLE VALUE:
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Readings
Notice that when the SAMPLING RATE, (the number of sample per second) is increased, the
resultant digital representation is closer to the original.
Another aspect of digital sampling related to how many numbers are used to represent the
amplitude (QUANTIZATION). In most sampling systems today, the numbers from 1 to around
32,000 (32,768) are used (16 bit). Newer systems employ more bits and can represent 524,288
levels (20 bit), 8,388,608 levels (24 bit), 134,217,728 (28 bit), half a billion (30 bit).
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Readings
In the example below, notice the effect of increasing quantization on the accuracy of the resultant
digital representation when the QUANTIZATION moves from 4 to 16 levels.
11
10
01
00
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59
Readings
32k
req
32k
req
32k
req
32k
req
32k
27.50
1163.6
110.00
290.91
440
72.73
1760
18.18
7040
4.55 A
A#
29.13
1098.7
116.50
274.68
466
68.67
1864
17.17
7456
4.29 A#
30.81
1038.5
123.25
259.63
493
64.91
1972
16.23
7888
4.06 B
32.69
979.0
130.75
244.74
523
61.19
2092
15.30
8368
3.82 C
C#
34.63
924.2
138.50
231.05
554
57.76
2216
14.44
8864
3.61 C#
36.69
872.2
146.75
218.06
587
54.51
2348
13.63
9392
3.41 D
D#
38.88
823.2
155.50
205.79
622
51.45
2488
12.86
9952
3.22 D#
41.19
776.9
164.75
194.23
659
48.56
2636
12.14
10544
3.03 E
43.63
733.52
174.50
183.38
698
45.85
2792
11.46
11168
2.87 F
F#
46.25
691.89
185.00
172.97
740
43.24
2960
10.81
11840
2.70 F#
49.00
653.06
196.00
163.27
784
40.82
3136
10.20
12544
2.55 G
G#
51.88
616.87
207.50
154.22
830
38.55
3320
9.64
13280
2.41 G#
55.00
581.82
220
145.45
880
36.36
3520
9.09
14080
2.27 A
A#
58.25
549.36
233
137.34
932
34.33
3728
8.58
14912
2.15 A#
61.63
519.27
247
129.82
986
32.45
3944
8.11
15776
2.03 B
65.38
489.48
262
122.37
1046
30.59
4184
7.65
16736
1.91 C
C#
69.25
462.09
277
115.52
1108
28.88
4432
7.22
17728
1.81 C#
73.38
436.12
294
109.03
1174
27.26
4696
6.81
18784
1.70 D
D#
77.75
411.58
311
102.89
1244
25.72
4976
6.43
19904
1.61 D#
82.38
388.47
330
97.12
1318
24.28
5272
6.07
21088
1.52 E
87.25
366.76
349
91.69
1396
22.92
5584
5.73
22336
1.43 F
F#
92.50
345.95
370
86.49
1480
21.62
5920
5.41
23680
1.35 F#
98.00
326.53
392
81.63
1568
20.41
6272
5.10
25088
1.28 G
G#
103.75
308.43
415
77.11
1660
19.28
6640
4.82
26560
1.20 G#
20.00
1600.0
60.00
533.33
120.0
266.67
240
133.3
480
66.67
180.0
177.78
300
106.7
360
88.89
500
64.00
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44.1k
req
44.1k
req
44.1k
req
44.1k
req
44.1k
27.50
1603.6
110.00
400.91
440
100.23
1760
25.06
7040
6.26 A
A#
29.13
1514.2
116.50
378.54
466
94.64
1864
23.66
7456
5.91 A#
30.81
1431.2
123.25
357.81
493
89.45
1972
22.36
7888
5.59 B
32.69
1349.1
130.75
337.28
523
84.32
2092
21.08
8368
5.27 C
C#
34.63
1273.7
138.50
318.41
554
79.60
2216
19.90
8864
4.98 C#
36.69
1202.0
146.75
300.51
587
75.13
2348
18.78
9392
4.70 D
D#
38.88
1134.4
155.50
283.60
622
70.90
2488
17.73
9952
4.43 D#
41.19
1070.7
164.75
267.68
659
66.92
2636
16.73
10544
4.18 E
43.63
1010.9
174.50
252.72
698
63.18
2792
15.80
11168
3.95 F
F#
46.25
953.51
185.00
238.38
740
59.59
2960
14.90
11840
3.72 F#
49.00
900.00
196.00
225.00
784
56.25
3136
14.06
12544
3.52 G
G#
51.88
850.12
207.50
212.53
830
53.13
3320
13.28
13280
3.32 G#
55.00
801.82
220
200.45
880
50.11
3520
12.53
14080
3.13 A
A#
58.25
757.08
233
189.27
932
47.32
3728
11.83
14912
2.96 A#
61.63
715.62
247
178.90
986
44.73
3944
11.18
15776
2.80 B
65.38
674.57
262
168.64
1046
42.16
4184
10.54
16736
2.64 C
C#
69.25
636.82
277
159.21
1108
39.80
4432
9.95
17728
2.49 C#
73.38
601.02
294
150.26
1174
37.56
4696
9.39
18784
2.35 D
D#
77.75
567.20
311
141.80
1244
35.45
4976
8.86
19904
2.22 D#
82.38
535.36
330
133.84
1318
33.46
5272
8.36
21088
2.09 E
87.25
505.44
349
126.36
1396
31.59
5584
7.90
22336
1.97 F
F#
92.50
476.76
370
119.19
1480
29.80
5920
7.45
23680
1.86 F#
98.00
450.00
392
112.50
1568
28.13
6272
7.03
25088
1.76 G
G#
103.75
425.06
415
106.27
1660
26.57
6640
6.64
26560
1.66 G#
20.00
2205.0
60.00
735.00
120.0
367.50
240
183.75
480
91.88
180.0
245.00
300
147.00
360
122.50
500
88.20
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48k
req
48k
req
48k
req
48k
req
48k
27.50
1745.5
110.00
436.36
440
109.09
1760
27.27
7040
6.82 A
A#
29.13
1648.1
116.50
412.02
466
103.00
1864
25.75
7456
6.44 A#
30.81
1557.8
123.25
389.45
493
97.36
1972
24.34
7888
6.09 B
32.69
1468.5
130.75
367.11
523
91.78
2092
22.94
8368
5.74 C
C#
34.63
1386.3
138.50
346.57
554
86.64
2216
21.66
8864
5.42 C#
36.69
1308.4
146.75
327.09
587
81.77
2348
20.44
9392
5.11 D
D#
38.88
1234.7
155.50
308.68
622
77.17
2488
19.29
9952
4.82 D#
41.19
1165.4
164.75
291.35
659
72.84
2636
18.21
10544
4.55 E
43.63
1100.3
174.50
275.07
698
68.77
2792
17.19
11168
4.30 F
F#
46.25
1037.8
185.00
259.46
740
64.86
2960
16.22
11840
4.05 F#
49.00
979.6
196.00
244.90
784
61.22
3136
15.31
12544
3.83 G
G#
51.88
925.3
207.50
231.33
830
57.83
3320
14.46
13280
3.61 G#
55.00
872.7
220
218.18
880
54.55
3520
13.64
14080
3.41 A
A#
58.25
824.0
233
206.01
932
51.50
3728
12.88
14912
3.22 A#
61.63
778.9
247
194.73
986
48.68
3944
12.17
15776
3.04 B
65.38
734.2
262
183.56
1046
45.89
4184
11.47
16736
2.87 C
C#
69.25
693.1
277
173.29
1108
43.32
4432
10.83
17728
2.71 C#
73.38
654.1
294
163.54
1174
40.89
4696
10.22
18784
2.56 D
D#
77.75
617.3
311
154.34
1244
38.59
4976
9.65
19904
2.41 D#
82.38
582.7
330
145.68
1318
36.42
5272
9.10
21088
2.28 E
87.25
550.1
349
137.54
1396
34.38
5584
8.60
22336
2.15 F
F#
92.50
518.9
370
129.73
1480
32.43
5920
8.11
23680
2.03 F#
98.00
489.8
392
122.45
1568
30.61
6272
7.65
25088
1.91 G
G#
103.75
462.7
415
115.66
1660
28.92
6640
7.23
26560
1.81 G#
20.00
2400
60.00
800.00
120.0
400.00
240
200.00
480
100.0
180.0
266.67
300
160.00
360
133.33
500
96.00
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READING IX
THE EAR AND SOUND PRESSURE LEVELS (SPLS)
OverView
This reading and the next provide a brief introduction to the physiology of the ear,
thresholds of hearing, loudness, hearing loss and ear protection.
THE EAR
The ear is physically divided into three parts, each having a particular function. The outer ear
consists of the pinea (which helps collect sound), and the ear canal, at the end of which is the ear
drum. The ear drum vibrates like the skin of a drum as sound waves hit it.
The middle ear starts on the inside of the ear drum, and through three small bones, the ossicles,
(the smallest bones in the body), the hammer, anvil and stirrups, the vibration of the ear drum is
converted into mechanical motion and this motion is transferred via the oval window to the
cochlea in the inner ear.
The cochlea (a tiny snail-like structure) contains a semi-rigid membrane, the basilar membrane,
which runs through its center. Inside this, the organ of Corti, contains the hair cells which convert
the mechanical movement into the electrical impulses which travel through the auditory nerve to
the brain.
The eustachian tube connects the middle ear to the throat and helps balance the air pressure on
both sides of the ear drum. Swallow to hear it open and close.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1092.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/anatomy/ear/
http://hope4hearing.org/anatomy.htm
https://www.awarinst.com/anatomy.htm
http://www.drf.org/beltone/ear_anatomy.htm
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The cochlea is filled with a fluid which also circulates through the semi-circular canals. These
three canals are important in maintaining physical balance and are important in preventing
dizziness and vertigo.
250
500
1kHz
2kHz
4kHz
8kHz
0
10
20
30
dB 40
50
60
70
80
The (stylized) audiogram above shows the response of two ear, one with the open circle (O),
and one with the closed circle (). Note that threshold is shown from top to bottom, with the
lowest threshhold (greatest sensitivity) at the top. This audiogram only tests from 250 to
8kHz, in one octave steps up to 2kHz, then in half octave steps to 8kHz.
In both cases, there is some hearing loss at around 4kHz, but the threshold measured at
1kHz, would be taken as being 10 dB for the top line, and 45dB for the bottom line. To get a
sense of how sounds would be heard by these two ears, reproduce the curve inverted with a
graphic equalizer.
HEARING LOSS
Hearing loss, ie, threshhold shift, can be temporary or permanent, and can be general in nature or
restricted to specific frequency ranges. A temporary threshhold shift is one where there is decreased
sensitivity for a short period of time (minutes to weeks in duration), and after a recovery period,
hearing returns to (almost) normal levels. There is however most often a slight shift of the
permanent threshhold with each occurrence.
With age, we all lose part or all of our hearing. The loss occurs in two or more of the following
forms: loss of sensitivity, loss of frequency response, and internal noise or ringing (tinnitus) (see
below). Exposure to high sound pressure levels accelerates this loss. (Ringing in the ears, not to be
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confused with Ringing in the Years, or a Ring in the Ear, above.) Diseases, either in the ear or
elsewhere are also contributing factors, and there are a range of forms of psychological deafness.
Often the early stages of the loss are not noticed, as when losing sensitivity, it just happens that
we are unable to hear very quiet sounds and since our environment is generally quite noisy, we are
unaware of this loss. After the age of thirty, it is common to begin to experience extreme high
frequency loss (over 15 kHz), and by 65, it is not unusual to have significantly increased
thresholds (loss of sensitivity) over 5kHz (AM radio / telephone quality).
One of the major difficulties related to all hearing loss, but particularly pronounced with noiseinduced hearing loss is that certain frequencies, or frequency ranges may be more affected than
others, so that it is possible to have hearing loss (permanent threshhold shift) at around 4kHz. Such
a loss will have serious impact on the individuals ability to assess sound quality, and will show
up particularly in situations of mixing sound for other people (or recordings).
Over the next decade, medical science will begin to report exactly how much loss is present in 25
to 50 year olds, as this is the first generation to have been constantly voluntarily exposed to high
sound pressure levels in the forms of concerts and through regular (ab-)use of headphones.
In loud environments, protect your ears and your hearing. You only go deaf once in each ear.
2.
What would your advice be to a 15 year old who regularly listens to sounds over 105dB?
3.
How would you protest unacceptably high sound pressure levels in a concert, work or
public environment?
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READING X
PSYCHOACOUSTICS, LOUDNESS AND LOUD SOUNDS
PSYCHOACOUSTICS
Decibels (dB), Hertz (Hz), and Fourier Analysis are all scientific tools of measurement for sound.
It is possible to measure a sound of 47kHz, with an SPL of 15 dB, but nobodyexcept perhaps
a local batwould hear it. Psychoacoustics deals with the other side of soundthe perception of
sound, and the interpretation of sonic stimuli.
The scientific measurement of sounds are carried out by calibrated equipment and are measured
against defined standards, but psychoacoustic data is collected by asking people to assess and
judge sounds. These results will vary from individual to individual (and from test to test) and
will be defined as norms based upon statistical distribution and averaging of responses.
If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?
This conundrum is a semantic question, not one for philosophical debate. If sound is defined (in
the scientific sense) as vibration in air of between 30 and 15,000 Hz, above 10 dB, then the
answer is yes. If the vibration of the air must be perceived by a person (psychoacoustic), then
the answer is no.
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LOUDNESS CURVES
When listening to quiet sounds, the ear is much less sensitive to low frequencies, notably below
400 Hz. The loudness curves also show that the ear is somewhat more sensitive to sounds in the 2
500 - 5000 Hz range than would be expected from just looking at decibel levels (intensity). As
the frequency increases, especially over 10 kHz, the ears sensitivity decreases very rapidly. With
aging, and other processes of hearing loss, sensitivity to high frequencies decreases virtually to the
point of disappearance.
In the diagram given below, the intensity level, in dB, is the vertical scale to the left and the
frequency in Hz is given across the bottom. The bottom curve of the graph represents the ideal
absolute threshold of hearing (although this is true for less than 2 % of North Americas
population).
120
100
dB
80
60
40
20
0
100 Hz
1 kHz
10 kHz
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You may have noticed that when you turn the stereo down, the bass seems to disappear. To
compensate for this, many equipment manufacturers add a loudness switch to their equipment to
boost the bass when the volume is turned down.
These changes in the tonal balance of the sound, the relationship between low, mid and high
frequencies at different sound pressure levels is something to be considered when mixing sounds.
It may sound ggrreatt!! at 100 dB, but at 55 dB theres no bass. As a specific example in relation
to mixing, given below is a comparison of the perceived spectral balance of a signal at 100 dB and
at 60 dB. The example is normalized for 1 kHz and shows major differences in the frequency
ranges below 500 Hz and above 2 kHz.
100 dB
60 dB
20 dB
When listening at high sound pressure levels, not only is it not possible to produce a spectral
balance that will be the same at lower listening levels, but monitoring for long periods of time at
100 dB is very dangerous.
CAUSES
There are four major causes of hearing loss (i) exposure to loud sounds, (ii) age, (iii) disease and
(iv) genetic. Everyone loses their hearing to some extent as they get older. The hearing loss takes
two forms, the first being a gradual loss of high frequencies sounds just become duller. By the
age of 65, most people hear very poorly over 5 000 Hz. The second form of hearing loss is what is
generally referred to as going deaf.
This takes the form of loss of sensitivity to quiet sounds. This is characteristic of all three types of
hearing loss, and is not normally detected until it is quite well establishedit just seems that
people are talking more quietly or mumbling more, and the individual asks for repetition of what
was said more often. To a certain extent, hearing aids are able to assist somewhat in many cases
of hearing loss.
Exposure to loud sounds is the greatest threat to hearing today and it takes two basic forms,
voluntary and involuntary. Exposure to 100 dB for 100 minutes (an average rock concert length,
but well above the average concert level) will result in a marked hearing loss (about 30 dB) for up
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to 36 hours. This happens mostly around the 4 000 Hz range, and repeated exposure increases
the extent of the hearing loss, which becomes permanent threshhold shift.
Repeated exposure, even over a long period of time, will lead to early hearing loss. 10 years of
daily exposure of 7 minutes to 103 dB signals will cause significant loss.
The noise level of the city goes up every year. Cars, buses, Mtro, ventilation systems etc, all add
the ambient noise level in the city. Some studies have suggested that city noise may be increasing
by as much as 1 dB per year, which is equal to 5 10 dB per decade. If normal quiet conversation
goes on at 45 - 55 dB, a city ambient noise level of 65 dB in the 1980s (Guy and de Maisonneuve)
is now closer to 75 dB (and getting louder). Levels where quiet conversation is impossible.
HEARING PROTECTION
Three types of hearing protection are standardly availabledry cotton (or paper) plugs; plastic
or wax inserts and; full ear-muffs. The diagram below gives the approximate amounts of sound
attenuation. (In an emergency, a slight amount of reduction is possible by using a small, wellfitting wad of Kleenex, soaked in water, cooking oil or vaseline.)
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0
Dry cotton plugs
10 dB
20 dB
30 dB
Well-sealed full
ear-muffs
40 dB
50 dB
100 Hz
200 Hz
500 Hz
1 kHz
2 kHz
5 kHz
TINNITUS
It is estimated that one person in two will experience significant noise in their ears. The chronic
condition of this noise, tinnitus, can be in the form of high frequency whistles (steady state or
transitory), ringing bells, beeping tones, rushing wind-like noises, bangs, pops, crickets etc. It is
considered that there is no specific cure for this condition, although some people report relief with
some forms of acupuncture.
It may come about for genetic, and / or environmental reasons. Continuous exposure to loud
sounds is known to cause hearing loss and tinnitus. Certain foods, stress, allergies, fatigue have
all been known to contribute to the condition.
The sounds may be generated by the ear itself, and sensitive microphone may be able to detect
their presence. Other forms come about in the inner ear and the auditory nerve itself. There are
various ways of reducing the effects when the tinnitus is not too severe, and these include
masking with either music or gentle band-passed white noise.
Consult your doctor!
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READING - XI
SPATIAL ACTUALIZATION
Overview
A brief look at some of the features of sound projection, notably as it is practiced in
the Oscar Peterson Hall of Concordia University from the mid-1990s to the middle
2000s. Following the brief introduction are the preparation notes for the sound
projection of Minuit by Christian Calon, as prepared by Kevin Austin, revised in
1995.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Many who work in studios are limited to a two-channel playback, or even just headphones.
Having heard multi-channel sound playback, be it film, home-cinema or other multi-loudspeaker a
number of issues arise to which there are no firm answers. Works composed as two channels may
be presented over projection systems, but if the composer is not present to oversee or do the
projection themself, what can / should be done.
It has been found that with many pieces, projection over an array of speakers opens up the
sound. It is possible to hear into sounds, and separate them in ways not possible in most normal
studio situations. On rare occasion, a composer prepares notes on the nature of the projection,
and sometimes there may even be a performance score, but few multi-channel systems are the
same. The Concordia set-up was more or less stabilized into its current configuration in about
1994/95, so it is somewhat more predictable, and able to be learned with some degree of
confidence.
A major consideration is that the audience is spread out in the hall, and frequently the sound
projectionist is behind the best seats in the house. This requires some familiarity with the system
to employ it to maximal advantage, as the projectionist needs to run on instinct more than on
what they hear.
Directionality is governed largely by the amplitude of the signal, and in cases of multiple sources
of the same signal, proximity. The listener will hear a sound originating from the nearest possible
source, even if has somewhat less amplitude than other sources. This Haas or precedence effect
is a consideration, especially for the speakers along the sides of the hall which are closer to more
listeners than any others.
A common mistake is to treat the loudspeakers like light-sources. If there are two lights at some
distance (10 meters) and they are 1 meter apart, it is possible to turn them on and off and the eye
will see motion, and detect whether one or both are on. Sound sources are not the same. If two
speakers are at this distance, in most cases it will be impossible to tell whether one or both are on.
When six (or more speakers) are on, the addition of more speakers has much less result than
might appear.
As a rule of thumb, use fewer speakers (at any given time), and when a speaker is not in use, turn
if off completely. Even a small amount of leakage from a speaker being left slightly on will
destroy much of the spatial effect of the projection.
The majority of works presented in concert have two-channel sources CD. The left channel of
the source is split (via a passive splitter) into one half of the input channels of the mixer, and the
same with the right channel. Each of the split signals is fed to one input, and the direct out of this
input is sent to one (amplifier and) loudspeaker.
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SPEAKER TO FADER
As each fader controls one speaker, the question arises as to the layout of the one-dimensional
faders to the two dimensional speakers. The example below is simplified for the sake of clarity.
In this case there would be eight speakers, labeled channels A - H.
A
One view of this is that there are stereo pairs of speakers, A-B, C-D, E-F, G-H. and the mixer
faders would be assigned in pairs, from the front to the back.
A B
C D E
F G H
This is useful for works in which the channels are pairs or mostly stereo images. The advantage
is that the adjacent faders match the pairs of speakers, front to back.
G E C A B
D F H
An alternate to this is the Butterfly where the left faders, moving from the center, control the
left speakers, from front to back. This situation allows for a more dynamic sound projection and
requires a little more care when the stereo image needs to remain solid. This mapping allows for
front to back and circular motion quite easily.
A third alternative is a hybrid where some of the speakers (the MAIN group) are in the Butterfly,
but extra / specials are kept as stereo pairs.
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SOUND PROJECTION
Not to scale BASICS uCuE
98 x
01 IX
There are four to six more speakers above and around the stage.
MAIN - FRONT
SOLO - WIDE
MAIN - FRONT
SOLO - WIDE
SOLO - FRONT
AUDIENCE
MAIN - SIDE
MAIN - SIDE
SOLO - SIDE
SOLO - SIDE
MAIN - BACK
MIXER
MAIN - BACK
SOLO - BACK
SOLO - BACK
MAIN SPEAKERS
SOLO SPEAKERS
SOLOs
ABOVE
MAIN
The sound projectionist is at the mixer, somewhat behind the audience and through the motion of
the faders, the signal level in each loudspeaker is adjusted. Quick-tips: Few is better than more
when a speaker is not in use, turn it completely off. Being behind the audience, remember that
they are closer to the front speakers and the side speakers if it sounds balanced at the mix
position, there is too much front and side for the audience. Prepare well before going in. Develop
ideas of what you may want to try. Experiment. Have someone else do some projection while you
stand in the middle of the audience area. Move about the audience area to get a sense of what
will be heard in different locations.
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rev 95 - xi
1
2
3
R Side MA
Fade up to
Birds, swing
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
0:00
Stasis
:15
vielle histoire
:23
le jour s'gards
:34
tringulaire
:43
crpuscule
:51
0:58
1:15
:19
trafic
minor chord
toujours
Stasis
:25
to
:33
slow panning
:39
to
:48
Stasis
1:57
partout l'horizon
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
2:03
:07
:14
vocal chord
:23
d'autres ont lev
:25
down gliss
:27
slight panning
LOTS of bass
:32
quasi-up gliss
:41
some SPIN
slight drunken
:47
poussire
la langue nue
2:57
calmed w bell
3:01
low fr reverb
:10
fm complex
:16
le saux, la bord
:19
:29
fm
:33
point minuit
low fm
MOLTO CRES
:35
with swirls
:40
slight panning
:46
Stasis
:48
slight panning
:51
Stasis
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1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 2
disemb. voice
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
4:02
low fm
some SPIN
:06
clear voice
:11
clear voice
SUB. molto
:27
lui chappe
CRES
:35
c'est
Stasis
:43
Voila!
4:59
5:00
Regard
:07
gong
FULL!
:12
strong lows
Stasis
:16
highs, murmurs
SLOWSPIN
:26
erratic, faster
:33
Stasis
:47
quick SPIN
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
5:53
6:11
slight panning
voice
:26
Stasis
:45
swirls, SPIN
6:53
closer, quieter
7:06
strong panning
:12
TEXT
faster panning
:17
ah oui
:26
swirls
:31
Stasis
:39
wooden kl'bell
TEXT
fm gliss down
slow swirls
:42
languid
7:48
REAR ->
8:07
:16
FAR ->
:32
swirls, lose
:44
direct
8:50
MAIN
9:02
DIM
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80
So Sp1 Sp2
Readings
1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 3
bells
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
9:08
SUB fff
:19
quick SPIN
:24
Stasis
:26
(moving in)
:41
movement
9:50
TEXT
10:03
LvB
:05
(moving out)
:19
:24
:33
:38
:41
distant
panning
TEXT
boom - stillness
:52
slightly dis-
10:55
oriented to drunk
11:10
quasi-patterned
:20
fem ooh
ah
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
:29
thinning
:46
:49
klunk
commentaire
strike
towards front
11:59
Stasis
12:05
panning
:17
Sub Stasis
:23
addition by
:32
waves
:36
cresc
:48
Stasis
12:59
follow
13:09
WAVES
:19
calmer
:24
:25
:40
swirl-gliss
:47
13:55
to wild swings
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1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 4
WILD SPIN
TEXT
au loins dans la
cela ce passerait
fm complexes
assist dispersion
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
14:00
Stasis
:15
panning
:22
:31
Stasis
molto CRESC
14:50
15:02
reduced swings
:16
:33
settling and
:42
:52
MOLTO CRESC
c'tait un geste
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
CENTER
15:55
poco cr &dim
16:05
:18
R
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
:31
:33
molto dim
reverbed gliss
:44
16:56
il n'y a plus
sempre piano
plus de temps
poco cresc
17:07
:15
:16
:22
long swings
il ne resterait
:28
:33
molto CRESC!
held
17:55
18:05
:07
stabilize
:15
:24
DISTANT
:34
18:47
CRESC sempre
choir
some stasis
:11
:19
erratic swings
:35
sudden STASIS
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19:40
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1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 5
STASIS
19:40
SPINCRESC
19:46
sfffzmp - pp
20:13
out
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
:24
:30
metallic voices
20:45
silence
21:05
rush of wave
:11
c'tait simple
:18
:25
entrain de respirer
:36
R
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
:40
21:55
tout le reste suivait
22:00
:03
:11
low, MOLTO
:20
NUITS
CRESC
:42
EAU
slowly
:51
22:58
parole
23:00
swirl front/sides
:04
:14
:16
lumire
:20
:31
:47
erratic panning
23:53
some patterned
24:09
fragmented voice
:26
vipres
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:32
24:38
83
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Readings
1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 6
erratic panning
24:45
general dim
24:57
poco cresc
25:00
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
25:11
ruisseau
des voiles
25:14
STASIS
25:28
swim of pans
25:38
25:40
bouyant
25:50
ouverture
25:58
26:16
SPIN
26:19
Stasis ; SPIN
26:29
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
26:34
obscurit
26:38
26:45
26:59
27:08
fm
faisceaux des
27:10
lum
27:14
dim (pulse)
coeur du coeur
jamais
27:35
27:52
RAPID CRESC
28:06
28:12
28:25
28:37
asc fripple
28:44
Stasis
29:00
29:10
EAMT
MOLTO
29:27
CRESC!!
29:35
SILENCE
29:55
84
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Readings
1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 7
SILENCE
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
29:55
29:58
mirroir
30:05
:17
:25
mirroir
soleil
SILENCE
:33
ppp to
30:40
f cresc
31:07
drunken swings
:28
:40
stasis
:53
31:59
32:08
rivage invers
:18
soleil
soleil des litanies
rushing and
:20
spinning
:25
chopping
:29
stasis rear/side
:40
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
32:49
33:01
spins
:10
erratic, jumpy
:25
STASIS; silence
:35
:41
:50
lumire de la nuit
gasp!
33:53
34:14
fm
:26
:31
:35
:39
:43
cathdrale
vertbr
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So Sp1 Sp2
Readings
1
2
3
R Side MA
CALON Minuit - p. 8
4 5 6
So Sp1 Sp2
7
Nr
8
9
Di Ab
34:49
35:10
:17
nuit
:19
:25
echo voice
solo build
35:44
36:00
spins (bits)
:15
:28
spins around
:34
:45
36:51
37:06
laugh evolving
:17
R
Nr Di Ab
Side MA
Nr Di Ab
:26
follow wide swings
laugh
STABILIZE
:37
:44
37:59
38:04
nuit
MAIN ONLY
:09
:15
ha he ha ha
:29
CUT
towards
38:38
disintegration
39:02
away
:07
restart
:09
:19
pinceau
:22
choir
:26
:30
de temps en temp
:31
:34
et je n'ai jamais
:43
39:52
qui
40:01
rev 95 - xi
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READING XII
REFLECTION AND REVERBERATION
OverView
This reading examines of acoustics related to soundwaves and their reflections.
Some aspects of previous readings will now have a clearer physical basis.
=
=
=
=
=
345 (m/s)
345 (m/s)
345 (m/s)
345 (m/s)
345 (m/s)
Frequency
/
69 (Hz)
/
172.5 (Hz)
/
1 000 (Hz)
/
3 450 (Hz) (10 cm)
/ 10 000 (Hz) (2.9 cm)
PROPAGATION
Sound waves move away from a source in all directions diminishing in intensity as they do so,
and unless they encounter an obstacle, will continue to do so. One or more of three things will
happen when an obstacle is encountered: (i) the energy of the sound wave will be absorbed (and
turned into heat, or it may be re-transmitted); (ii) the sound wave will be reflected; (iii) the sound
wave will go around the obstacle (relatively) undisturbed.
(A) Sound waves travel away from a source in all directions. This can be shown either as
concentric circles, or for the sake of simplicity, as straight lines (with arrow heads).
(B) When a sound wave encounters an object, it may be reflected.
(C) The angle at which the sound is reflected is equal to the angle at which it hits the surface.
With objects of relatively small dimensions, (a few centimeters to a few meters), all three of these
may happen. The amount and combination of them will be a function of (a) the frequency
(components) of the sound, and (b) the physical nature of the object (size and materials).
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Wavelength (ie frequency) is important, because when the object (or surface) is small in relation to
the wavelength (less than one-quarter of a wavelength), the wave passes around it relatively
undisturbed. In a closed space, all of the sound will be eventually be absorbed, possibly after
many reflections.
ABSORPTION
The nature of absorption is that the energy of the sound is lost in the object (usually becoming
heat). All materials absorb some of the energy of the sound that reaches them. We are accustomed
to the idea that soft, fluffy and textured surfaces absorb sound. Carpets, cushions and curtains in
a room help absorb sound. The unit of measure for absorption is the sabin.
An open window, one foot square, (which in effect absorbs all of the sound that reaches it), has
an absorption of one sabin. This is sometimes converted into a sound absorption coefficient, such
that a sound absorption coefficient of 1 means that 100% of the sound that reaches it is
absorbed.
If there are four reflections from a surface with a coefficient of .5 (50%), the first reflection will
have 50% of the original energy, the second 25% (50% of 50%), the third 12.5%, the fourth 6.25%
etc.
You may wish to think of the reflective surface as a very complex filter, reflecting certain
frequencies and certain frequency ranges more than others. While an object may absorb high
frequencies very well, it may be quite reflective at low frequencies. The effect of this, like anything
that effects the relationship of high and low frequencies, will be to alter the spectrum of the
sound.
Some materials and structures absorb sound (vibrations) and then retransmit them. This is
sometimes found for example in buildings where a stereo system vibrates the floor and beams in
one place, and the sound is heard in other parts of the building. This is called structural
transmission.
REFLECTION
The nature of reflection is that the sound wave(s) that reach the surface are reflected to some
extent. Any portion of the sound wave that is not absorbed is reflected, and this is frequency
dependent as noted before (ie not all frequencies will be reflected with the same intensity).
Typically, hard surfaces (glass, steel, plastic, varnished wood etc) will be reflective in the high
frequency region, and, if the object is large, also in the low frequency region. Open surfaces (those
that contain many minute holes or have trapped air spacesconcrete or padding) will be poor
reflectors, but again this is often frequency dependent.
Flat surfaces tend to reflect sounds as shown in (B) and (C) above (page 1). Most room surfaces
are flat and straight and this leads to relatively simple, and quite predictable types of sound
reflection.
Control rooms in recording studios will often have walls which have only small sections of flat
surfaces, and these will be non-parallel (see below). This provides irregular but relatively
predictable patterns of reflection. Of course, once a sound has been reflected in a room, it is
subsequently reflected from other surfaces, leading to reverberation.
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In a concert hall, while regular reflection is important, scattering of the sound is also very
important in the creation of reverberation. Effective scattering helps to avoid discernable echoes
from occurring. For this reason irregular and curved surfaces are often used. (Look at the walls
and ceiling in the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall.)
The shape of the surface will determine how the sound waves will be reflected.
(D) Concave surfaces will tend to focus waves back towards a central position.
(E) Convex surfaces will tend to act as diffusers, scattering sound waves that reach them.
(F) Complex surfaces will tend to scatter sound waves whose wavelength is short in relation to
the dimensions of the complex surface.
(G) When there are two (or more) non-parallel surfaces in proximity, multiple reflections may
be created that will help scattering the sound waves.
(H) Parallel surfaces create a situation where the wave continues to bounce between two
surfaces, eg walls, or ceiling and floor, often producing flutter echo. (See room resonances,
below.)
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Amplitude
Time
Decreasing amplitude of multiply reflected signal.
The first reflection to reach the listener is critical, since it provides psychoacoustic clues about the
nature of the physical environment, and also about the nature of the sound source. Since sound
travels at approximately 345 meters per second (m/s), if the first reflection arrives back at the
source after 20 ms, then the nearest reflective surface is 3.45 meters. (10 ms to reach the wall, 10
ms for the return.)
In a room, the sound will go out in all directions, and therefore will strike many surfaces and be
returned to the listener. In a normal room with four walls, there will be six early reflections, one
from each wall and one from the ceiling and one from the floora total of seven waves reaching
the listener initially.
(b)
Source
(a)
(c)
Listener
(c)
This two dimensional representation shows that of all of the sound waves that reach the
listener, only one of them, (a) is direct; (b) is the first reflection; and (c) is representative of
other early reflections.
And each of the six early reflections will itself be reflected from the other five room surfaces, and
each of these (some 30) reflections will be reflected from the other five surfaces etc. These
reflected waves form the reverberation.
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Time
Time
A graphic portrayal of reflection density.
It is important to note that the definition only refers to a 1 kHz signal. It usually happens that
different frequencies decay at different rates because of differing coefficients of absorption at
these frequencies. The Oscar Peterson Concert Hall is remarkably flat in this respect, showing
almost no coloration, except for, currently, a slight increase in low frequency absorption.
80 dB
Twice the
distance
6 dB
74 dB
SPL
in dB
Distance from source
The same rule of diminishing sound pressure level (SPL) applies indoors, but there is a significant
change related to the reflected signals. The reflected elements of a signal become a significantly
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greater percentage of the overall sound as we move away from the sound source. This is partially
due to the fact that there are many reflected waves, but only one direct sound wave.
There usually comes a place (three dimensionally) where the combined reflected waves are only 3
dB less than the direct signal, and the sound pressure level ceases to diminish at the 6 dB per
doubling of distance rate. This is the boundary of the free-field. Beyond this line, the sound level
diminishes less quickly.
Free field
SPL
in dB
Reverberant field
Distance from source
The region where there is as much, or more, reflected signal than original sound, is called the
reverberant field. In some highly reverberant places, like the Loyola Chapel, the free field may
extend less than 2 meters.
Side view
Top view
There is such an echo in RF-101, and also one in the Victoria mtro station. In the mtro station,
one of the surfaces is a concave surface that focuses sounds downwards and from the circular
walls, back to the center of the circle. The Victoria Square mtro station refocuses sounds back to
the center of the circle both vertically and horizontally.
Again with reflective parallel walls there is another problem which may arise. When the distance
between the walls is equal to one-half the wavelength of a frequency (or the wavelength, or 1.5, or
2 times etc), it is very easy to set up a sympathetic resonance at these frequencies. This room
resonance is also called a room node, or sometimes incorrectly, a standing wave.
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If two dimensions of the room are the same (a square room), this problem is compounded, as it
will be if the dimensions are whole number ratios of each other, eg, 3 meters wide, by 6 meters
long.
Such problems are solved by breaking up these large flat surfaces by the addition of materials or
irregular objects. They need to be large in relation to the wavelength to be effective. The old homestudio trick of egg-cartons on the walls will only break up frequencies with wave lengths of less
than about 6 cm (above 4 kHz). The main effect of the egg-carton treatment is to change the
overall coefficient of absorption of the walls, especially at high frequencies.
ELECTRONIC REVERBERATION
Given all of these variables, it can be seen that electronic reverberation can simulate natural
reverberation if there are enough parameters controlled in an adequately precise manner. Some of
the newer reverberation units allow software control of more than 20 elements.
This is done by making an isolated room, usually inside another room, suspended on a shock
absorbing system so that no external vibration reaches it. The interior of this interior room is filled
with very large wedges of highly absorbent sound material. In this way, sounds are reflected
away from the source, and because of the highly absorbent materials used, all more than 60dB
of the sound is absorbed.
Notice that the effective surface area of the walls is multiplied many times over by the wedge
shaped surface. These wedges may be as much as 1 meter or more in depth. They will cover all of
the surfaces of the room, walls, ceiling and floor.
These rooms are sometimes used for psychoacoustic testing, and for testing sound equipment,
specifically microphones and loudspeakers, where any residual reverberation would interfere with
the measurements.
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READING XIII
SOUND, VIBRATION, SPECTRUM AND MODELS FOR SPECTRAL
DEVELOPMENT:
OverView
This speculative reading proposes a(nother) model for the description and
classification of sounds.
Imagine a vibrating point source such as the reed of a saxophone, or a specific point on a guitar
string. At any one moment in time, it is only one locationit is displaced from its point of rest.
This displacement has displaced the molecules of air adjacent to it.
Through sound transmission, this displacement of the air reaches a microphone. The diaphragm
of the microphone is also displaced (an equivalent amount). This displacement is transduced into
electricity by the microphone, and eventually this electricity reaches a loudspeaker, where it is
transduced back into displacement of the air.
INTRODUCTION
Almost all natural sounds change waveshape over time. This proposed model for spectral
development will start with three basic family types: instrumental, voice, and environmental.
INSTRUMENTAL:
Instrumental families are based upon similarity, constancy of spectral type and restriction or
limitation of spectral evolution. In the traditional western model for the orchestra, for example the
string family, instruments are designed so that they each occupy a portion of the entire range of
pitches that are to be represented, while remaining spectrally relatively constantviolin, viola,
cello and double bass.
A number of factors come into play in the description and logical grouping of instruments:
method of articulation
blowing: woodwinds and brasswith the subcategories of edge tone (flute and piccolo),
double reed (oboe, english horn and bassoons), single reed (clarinet and saxophone
families) and vibrating lips (trumpet, french horn, trombone, tuba etc)
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VOICE:
The human voice is a special case unto itself. Traditionally in the west, the voice is a family of
instrumentssoprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass. The characteristic feature of the voice is its
ability to modify its spectrum with great ease and varietythe basic division being between
voiced and unvoiced sounds.
The complexity and rapidity of the spectral shifts, when transferred to almost any other sound
source, identify a vocal origin for the sounds. It is surprising how easy it is to pick out voice
sounds even within extremely complex sonic textures.
ENVIRONMENTAL:
This family type is characterized by surprise and the complexity of its variation. For the moment,
let us presume three basic sub-divisions: gestalt, layered and segmented. They will not have
strong lines of demarcation, and will rely upon each other for clarification.
Gestalt - These would include any (relatively) simple sounds which are perceived (or
treated) as a whole without extension (see the others below). Such sounds as the ocean,
a train, a door, a rolling ball etc
Layered - These would include spectral evolution where the elements are perceived (or
treated) as individual layers. Such examples as sitting in a park and listening to the
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INTERVALLIC DISTANCES
Just as it is possible to speak about the location, comparison and distance between pitches
(high/low; small/large; 4 semitones), dynamic levels (loud/soft; small/large; 12 dB), or even
cities (Montral/Toronto; great/ok; 600 km or 6 hours), it may be possible to develop a
descriptivecomparativeevaluative method which will allow for the discussion about the
intervallic distances between sounds or sound events. This idea can be applied both locally
(microstructure) and globally (macrostructure).
Sounds (events) may be related to each other and grouped into families based upon many
models, and among those introduced so far are relationship through (i) common source or generative type (white noise; analog synthesis; FM; etc); (ii) common processing/transformation; ((iii)
mode of articulation ?); (iv) spectral development; (v) metaphorical relatedness; (vi) gestural
complementarity; (vii) other.
QUESTIONS
1.
2.
Find sets of sounds which when categorized according to acoustical means are similar,
but in terms of metaphor are far apart. Similarly, find sets of sounds which when categorized
according to acoustical means are far apart, but in terms of metaphor are similar!
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READING XIV
COMPOSITIONAL STRATEGIES
OverView
Continuing to find models for description, this reading proposes a set of descriptors
for gesture, both changing and static. The terms introduced would often be multidimensional in application, and build upon physical, psychological, emotional and
perceptual structures.
Introduction
Traditional musics have developed vocabularies for describing many types and forms of
compositional thought, analysis and presentation. Electroacoustics has not developed (m)any
lexicons for this area, and this is the first of a series of articles aimed at developing some tools.
The other two articles are on short-hand text, time-line scores, and, full text and graphic scores
for sound projection in multi-speaker environments.
TERMS
Abbreviate:
Abridge:
Abstract, (to):
Accretion:
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Accumulation:
Aggregate:
Allude:
Amplify:
Append:
Articulation:
Relatively clear joints that may function as (micro- and/or macrostructural) points of reference. (also point of articulation)
Assert control:
Balance:
Bridge:
Chaos:
Complementation:
The existence of two (or more) parts that act in relationship to each
other such that they are in some degree interdependent. Examples of
this equal but separate condition may include, lead/counter-melody,
figure/ground, question/answer etc. (*)
Complex or
Compound:
Compress:
Condense:
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Condensation:
Connection:
Continuous:
Contract:
Contrast:
Control:
Convergence:
Critical mass:
Crystalize:
Curtail:
Cut:
Decorate:
Deterministic:
Die away:
Discrete:
Elements or a structure in which there are specific, fixed points for the
occurrence of features. (also continuous, incremental)
Disintegration:
Dissolve (melt):
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Disturbance:
Divergence:
Dynamic:
Echo:
Elaboration:
Elision:
Erase:
Evaporate:
Expand:
Extension:
Extrapolate:
Family:
Function:
Fusion:
Generate:
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Gestalt:
Heterogeneous:
Homogeneous:
Identity:
The creation of a unique (set of) sound(s), such that its characteristic
elements have adequate stability to be recognized after varying
degrees of transformation and processes. (also parameter)
Interpolate:
Intersection:
The place or form in which two (or more) elements or ideas share
common characteristics. (also union)
Invariant:
Isolate:
Layering:
Masking:
Mass structure:
Matching:
Members:
Modulation:
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Noise:
Non-repeating
pattern:
Obliterate:
Obscure:
Omission:
Parameter:
Parametric values:
Pattern:
Point of
articulation:
Predictable
evolution:
Pre-echo:
Prolong:
Proportion:
Quantize:
Random:
Not pre-determined.
Repetition:
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Restrict:
Role:
Rule:
Same:
Saturation:
Scatter:
The process of similar (or the same) elements becoming less similar, not
only to each other, but also possibly to themselves. (*)
Stasis:
Static:
Steady-state /
Quasi-steady-state:
Stochastic:
Superimpose:
Supersede /
Supplant:
Supplement:
Synchronization:
Tendency:
Terminate:
Trait:
A characteristic feature.
Transform(ation):
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Transition:
Truncate:
Union:
The place or form in which two (or more) elements or ideas have
become one through having all characteristics in common. This may
create a new identity. (also intersection)
Unvoiced:
Variation:
Verbal (sounds):
Vocal:
Voiced:
CATEGORIZATION
Below are the same terms, given (alphabetically) in seven categories.
Temporal:
Abbreviate, Abridge, Append, Compress, Contract, Cut, Echo, Elision, Expand, Extension,
Interpolate, Predictable evolution, Pre-echo, Prolong, Synchronization, Truncate
Growth/Decay (Change):
Abstract, Allude, Assert control, Crystalize, Curtail, Decorate, Extrapolate, Isolate, Omission,
Quantize, Restrict
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Materials:
Structural:
Oct/89 and previous. First appeared in Contact!, a publication of the CEC in the fall of 1994.
94 - viii/ix
Slightly expanded and modified: 2001 IX
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PROCESSOR
SOURCE
PROCESSOR
PROCESSOR
PROCESSOR
PROCESSOR
CONTROL
C
O
N
T
R
O
L
P
A
T
H
The BLOCK DIAGRAM (above) is laid out showing the SIGNAL PATH from left to right, and the
CONTROL (voltage) PATHs, from bottom to top. The modular aspect is clear from seeing that a
source can be processed (in series, or in parallel) by (any number of) processors. The CONTROLS
can be simple, or they themselves may be controled (as in the third processor).
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PROCESSORS
Analog PROCESSOR modules are (mostly) of three basic types: spectrum, amplitude, and
miscellaneous, being characterized by having:
signal inputs
signal outputs
control (and/or logic) inputs (often)
SPECTRUM:
filters, phase/flanger (eq, graphic, parametric, VCF, VCPh/F):
spectrum modifiers
phase/flange = phase shifter
AMPLITUDE:
amplifiers, multipliers (VCA, ring modulator):
voltage multipliers
MISCELLANEOUS:
mixers, attenuators, inverters, DC offset sources
SOURCES
SOURCE modules are of three basic types, periodic sources (oscillators), aperiodic sources
(noise), and external sources. They are characterized by having:
no signal inputs
signal outputs
oscillators have control inputs
PERIODIC (regular):
oscillator (manual and voltage controled, VCO):
as a source of wave shapes
APERIODIC (random):
noise (white and pink);
as a source of a randomly fluctuating voltage
EXTERNAL:
as a source of any arbitrary wave shape (signal)
CONTROLS
CONTROL modules produce continuous or stepped voltages which are applied to control
(voltage) inputs on processors (and VCOs): and may also be processed by control voltage
processors. They may be continuous, or transient (occuring once, when triggered), and are
characterized by having:
control (voltage) outputs
control (and/or logic / timing) inputs (often)
no signal inputs
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CONTINUOUS:
oscillator (manual and voltage controled, VCO, low frequency oscillator LFO)
random voltage source: (low-pass filtered white noise)
ribbons (or continuous control strips) were found on some early MOOG systems
TRANSIENT: (requires a gate / trigger)
ADSR
envelope shaper (transient and sustained):
transient or sustained voltage source
Analog sequencer:
a series of preset values are stepped through (forwards, backwards or randomly)
KEYBOARDs: are a kind of stepped control voltage source, and frequently have pitch bend (a
form of continuous voltage source)
The SAMPLE & HOLD is a control voltage processor.
The TRACK & HOLD is a variant of the S/H
The ENVELOPE FOLLOWER produces a control voltage output proportional to the amplitude
of an INPUT signal.
LOGIC / TIMING
LOGIC/TIMING modules produce triggers / gates which are used to activate control voltage
sources. They are characterized by being used as a:
trigger (a rising edge eg pulse wave)
gate (a rising edge with a sustained voltage eg square wave)
LOGIC/TIMING modules include:
oscillator (manual and voltage controled, VCO, low frequency oscillator LFO)
gates, switches, comparators, threshold detectors
There are a number of other types of modules / controls, mostly unique to one designer, which are
most commonly a configuration of more fundamental modules. An example is the Buchla QuadPanner which would pan an input signal around four output channels. It contained 4 VCAs and
associated control circuitry.
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a spectrum processor
The voltage controled multi-mode filter with low pass, high pass, band pass, band reject (notch)
and peak signal outputs.
Fc: the center frequency of the filters
MULTIMODE
FILTER
Fc
FREQUENCY
RESONANCE
Level
AUDIO
Control
CONTROL 1
NOTCH
A
U
D
I
O
PEAK
F
R
E
Q
C
O
N
T
R
O
L
N/P
HIGH
BAND
AUDIO
(IN)
RESONANCE
VCF
OUTPUTS
N/P
HIGH
BAND
LOW
LOW
OUTPUTS
Control
Low pass
High pass
Band pass
Band reject
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a spectrum processor
The voltage controled phase / flange (voltage controled phase-shifter) module
Fc: the center frequencies of the filters
PHASE/
FLANGE
Fc
FREQUENCY
RESONANCE
Control
Level
AUDIO
CONTROL 1
B
Y
P
A
S
S
E
V
E
N
O
D
D
A
U
D
I
O
M
I
X
EXP
MAIN
FL
AUX
LIN
PHASE
CONTROLS
OUTPUTS
MAIN
(OUT)
PH/FL
Control
The phase/flange tends to add pitch-like elements to complex and noise-like signals.
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an amplitude processor
The voltage controled amplitude processor
VCA
AUDIO LEVELS 1 / 2: adjusts the levels for signals
plugged into AUDIO (signal) input jacks 1 & 2
1
AUDIO LEVELS
CONTROL 1
LIN
EXP
CONTROL MODE
AUDIO C O N T R O L O U T P U T S
AUDIO IN
AUDIO OUT
CONTROL IN
In many synths, the VCA was hardwired to an ADSR control voltage source, and called an
envelope generator.
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& PRE-AMPLIFIER
BALANCED
MODULATOR
PRE-AMP 1
PRE-AMP 2
ATT
1
ATT
2
ATTENUATOR
ONE
ATTENUATOR
TWO
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
PRE-AMP
IN
OUT
X
OUT
M
U
L
T
I
P
L
E
X
PREAMP
RM
OUT
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ADSR
(ENVELOPE GENERATOR)
ATTACK
DECAY
SUSTAIN
RELEASE
x7
MANUAL GATE
x10
MULTIPLE
1
GATE
TRIGGER O U T P U T S
The diagram below shows the effect of changing each of the parameters of the ADSR
MODIFICATION of
ATTACK (t)
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SUSTAIN (l)
113
RELEASE (t)
Readings
Explore the following four patches (and their four variants). Describe what is happening in each,
the function of each module in each patch, and the similarities / differences between them. Use
both white and pink noise; try all of the outputs from the VCF; use the VCO in both the x1 and
x.002 ranges; use a wide range of ADSR settings.
(1)
S&H/CLOCK
NOISE GENERATOR
MULTIMODE
FILTER
Fc
CLOCK FREQ
S&H OUTPUT
LEV
EXT.
RESONANCE
(1a)
(1b)
CLOCK
TRIGGER
SOURCE
Level
Control
AUDIO
CONTROL 1
NOTCH
MANUAL
TRIGGER
GATE
FREQUENCY
SYNC
TRIG
PEAK
A
U
D
I
O
W
IN
P
OUT
F
R
E
Q
N/P
C
O
N
T
R
O
L
BAND
HIGH
NOISE
VCF
VCF
NOISE
TRIG
FM
S&H
CLOCK
LOW
RESONANCE
NOISE
OUTPUTS
VCO
ENVELOPE
GENERATOR
ATTACK
COARSE
DECAY
FINE
FM
CONTROL
PULSE
WIDTH
LOW
FM
SUSTAIN
AUDIO
RANGE
ADSR
VCO
RELEASE
SYNC
x7
MANUAL GATE
PWM
x10
1
LIN
CONTROLS
OUT
MULTIPLE
1
4
GATE
TRIGGER O U T P U T S
(2a)
(3a)
NOISE
PH/F
(4a)
NOISE
VCA
NOISE
RM
VCO
VCO
VCO
(2b)
(3c)
NOISE
(4d)
PH/F
NOISE
VCA
NOISE
RM
ADSR
ADSR
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VCO
COARSE
FINE
FM
CONTROL
PULSE
WIDTH
VCO
AUDIO
LOW
RANGE
OUTPUT
FM
SYNC
OUTPUT
PWM
CONTROL
CONTROL
LIN
CONTROLS
OUT
ENVELOPE
GENERATOR
ATTACK
DECAY
SUSTAIN
RELEASE
OUT
GATE
x7
MANUAL GATE
x10
2
MULTIPLE
x .002
4
GATE
TRIGGER O U T P U T S
VCO
COARSE
FINE
FM
CONTROL
10~90%
PULSE
WIDTH
AUDIO
LOW
RANGE
FM
SYNC
PWM
LIN
CONTROLS
OUT
With ADSR
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TRIGGER
GATE
In the examples given, the trigger / gate could be provided by an LFO, or a VCO in the LOW
(x.002) range.
As applied to an ADSR
The ADSR needs both a TRIGGER and a GATE. The MANUAL GATE button on the front
provides both a TRIGGER (when it is pressed), and a GATE (while it remains depressed). The are
also jacks for GATE and TRIGGER inputs. (GATE 1 is normalized into TRIGGER 1).
ADSR
Output
TRIGGER
input
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
GATE
input
Event
1
2
3
4
5
6, 7, 8
9
TRIGGER
yes
yes
GATE
no
yes
falls
yes
yes
present
falls
no
yes
yes
RESULT
none (*)
ADSR initiated
RELEASE initiated
none (*)
ADSR initiated
ADSR re-initiated ()
RELEASE initiated
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VCO
FINE
FM
CONTROL
PULSE
WIDTH
AUDIO
LOW
RANGE
FM
1.
SYNC
2.
PWM
LIN
CONTROLS
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SINE WAVE
TIME >
1
amplitude
.75
.5
90 o
0o
180
270
360
.25
1 cycle
0
1f
2f
3f
4f
5f 6f 7f 8f
TRIANGLE WAVE
.75
2
amp = 1/n (partial number)
90 o
0o
180 o
270 o
360
.5
-
.25
0
etc.
1f
2f
3f
4f
5f 6f 7f 8f
SAWTOOTH WAVE
1
0o
.75
90 o
180 o
360
.5
-
.25
0
etc.
1f
2f
3f
4f
SQUARE WAVE
5f 6f 7f 8f
90 o
180 o
270
360 o
Duty Cycle
.75
.5
-
.25
0
etc.
1f
2f
3f
4f
5f 6f 7f 8f
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Sync, PWM
OUTPUTS
Frequency Control
50%
30%
90%
The width of the pulse is variable, both by a knob on the face plate, and by a control voltage.
This is PULSE WIDTH MODULATION (PWM). [This can be set to 0% (no voltage), to 100%
(only a high voltage). In the 100% position, it can be used as the source of a DC offset.]
Some oscillators have a SYNC input. This input allows the creation of (significantly) more
complex waveshapes by resetting the wave to its 0 phase.
MODIFIED SINE WAVE
SYNC TRIGGER
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S&H OUTPUT
LEV
EXT.
CLOCK FREQ
CLOCK
TRIGGER
SOURCE
MANUAL
TRIGGER
GATE
SYNC
TRIG
W
IN
P
OUT
R
TRIG
FM
S&H
CLOCK
NOISE
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VCO
COARSE
FINE
FM
CONTROL
PULSE
WIDTH
AUDIO
LOW
VCO
RANGE
FM
SYNC
With S/H
PWM
LIN
CONTROLS
S&H/CLOCK
NOISE GENERATOR
VCO
COARSE
FINE
CLOCK
TRIGGER
SOURCE
PULSE
WIDTH
AUDIO
LOW
CLOCK FREQ
S&H OUTPUT
LEV
EXT.
FM
CONTROL
OUT
IN
MANUAL
TRIGGER
SYNC
GATE
SYNC
S/H
VCO
RANGE
FM
OUT
TRIG
W
IN
PWM
P
Trigger
OUT
R
LIN
CONTROLS
OUT
TRIG
FM
S&H
CLOCK
NOISE
VCO
COARSE
FINE
FM
CONTROL
PULSE
WIDTH
AUDIO
LOW
VCO
RANGE
FM
SYNC
PWM
LIN
CONTROLS
OUT
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SAMPLE/HOLD
The SAMPLE & HOLD module is a dual mode (SAMPLE & HOLD and TRACK & HOLD)
CONTROL VOLTAGE processor (not a SIGNAL PROCESSOR): its output is used as a
CONTROL VOLTAGE. The SAMPLE & HOLD is not closely related to the (now) more common
(digital) sampler, as it processes control voltages, not signals.
This module has an INPUT and an OUTPUT, and two (logic) controls: a GATE input and a
TRIGGER input.
When a TRIGGER is applied, the module functions as a SAMPLE & HOLD module, in that it
samples the instantaneous voltage at the INput, and HOLDs that voltage, making it available at
the OUTput. Notice that the OUTput shape may not closely resemble the INput voltage.
INPUT
triggers
OUTPUT
gates
OUTPUT
Both the SAMPLE & HOLD and the TRACK & HOLD functions may be used at the same time
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Draw the block diagram for this patch. Explain the function
(source / processor / control) of each module, and its
relationship(s) to the whole.
S&H/CLOCK
NOISE GENERATOR
S&H OUTPUT
LEV
EXT.
CLOCK FREQ
PHASE/
FLANGE
VCA
Fc
Fc
FREQUENCY
RESONANCE
FREQUENCY
RESONANCE
AUDIO LEVELS
CLOCK
TRIGGER
SOURCE
SYNC
Level
Control
Level
AUDIO
CONTROL 1
AUDIO
TRIG
W
IN
P
OUT
B
Y
P
A
S
S
E
V
E
N
O
D
D
MANUAL
TRIGGER
GATE
MULTIMODE
FILTER
A
U
D
I
O
EXP
M
I
X
MAIN
FL
AUX
LIN
PHASE
Control
CONTROL 1
NOTCH
INITIAL GAIN
CONTROL 1
LIN
PEAK
EXP
CONTROL MODE
F
R
E
Q
A
U
D
I
O
N/P
C
O
N
T
R
O
L
HIGH
BAND
R
TRIG
FM
S&H
CLOCK
LOW
RESONANCE
NOISE
OUTPUTS
ENVELOPE
GENERATOR
AUDIO C O N T R O L O U T P U T S
ENVELOPE
GENERATOR
ATTACK
DECAY
ATTACK
DECAY
SUSTAIN
RELEASE
SUSTAIN
RELEASE
x7
MANUAL GATE
x7
x10
MANUAL GATE
MULTIPLE
1
MULTIPLE
1
TRIGGER O U T P U T S
ADSR (1)
4
GATE
x10
4
GATE
TRIGGER O U T P U T S
ADSR (2)
S/H
Ph / F
VCF
VCA
ADSR (1)
ADSR (2)
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NOISE
VCA
VCO
VCO
(2)
PH / F
NOISE
VCF
RAND
VCO
(3)
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Readings
NOISE
RM
PH / F
VCA
VCO
VCO
VCO
(4)
HIGH PASS
NOISE
PH / F
VCA
VCF
x .002
x .002
VCO
VCO
RAND
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ARTICLE A
PARAMETRIC CONTROLS
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Control of mode of articulation. A higher (macro-) level of control that addresses the generally
perceived mode, tone or mood. There are many terms available for this, and will probably be
related to the listeners extent and depth of exposure to the medium. As with other forms, these
may also be in a dynamic condition.
Uniqueness or identity of the element, sound or gesture. As the listener develops greater
perceptual awareness and listening skills, elements that were at one time grouped together (left
un-segregated), may be heard in (some of) their constituent parts.
ARTICLE B
CONCRETE TRANSFORMATIONS
These sonic processes for the generation of sound materials:
Play / dont play sound
Repeat (once / many times) = copy / loops
Play backwards
The following processes may be static (unchanging in time), or dynamic (changing in time). These
changes may be unidirectional or multi-directional. They may be constant and/or regularlinear
or otherwise; irregular but predictable, or unpredictable.
Change speed
- faster = pitch shift up (shorten)
- slower = pitch shift down (lengthen)
Edit material (shorten) == new material
Edit material (lengthen by addition or interpolation) == new material
Use of (external electronic) processing:
Modification of spectrum through
- filtering (low pass, high pass, band pass/reject)
Modification of time/frequency relationships
time stretching
granulation
vocoding
Changes of amplitude
- re-enveloping
- AM
- compression/expansion/gating
Changes through frequency modulation
- ring modulation
- FM
- vibrato
Changes of perspective
- see also filtering
- reverberation
- time delay
Changes of position
- panning
- imaging (combination of panning, spectral shift, time delay)
- creation of imaginary locations
ARTICLE C
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ARTICLE D
GENERALIZED SONIC TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES
We often break sound down into a number of convenient categories for reasons of discussion and
analysis. Among these areas are: spectrum, frequency/register (where applicable) / range,
amplitude / envelope etc. In terms of processing sounds, four of the regions of transformation are
spectrum, time, register/frequency, and amplitude.
SPECTRUM
Spectrum is modified in several ways:
through the reduction or removal of frequencies or frequency ranges (filters*: high pass, low
pass, band pass, band reject, and combinations of these);
* filters may be understood as
frequency dependent amplifiers)
through the shifting of frequencies (pitch shifter, frequency shifter, tape speed change);
through the addition of frequencies to the spectrum (audio range amplitude modulation,
frequency modulation, ring modulation, distortion units);
TIME
Duration is modified by
(a) non-additive forms :
editing (tape or digital);
slowing down/speeding up (on tape or with digital means);
This requires that the signal is somehow stored in a complete form, on tape or in memory,
and therefore is not a realtime process. (See below)
(b) additive forms
recombination with itself, delayed (single reiteration - echo, multiple reiterations reverberation)
interpolation/removal of time slices (pitch-shifting, granulation )
AMPLITUDE
Amplitude is modified by amplifiers.
manually this is done with potentiometers
compression / expansion / gating techniques
VCA
Control
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The important part in this device, is the nature of the control, and the way in which it is derived.
(See also On Amplitude following.)
There are three positions for determining the nature of the control signal using switch 1 (DET):
INT - uses the input signal for both SIGNAL and CONTROL paths
DS-FM is like the INT position, except that an equalizer appears in the CONTROL path,
and increases the high frequency content above 2 kHz. (This is particularly useful for certain voice
sounds, since the voiced part of the voice sound will normally be of considerably higher amplitude than the
unvoiced (often sibilant) portion of the sound.)
EXT - uses the input signal for the SIGNAL path, and accepts an external signal for the
CONTROL path
The MODE switch has three positions to determine the
Which parameters? To what extent (latitude / range)? At what point does a transformed sound
become a unique entity?
Types include: continuous/discontinuous (stepped)
Possibly a multi-dimensional model, with (white noise) at one end and silence at the other
in progress
June 1990
ARTICLE E
ON AMPLITUDE
This reading examines amplitude and amplitude variations. Sound (a sound event) is created
through the mechanical vibration of an object within a transmission medium (air, water, metal
etc). These vibrations (between 20 and 20kHz) are micro-variations in air pressure, and can be
seen using an oscilloscope or some equivalent device, eg, the trace of the (sampled) sound in a
software package such as SoundEdit 16.
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Readings
1.4 sec
5.7 sec
1,400 ms
46 sec
2:45 min
The wavelength (repetition of a cycle) represents the frequency of the signal: the number of
vibrations per second. The vertical variation represents the amplitude (in dB).
Wave: frequency is represented
by the oscillations in time
ENVELOPE FOLLOWER
Variations in waveshape (micro-structural amplitude, below about 50 ms, which equals 20Hz)
represent changes in tone color (spectrum). When there are changes in amplitude over longer
periods (above 50 ms), they are perceived as amplitude envelopes.
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Original signal
This is how an envelope follower works: the amplitude envelope of the signal has been extracted
(as a CONTROL see below).
2
6
1
Simple envelopes have three basic components: attack, sustain and decay. The envelope above
has six parts (or stages): 1 & 4 are very rapid attacks (short duration); 3 is an attack of longer
duration; 2, 5 & 6 are decay elements An instrument such as a piano or guitar will have two main
stages, an attack and a decay. As in the example above, the decay stage may have two or more
parts to it.
PROCESSING OF ENVELOPES
An amplifier is a voltage multiplier. Amplifiers are frequently thought of as making a signal
larger (positive gain), but can also be used to reduce the level of a signal (negative gain), which is
how a voltage controled amplifier VCA (on an analog synthesizer) works.
amplifier x2
INPUT LEVEL
amplifier x .5
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0
0
2
1
.5
4
2
1
132
6
3
1.5
10
5
2.5
20
10
5
40
20
10
100
50
25
Readings
Expansion of envelope
(envelope x 2) (= expander)
This is how a compressor / expander functions: the dynamic level of the INPUT is doubled
(expander) or halved (compressor). The complete block diagram of this is:
INPUT
OUTPUT
CONTROL
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GATING
Sometimes it is desirable to remove noise from a source. One way is to use filters (modification of
spectrum). If the noise is low level, it is possible to use a GATE to do this. A noise gate is a device
that only passes signals with levels above a pre-set threshhold.
Original signal. (It is assumed that the noise is
low level, and therefore near the lower limits of
the amplitude envelope.
With a low threshold level, most of the signal
(that part above the threshhold) is passed by
the amplifier.
With a higher threshhold, less of the signal is
passed.
Another application of this process, is to control the level of a source, by an external control, as
for example to have an electric bass and bass drum sound exactly together.
OUTPUT
INPUT
CONTROL
The INPUT signal, is re-enveloped by the CONTROL, and appears at the OUTPUT with the
dynamic envelope of the CONTROL.
99-i
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SYNTHESIZERS
New instrumental resources have always been sought by composers and performers: the
development of synthesizers is part of this historical tradition. Various instruments are listed in
the Before 1948 section, with the first synthesizers appearing in the late 40s and early 50s.
However, it required commercialization starting in the mid 60s to change the analog synthesizer
from being a unique, individual research tool, into a widely available compositional instrument.
COMPUTERS
The theoretical basis for computing dates back several hundred years, but it is only with the
technological developments from the middle 19th c that there are functioning computing
machines. The development of the vacuum tube in 1907, the transistor in 1948, and the IC in the
early 70s accelerated this line of development.
The computer increased in power and decreased in size, reaching the point that by the mid-1990s,
desktop computing had become the standard for much ea/cm production. Programs that had
run on main frame computers were being ported to faster micro (sic) computers (although it is
hard to conceive of a computer with 512meg of RAM, a 17ig HD and a clock of 1.4gHz as being
micro).
LIVE ELECTRONICS
And the other side to the creation of the fixed work of sonic art, was the use of electronics for
performance, mixed media and installation arts. Starting in the early part of the 20th c, new
sound explorations have been part of the new arts. Visual and performance artists employed
sound: turntables, radios, oscillators, processors, keyboard synths all readily produce new, live
sounds.
The headwater of this river is the human capacity and desire to develop and use tools to
improve, modify and explore their environment. Theorists propose mechanical models to explain
physical events; philosophers propose mind models to explain cosmic events: both are important
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Readings
to the history of sound, as are the inventor, artisan and craftsman. This history briefly mentions
some historical antecedents in the development of the field.
Abbreviations:
c = century, or circa; BCE = Before Common Era (BC of the western calendar); CE=Common Era
(AD of the western calendar).
Some of the forces at play in the history of music technology and ea/cm include: Philosophy,
Theory, Technological Developments, and Application. As will be seen on the following pages,
the fourlayer division has been maintained.
TIMELINE
Pre-history
While the voice is the original instrument, tools/instruments were developed to make
sounds (for ritual, spiritual, ceremonial, entertainment purposes?). There is little indication that sound
was used without a functional / movement / ceremonial / theatrical / voice component.
Ancient times Mechanical sound-making instruments are created where the energy source is no longer
directly that of the lungs or hands: bagpipes, where the energy is stored in a bag; water organs where
flowing water pumps the air (cf hydraulos, 3rd c BCE); aeolian harps, where the wind was used to vibrate
long strings.
2,000
Tuned stone chimes from China (2nd millennium BCE) suggest knowledge of music theory and the
circle of fifths.
1,600
Babylonian music theory indicates how to create scales and intervals. The same system is
articulated by Greek theorists (eg Pythagoras 6th c BCE) in speculations on harmonic motion, and
how intervals relate to the division of a string. It was based on ascending perfect 5ths (the 2:3
ratio of the harmonic series).
600
Greece Pythagoras is credited with being the first to examine the nature of consonance (meaning
the union of sounds). [An extension of this is found in the concepts of stream segregation and
capturing in Auditory Scene Analysis [ASA] in the 1980-90s.] Music is viewed as one of the four
mathematical sciences arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. (This is later described as
Music of the Spheres.)
500
Greece The monochord (kann) is developed: a one-string instrument used to explore the
relationships of intervals. Greek music theory is (partly) based upon the perfect fourth (4:3 ratio)
and tetrachords.
400
China Music theory writings emphasize philosophical, cosmological and educational values of
music.
300
Greece Ctesibius of Alexandria, an engineer, invents the hydraulos (water organ), one of the first
applications of a regulated system of energy for the production of sound.
100
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When numbers assume form, they realize themselves in musical sound. (Shih-chi; China)
Greek and Roman architects explore acoustical properties for theaters (eg amphitheaters).
Answers are still qualitative rather than quantitative.
100
Greece Claudius Ptolemy writes Harmonika, a treatise on harmonics, acoustics, interval theory,
tetrachords, modes, the monochord, and the relationships between notes, parts of the body, and
heavenly bodies (cf Music of the Spheres).
400
China First attempts by Ho Cheng-tien to create a 12 tone equal-temperament to solve the
Pythagorean comma problem, since the circle of fifths doesnt return to the octave (It is 23/
100ths of a semitone too large, that is, B# is almost a 1/4 of a semitone above C).
1000
Theoretician, teacher Guido of Arrezo provides a system for naming notes. He works with
hexachords, and only provides six names (do, r, mi, fa, sol, la).
1400s
Medieval / Renaissance Europe
Instruments like the organ, virginal, spinet, harpsichord and
hurdy-gurdy use levers to play or activate sounds at a distance.
Western european theorists speculate on problems of intonation when tuning is based solely upon
the harmonic series. A number of solutions are proposed (eg Francisco de Salinas developed a
mean-tone temperament; Arp Schnitger develops equal-temperament [1688]). A variety of
keyboards are designed to deal with these intonational incongruities.
1500s
China Chu sai-y creates an equal-tempered 12 note scale.
1555
In europe, Don Nicola Vincentino designs and constructs a multi-keyboard instrument (six banks
of keyboards), the Archicembalo which is capable of dividing the octave into thirty-one steps. This
is used to overcome tuning problems associated with the meantone and Pythagorean tuning
systems.
1618
Colonna improves upon Vincetinos work with his La sambuca lincea.
1619
Johannes Keplers Harmony of the World. [Chaos is but unperceived order.]
1627
Francis Bacons New Atlantis proposes ...
We also have sound houses, where we practice and demonstrate all sounds, and their generation. We have
harmonies which you have not, of quarter-sounds, and lesser slides of sounds. Divers instruments of music
likewise unknown to you, some sweeter than any you have, together will bells and rings that are dainty
and sweet. We re-present small sounds as great and deep; likewise great sounds extenuate and sharp
We have also divers strange and artificial echoes, reflecting the voice many times, and as it were tossing it:
and some that give back the voice louder than it came; some shriller, and some deeper We also have
means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distance.
1624
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1750
The french Encyclopedistes produce a 28 volume encyclopedia on the sciences, the liberal arts,
and the mechanical arts. Diderot, its chief architect, writes the 60 page volume on Musique. It
deals extensively with intervals, scales, harmony, theory, composition and figured bass.
1759
Jean-Baptiste de la Borde, a Jesuit priest in Paris develops a clavecin lectrique in which bells are
struck by clappers holding a static electric charge. A curiosity that made sparks fly.
1760
Jean Phillipe Rameau includes theories of overtone series in his theoretical treatises on music
including code de musique pratique.
1761
J-B de la Borde invents the electric harpsichord, really a kind of carillon, in which static electricity is
used to assist the action or mechanism between the keyboard and the strings or bells.
1760s
A mechanical curiosity, a talking machine was invented in France. It demonstrated a knowledge
of the role of voiced / unvoiced sounds, and vowel formants.
1766
Benjamin Franklin invents the glass harmonica. A series of glass discs which could be set in motion
by a foot pedal, they were kept wet by passing through a trough of water. The discs were of
increasing thickness so that when the performer touched one of the edges, a specific pitch was
produced. Mozart and Beethoven both wrote works for the instrument.
Late 1700s
The development of a punched-card system to control the weaving of mechanical looms
brings together the industrial revolution and the ideas of a calculating machine, and for the first time, the
operations that the machine is to undertake can be stored on an external medium. Up until this time, the
calculating machines had been dedicated devices, capable of only one type of action.
1800
Volta invents the wet cell battery providing a more stable way of storing electrical energy.
1830s
Charles Babbage conceives of the Analytical Engine where the results of a given operation could
be fed back into the machine and used for subsequent operation. It utilized a central processor
and a system of storage. Most innovative was its facility to have a predetermined series of
operations programed to automatically execute in sequence. Babbage also proposed that the
execution of the sequence of operations might change depending on the results generated by earlier
operations (conditional execution).
1837
Galvanic music by Dr CG Page (Massachusetts) during experiments with a battery, coil and
magnets (electro-magnetic induction).
1854
The mathematician George Boole proposes a binary system in which 1 represented true and 0
represented false as well as a set of logical operations (and, or, not) that could be performed on
these 1s and 0s.
1863
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Hermann Helmholtz publishes On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of
Music, a pioneering work in the field of acoustics. It contains the first systematic explanations of
timbre.
1867
Hipps electromechanical piano.
1870s
Moscow Conservatory acquires a quarter-tone piano.
1874
Eisha Grays singing telegraph.
1876
Koenig invents the tonametric which could divide four octaves into 670 equal parts, or about 167
steps per octave (8 cent intervals).
Alexander Bell succeeds in transmiting the voice by means of electricity.
Grays electroharmonic piano
1877
Emile Berliner perfects both a telephone and a disc recorder.
1883
Edgar(d) Varse is born.
1885
Ernst Lorenz invents the elektrische musikinstrument which uses electrical vibrations to drive an
electromagnet that was connected to resonating boards, thus transducing electrical vibrations into
sound.
1888
Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. Sound is stored as an analog to the soundwave : the
movement of the stylus is a miniature version of the vibrations in the air. The original cylinder
discs were a hill and dale method of recording, where the stylus went up and down rather than
side-to-side as became standard in the 20th C.
1897
Thaddeus Cahill constructs the sounding staves which could regulate the number of upper partials
/ harmonic content in a timbre. Sounds did not necessarily any more resemble a traditional
instrument.
1898
Danish scientist Vlademar Poulsen invents his telegraphone, the first electronic recording machine,
which was sometimes refered to as the wire recorder. Sound could now be stored in a medium
that does not hold a mechanical, analog version of the soundwave.
1899
William Duddell (England) invents the Singing Arc which used carbon arc lamps whose discharge
paths were interrupted by controled electrical vibrations to create sound.
The historical threads of the Sound and Technology start to separate in this period as aspects of research,
aesthetics, communications, composition begin to move and start to involve more countries than just those
in europe, most notably the impact of the USA as a major industrial and economic force.
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Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music by Ferruccio Busoni. A call for new experiments in music.
Greatly influences Edgard Varse who envisions music by machines that frees composers from the
limitations of traditional instruments.
1913
Futurist Manifesto and The Art of Noise (March 11), by Luigi Russolo and Francesco Pratella
advocating using the more interesting and unlimited resources of noise. Russolo invents a
family of Intonarumori, mechanical instruments that produce hisses, grunts, pops, etc.
The Futurist movement foreshadowed many experimental approaches to sound and music such
as: musique concrte; the amplification of inaudible sounds (later used by John Cage and others):
amplification of vibrations from living beings (later used by Alvin Lucier and others); use of
noise and environmental sounds in theatrical and operatic works, etc. Many experimental
approaches to textual delivery: sound poetry in performance and in recordings originated here.
In Milan, April 21, the first concert of the Intonarumori in Milan under the title of Art of
Noises was presented by Luigi Russolo. A riot ensued: 11 people were injured.
Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith, Ernst Toch begin to use variable speed phonographs to alter the
characteristics of preexisting sounds.
1915
Lee De Forest invents the electronic oscillator, a device that produces electronicaly generated
tones; he contemplates the invention of electronic instruments.
19001915
Wallace Sabine (Harvard University) becomes the father of modern architectural acoustics
when he is able to quantify (and therefore reproduce and predict) the behavior of sound, notably
regarding reverberation.
1916
Dada movement born at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zrich. Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, etc.
Movement would include Kandinsky, Hugo Ball, Paul Klee, Kurt Schwitters in Europe, and
Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Max Ernst in USA It has far-reaching influences on poetry, soundtext composition, applications of chance (the music of John Cage).
1918
In France, Coupleux and Givelet create the Radio-Organ, a 61 note 10 timbre polyphonic keyboard
instrument using over 700 hundred vacuum tubes.
Aerial Theatre by Fedele Azari. Opera using the sonorous possibilities of airplane engines.
Russolo was involved in modifying timbral and resonant characteristics of engines.
1919
Leon Theremin (Moscow) invents the Theremin, an extensions of the oscillator which functions by
relative distance of the performers hand(s) from two antennas on the instrument.
Bauhaus founded by Walter Gropius. Work in sound and textual transformations for the theater.
1922
The Clavilux, a color organ invented by Thomas Wilfred is demonstrated in New York.
Aug 3: The first radio sound effect was produced at WGY in Schenectady NY.
1923
Invented by Hugo Gernsback, the Staccatophone, an 88 key electronic piano, is demonstrated.
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August 3rd, the first radio sound effects were produced at WGY in Schenectady NY.
The first use of the term robots in the Czech Karel Capeks play Rossums Universal Robots.
1926
Russolo invents his Psofarmoni, keyboard instruments that imitate animal and nature sounds.
A female robot appears in Fritz Langs Metropolis.
Wire recorders begin to be used for commercial (office) applications. They become the Dictaphone.
1927
Oskar Schlemmer uses phonograph recordings in theater works emerging at the Bauhaus.
1928
Maurice Martenot introduces various methods for controling timbre (by additive synthesis) in
France with his Ondes Martenot.
Friedrich Trautwein introduces the Trautonium (subtractive synthesis) and establishes a studio for
musical experiments in Berlin with Paul Hindemith.
First work in sound for film in Germany by Walter Ruttmann. This work carried on by members
of the Bauhaus (Arma, Oskar Fischinger, Moholy-Nagy, Trautwein).
Hindemith experimented with varying turntable speeds.
1929
Laurens Hammond introduces the Hammond Organ, which generates tones using tone wheels
and a method of additive synthesis.
Givelet and Coupleux devise a machine in France that consists of four oscillators controled by a
punched paper roll thereby incorporating De Forests oscillators with the principles of the player
(piano). While there is a history of mechanical instruments of several hundred years, this is a
degree of automation which foreshadows later computer-control of aspects of sound production
and composition.
Emicon musical instrument.
A radiophonic work (Hrspiel), Lindberghflug by Weill, Hindemith and Brecht is presented in
concert: July 28.
Joseph Schillingers First Airphonic Suite is performed with Leon Theremin playing the
Thereminovox part.
Hindemith & Toch produce phonograph studies.
1931
Hellertion musical instrument
1932
Piano-harp musical instrument
Vivatone musical instrument
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Oskar Fischinger creates ornamental sound drawings on film, to be read as optical soundtracks.
1933
MarconiStille magnetic (steel) tape recorder.
Electrode musical instrument.
1930s
First experiments with stereo recording. Leopold Stokowski and RCA Victor are central in this.
193337 Honegger (et al) manipulated film sound tracks.
1934
Croix Sonore (1923) demonstrated in Paris.
1935
Magnetic tape recorder (based on the principles of the earlier wire recorder) is invented in
Germany (AEG Magnetophone).
Partiturophon musical instrument.
Yeugeny Sholpo, at the Leningrad Conservatory and the Moscow experimental studio builds his
Variohones, instruments using preprinted optical tracks to make sound.
Norman McLaren produces his first animated film with a hand-drawn optical soundtrack, Book
Bargain, for the National Film Board of Canada, based upon a system described by Rudolph
Phenninger.
1936 Konrad Zuse applies for a patent on an electromechanical automatic calculator. With the advent of
electricity, complicated mechanical linkages could be replaced with wires and switches. Zuses calculator
included a memory for storing numbers and results, a central arithmetic processing unit, and the ability to
define a sequence of operations to be given to the machine on paper tape.
1936
Electrochord musical instrument.
1937
Claude Shannon demonstrates that Boolean logic can be represented by electrical switches and
the Boolean operation could be performed with the appropriate connections of electrical switches.
Ftes des belles eaux by Olivier Messiaen is written for six Ondes Martinot, for the 1937 Paris
Exhibition.
1938
Maurice Martenot patents a microtonal keyboard capable of producing 1/12 semitone intervals (c
9 cents).
Melodium musical instrument.
Pianotron musical instrument.
Novachord musical instrument. There was one in the McGill EMS from 1962 [?] 1980. It was
given by Hugh LeCaine.
Deux Monodies en quarts de ton by Messiaen, for Ondes Martinot.
1939
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Imaginary Landscapes No 1 by John Cage a radio piece whose sound sources are two RCA Victor
test records played on variable speed phonographs along with a cymbal and the interior of a
piano.
Norman McLaren works with drawn sound in experimental film.
1940
John and James Whitney develop optical soundtrack for film.
First US TV broadcast of an operatic work.
Walt Disneys Fantasia employs a multi-channel soundtrack.
1941
Ondioline musical instrument.
1942
Pierre Schaeffer, working as an engineer for Radio-France (RTF), establishes first sound research
facility, Studio dessai, at Radio France (RF) (while under German occupation).
1943
First electronic digital computers.
John and James Whitney produce Five Film Exercises using a photographic image of a pendulum on
the optical soundtrack.
Imaginary Landscape No 2 & 3 by John Cage. A coil of amplified wire used with various noise
makers, and variable speed phonographs. (Harkens back to the Futurists.)
1944
The first electronic calculating machine, IBMs Mark I, could multiply two 23-digit numbers in
approximately four and a half seconds.
1945
Granger and Cross build an 8-oscillator synthesizer with synchronization capabilities.
The Allies get tape recorders from the defeated German military machine.
1945-48
Hugh Le Caine builds the Electronic Sackbut, the first voltage controled synthesizer.
1946
The ENIAC (Electronic Number Integrator and Calculator) was built containing 18,000 vacuum
tubes, occupying 300 cubic meters of space, and consuming 140,000 watts of electricity. Todays
pocket calculators dwarf the capabilities of the original ENIAC.
Club dessai for experimentation for radio-drama and music.
1947
Clavioline musical instrument
Solovox musical instrument
(adapted from Laurie Radford)
A BRIEF HISTORY OF FORMALISM IN MUSIC FROM 1900 TO 1955.
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Early in the century, composers who were writing more and more complex music struggled with ways to
organize the pitch elements of their pieces as tonality passed beyond the limits of organizing complex
chromatic musical ideas. A number of solutions developed, among them atonality espoused by Arnold
Schoenberg, and subsequently adopted by a large number of Austrian and German composers. (This is the
so-called Second Viennese School.)
A number of composers were working upon techniques of control and development, and Schoenberg
invented a serial technique, in which the twelve chromatic notes are placed in a row, and used in such a
way, that 12 notes had to be played before the any could be used again. (This is similar to the renaissance
technique of iso-melos.) Later composers began to serialize other musical parameters, including dynamics,
rhythm, articulation, register, tempo, tone color etc.
After the war, French composers were strongly split in their acceptance / rejection of serial composition. For
some it was a way into the futurea break with the past: for others it was seen as sterile and academic. Its
influence on the thinking of composers however cannot be denied.
This technical practice was a cornerstone of the German electronic music school centered in Kln (cf).
1948
Claude Shannon publishes a book explaining Information Theory
Schaeffer started the first formalized, systematic studies of what was to become musique concrte.
May 15, Schaffer names this musique concrte, to indicate that this use of sound objects makes a
break from the formalism and dependency of preconceived sound (or musical) abstractions.
The transistor invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories
First 33 rpm (microgroove) LP. One side can hold 22 27 (+) minutes of music compared to 3 5
minutes with 78 rpm discs. The last 78 rpm discs are made in the late 50s.
On May 3, Schaeffer takes a RF sound truck to a train station to record railway sounds which
were to become the tude aux chemins de fer. He started systematic studies exploring the potential
of different concrete sonic sources: tude aux tourniquets, tude aux casseroles, tude violette, tudes
au Piano I et II.
Schaeffers principle tools for his experiments are turntables, a few microphones, a mixer and some
potentiometers. His experiments demonstrate that concrete material can be manipulated at will. (For a
long time there has been an anecdote that Schaeffer discovered looping by accident from a locked sound
effects record.)
He recorded locomotives, wrote a score, transformed and sequenced the sounds. Train whistles are
transposed through a change in the turntable speed, thus allowing for the use of melodies. However,
notation remains a poor tool when compared to the act of listening to the materials.
Through the looping of recorded speech, words lose their recognizable meanings, new associations are
made possible. Through numerous chance experiments, using pre-recorded materials (songs,
advertisements, symphonic concerts, etc), Schaeffer combines noises with musical fragments and discovers
that these meetings rarely result in musical statements. The difficulty lies in selecting materials that are
not singularly anecdotal, that can be isolated and easily placed out of their familiar context to yield new
meanings. Schaeffer decides to begin a morphology of sounds (study of the form and structure of
sounds).
1948
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The same year as the first experiments in musique concrte by Pierre Schaeffer in Paris, Homer
Dudley of Bell Telephone Laboratories introduces the vocoder to Werner Meyer-Eppler, a physicist
and director of the institute of Phonetics at Bonn University, Germany. The vocoder is a device
capable of both analyzing sound and simulating speech.
The first (mono) open reel tape recorders appear in the USA.
Oct 5, 5 tudes broadcast on Radio France.
1948-49 Symphonie pour un homme seul by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. First extended work
using the techniques of musique concrte (loops, editing, speed variation / transposition,
direction reversal, filtering, collage with the use of turntables).
Messiaens Turangalla Symphony features an Ondes Martinot prominently.
1949
German engineer Harald Bode develops the Melochord employing electronic oscillators for the
production of musical tones.
1950
The mathematician Alan Turing creates a theoretical foundation for the feasibility of designing a
truly intelligent machine.
Univac delivers the first commercial digital computer.
Werner Meyer-Eppler gives a lecture entitled Developmental Possibilities of Sound at the
Darmstadt summer course for new music. Robert Beyer also lectures on Elektronische Musik.
Elektronium musical instrument.
First musique concrte concert, March 18th, 1950, at the cole Normale de Musique (Paris). Two
speakers and no musicians/performers! First large musique concrte work Symphonie pour un
homme seul, by Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, composed entirely with 78 rpm discs. Pierre Boulez,
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna and Edgar Varse, etc are among the first
of a growing list of composers to visit the studios and experiment with this new art.
Louis and Bebe Barron work out of their own private studio since at least 1948.
1951
MeyerEppler succeeds in synthesizing sounds electronicaly by using the Melochord.
Founding of the Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrte at the RTF, Paris. It attracted many
composers such as Pierre Boulez, Darius Milhaud, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Bruno
Maderna, etc.
USA John Cage establishes the Project of Music for Magnetic Tape. Other composers active
were Earle Brown, David Tudor, Morton Feldman, and Louis and Bebe Barron. Cage composes
Williams Mix based on chance operations derived from the I-Ching, with most of the materials
recorded by the Barrons. It is an assemblage of eight mono tapes, mixed down to stereo.
Herbert Eimert viewed that electronic music was the final chapter, or even postlude to
contemporary music (die Reihe, Vol 1, 1955), within a certain inevitability of human progress
. He subsequently recognized the postlude as prelude.
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Oct 18 First electronic studio established at the NWDR Cologne (Nordwestdeutsche Rundfunk)
by Herbert Eimert, Werner Meyer-Eppler and Robert Beyer.
Fundamental to electronic music is the realization of the timbral significance of the overtone series as both
a means of composing and of fabricating new sounds. In addition to mixing sine tones and other electronic
signals together in the manner of an orchestra, it is discovered that new timbres can be generated by the
modulatory processes involved in the combination of two or more electronic signals (i.e. frequency
modulation, amplitude modulation, etc.). The sine tone, the simplest musical sound lacking any harmonic
spectrum, is seen as a new musical element and resource.
1952
Vladimir Ussachevsky (USA) coins the term tape music.
Vocalise by Pierre Henry, first concrte work derived solely from the voice.
Timbres-dures by Olivier Messiaen, aided by Pierre Henry.
Netherlands Electroacoustic studio established in the Netherlands by Henk Badings at the
Nederlandsche Radio Unie (NRU) at Hilversum.
Norman McLaren creates Neighbours, one of his most famous animated films with hand-drawn
sound track.
USA First tape music concert in the United States at Columbia University with music by Otto
Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky. Their music employed almost exclusively traditional instrumental
sounds and the human voice transformed using the newly available magnetic tape recorder and techniques
of speed variation, overdubbing, and electronic echo and reverberation. Works: Sonic Contours, Low
Speed, Incantation, etc
1950s 45 rpm 7 record appears.
1950s First stereo LPs.
1953
Voile dOrphe a dramatic work by Pierre Henry shows the clear advantages of tape over disc.
First electronic compositions by Robert Beyer and the composer Herbert Eimert. First electronic
concert at the Westdeutsche Rundfunk in Cologne.
First electronic compositions, under the influence of acoustic, phonetic and information theory
research, uses vocal timbres as a model for synthetic timbral construction and manipulation (i.e.
transposition, vowel formant filtering, etc.). Also prominent is the influence of serial music
procedures which are applied to the different compositional parameters employed.
After working at the RTF studios in Paris where he was occupied with the acoustical analysis of
sounds, Karlheinz Stockhausen is invited to work in the WDR studios where he undertakes a
series of electronic studies investigating the use of the harmonic series as a compositional
resource.
1954
Stockhausens Studie II employs an electronic realization of the harmonic series. Families of
related timbres are created through additive synthesis techniques forming a continuum from a
single sine tone to mixed groups and finally white noise.
Multi-channel tape recorders (up to 5 channels).
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1955
Dripsody by Hugh Le Caine produced at the Elmus Lab, National Research Council of Canada
using his Variable Speed Recorder.
Italy Studio di Fonologia Musicale of the RAI. (Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Milan, Italy
founded by Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna.
Japan Electronic studio of the Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) founded in Tokyo. (Takemitsu,
Mayuzumi, Moro, Ichiyanagi, Ishii, etc.)
Harry Olsen and Herbert Belar produce in the USA the first modular synthesizer, the RCA Mark I
.
Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson begin experiments in composition with the ILLIAC highspeed digital computer at the University of Illinois.
Serge Garant composes Nuclogame, the first Canadian mixed (tape and live performer) piece.
1956
Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence with John McCarthy, Marvin
Minsky, Herbert Simon and Allen Newell (the science of making machines do things that would
require intelligence if done by men).
Combination of musique concrte and electronic music sound sources and techniques in Karlheinz
Stockhausens Gesang der Jnglinge. (Germany)
Vladimir Ussachevskys A Piece for Tape Recorder employs electronic and concrete sources.
Otto Luenings Theatre Piece No. 2 for electronic sounds, soprano, narrator and instruments.
(USA)
Diamorphoses by Iannis Xenakis produced at the RTF studios. Continued use of tape transposition
and reversal, filtering, and other musique concrte techniques.
Hiller and Isaacson use the Illiac computer to create the first work employing the computer to control
compositional choices and stylistic parameters: the Illiac Suite for String Quartet (1957). The work was
composed by the computer based on tables of conditional limits (i.e. involving pitch, rhythm, range,
dynamics, etc.) and was then transcribed into musical notation by the researchers for live nonelectronic
performance.
1957
Netherlands studio moved to Eindhoven, sponsored by Philips and directed by Henk Badings.
Scambi by Henri Pousseur produced at the Studio di Fonologia Musicale using only filtered white
noise as a sound source and depending on processes of indeterminacy for its structure.
Louis and Bebe Barron compose the electronic music score for Forbidden Planet.
PolandExperimental Studio of the Polish Radio established electroacoustic studio in Warsaw.
1957-58 Founding of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales by Pierre Schaeffer (also Luc Ferrari,
Franois-Bernard Mche, etc.) A period followed in which an emphasis was placed on the
systematic study of the characteristics of lobjet sonore.
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USA Tape works produced at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey under the direction of
Max Mathews.
First computer-generated sounds produced at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.
Under the direction of Max Mathews of the Behavioral Research Laboratory, composers such as John
Pierce, James Tenney, Jean-Claude Risset and Frederick Moore work on employing the computer in
research for new methods of sound production and control and compositional applications.
1958
Thema (Omaggio Joyce) by Luciano Berio produced at the Studio di Fonologia Musicale, using
readings from the opening of Chapter 11 of Joyces Ulysses.
Pome lectronique by Edgard Varse (produced at the Eindhoven studios). Edgard Varse uses
electronically generated sounds in combination with concrte and instrumental sources in his
Pome lectronique.
Concret P-H II by Iannis Xenakis (produced at the RTF from a single source: the sound of burning
charcoal) created for the Philips Pavilion at the World Fair in Brussels, Belgium. They were
played over a 425 speaker sound projection system.
Fontana Mix by John Cage produced at Studio di Fonologia Musicale. Tape collage consisting of
environmental sounds, singing, speaking etc. and transformed through splicing and tape
transposition and reversal. Overall structure controlled by chance operations.
Artikulation by Gyrgy Ligeti produced at WDR studios. Based on phonetic research, direct
correlations are established between speech and musical sounds through the creation of a
hierarchy of 42 electronic sounds (including sine tones, harmonic, subharmonic and noise spectra)
subdivided into words and texts through conventional tape manipulations and additional
electronic modifications such as reverberation, ring modulation and envelope shaping.
Belgium
Pousseur.
USA Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music (CSEM) founded by Gordon Mumma and Robert
Ashley in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Electronic Studio at the University of Illinois established by Lejaren Hiller.
1959
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center established by Luening and Ussachevsky.
San Francisco Tape Music Center founded by Morton Subotnick and Pauline Oliveros.
Canada
Electroacoustic Studio founded at the University of Toronto, directed by Arnold
Walter and Myron Schaeffer, assisted by Hugh Le Caine.
Iannis Xenakis OrientOccident III, with sounds derived from instrumental sources.
Pierre Schaeffer: tude aux objets, revised in 6667, is based upon instrumental sounds.
Brazil Grupo Musica Nova founded by Gilberto Mendes in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Concentration
primarily on musique concrte experiments.
Otto Joachim founds personal studio in Montral.
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Stockhausen produces Kontakte over 1959-60. Two versions: 1) solo tape, 2) piano, percussion
and tape. The tape comprises extensive work with electronically generated and modified sounds.
The sources are more elaborate than Stockhausens earlier Studies including impulse generators,
sine and square wave generators, filters, a ring modulator, etc. A close interaction between the
tape materials and the instrumentalists creates a terse, dynamic work.
Work at the Bell Laboratories by Max Mathews and James Tenney begins and leads to the first
MUSIC series of computer music programs (MUSIC IVB) in collaboration with JK Randall and
Hubert Howe of Princeton University.
Harry Olson and Herbert Belar introduce their improved RCA Mark II Synthesizer with a
typewriter-like keyboard to record binary control codes to operate the modules. The Mark II is
capable of controling the frequency, envelope, harmonic spectrum, amplitude, duration and
temporal progression of sonic events. The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center is
established to house the Mark II and make it available to a wide variety of composers.
By the end of the 1950s, electroacoustic studios had been established in almost all European countries
including France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain,
Poland, as well as in Japan, USA and Canada.
By the early 1960s, most universities in North America had established experimental electroacoustic
studios and courses in either engineering, computer, or music departments.
1960
Pierre Barbaud (film music composer) and Roger Blanchard (choral conductor) work at the
Centre de Calcul lectronique de la Compagnie des Machines Bull in Paris (a computer
manufacturing plant) use the computer as a type of composing machine similar to the manner
employed by Hiller and Isaacson in Illiac Suite.
John Kelly and Carol Lochbaum create Bicycle Built for two at Bell Labs. It appears on the
Music from Mathematics LP, produced by Max Mathews. (The version used in 2001: A Space
Odyssey is sung by a person.)
Music III is introduced by Max Mathews.
Vocalism Ai by Toru Takemitsu using only the word Ai (love) as source material. Water Music by
Takemitsu uses many different kinds of water drops / running water.
Richard Maxfields Night Music produced in New York using supersonic frequencies modulate by
subaudio pulses (reminiscent of similar procedures previously used by Stockhausen in Kontakte
and Ligeti in Artikulation).
1961
Harold Bode, the german engineer who had built equipment for the Cologne studio writes an
article in which he describes a new concept in equipment design: modular systems.
Visage by Luciano Berio produced at the RAI studio in Milan, uses sound sources including the
voice, filtered noise bands, and oscillators frequently subjected to amplitude, frequency and ring
modulation.
Vision and Prayer by Milton Babbitt, based on a poem by Dylan Thomas, uses the voice with
electronically generated sounds produced on the RCA synthesizer. Also Babbitts Composition for
Synthesizer which attempts to produce instrumental-like sounds existing in complex pitch and
rhythmic contexts not available form conventional musical instruments.
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Trois visages de Lige by Henri Pousseur. Use of heavily modulated electronic signals, filtered noise
bands and electronic glissandi. Ring modulation used to create bell and gong sounds.
1962
Bohor I by Xenakis is an example of a mass structure continuum piece, employing continuous
repetition. Use of limited sound resources (Laotian mouth organ and dropping jewelry) and tape
transformations.
Iannis Xenakis produces works such as ST/10-1, 080262; ST/48-1, 240162 (for large orchestra);
Atres (for ten soloists); Morsima-Amorsima (for violin, cello, bass, and piano) using the
FORTRAN IV programming language on an IBM-7090 computer to aid in high-speed
computations of stochastic processes (probability theory) which determine pitch, gradient of
glissandos, the duration and dynamic of the emission of sound.
1963
Electroacoustic Studio founded at McGill University by Istvn Anhalt under the guidance of Hugh
Le Caine.
Etude aux objets by Pierre Schaeffer.
Variations on a Door and a Sigh by Pierre Henry. Strict limitation of sound sources - a sigh, a
musical saw, and a creaking door - and extended tape transformations. It is theatrical piece that
requires stereo listening for full impact.
LOiseau-chanteur by Franois Bayle, with sounds derived from instrumental sources.
Milton Babbitt produces Ensembles for Synthesizer. The possibility of precise control of all musical
parameters with electronic instruments lends itself to highly organized and structured
compositions in which complex rhythmic textures are realized.
Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker produce their Computer Cantata wherein the computer is used to
produce the musical elements of pitch, duration, amplitude and the additional parameter of timbre (the
actual sound sources themselves). The choice of a multitude of timbral sources (sine, square, and sawtooth
waves, white and filtered noise, and computer-generated sounds as well as the sounds of the Theremin and
Ondes Martenot) reflects a fundamental concept of information theory prevalent in computer applications
to music composition at this time: as structural ordering increases the amount of information decreases.
mid-1960s
1964
Institute of Sonology founded at Utrecht, Netherlands by Gottfried Michael Koenig
Gottfried Michael Kenig develops computer-controlled compositional programs at Utrecht State
University in the Netherlands and produces his work Project I.
Milton Babbitt produces Philomel using the voice and electronic sounds.
Bowery Bum, by Ilhan Mimaroglu uses a rubber band as source material.
Les changes by Rolf Liebermann is presented, scored for 52 machines under computer control.
The engineering student Robert Moog builds a voltage controled oscillator (VCO), a voltage
controled amplifier (VCA), followed in 1965 by a voltage controled filter (VCF). It is a number of
years before composers appreciate and take advantage of these new modular electronic music
resources.
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Donald Buchla works in a similar direction as Moog eventualy creating the Buchla Electronic
Music System which was employed in Morton Subotnicks early electronic music pieces.
Cassette format is licensed by Philips.
1965
Its Gonna Rain by Steve Reich. Phasing techniques using de-synchronization of multiple tape
loops.
Kenneth Gaburos Lemon Drops produced at the Experimental Music Studio of the University of
Illinois.
Czechoslovakia
Bratislava.
The first computer composition is realized at Princeton University in conjunction with the
Columbia-Princeton Center: J. K. Randalls Mudgett: Monologues by a Mass Murderer. The computer
is used to produce traditional accompanying materials to a solo vocal part using MUSIC IV (by
Godfrey Winham and Hubert S. Howe).
University of British Columbia Studio founded by Cortland Hultberg
Royal Conservatory of Music Studio founded by Samuel Dolin.
Gustav Ciamaga becomes director of the University of Toronto EMS (UTEMS).
1966
Pierre Schaeffers research appears in his Trait des Objets Sonore.
Electroacoustic studio established in Prague.
Steve Reich Come Out based on phasing tape loops.
Mario Davidovsky produces Study No. II using only electronically generated sine and square
waves.
Stockhausens Telemusik created at the NHK radio studio in Tokyo. Intermodulation of a wide
variety of folk musics and electronically generated materials and modifications.
1967
Expo 67, Montral: electronic works by Joachim, RM Schafer
Stockhausens Hymnen, an epic work realized at the WDR studio using a wealth of national
anthems and many electronic sources as material.
Using a Buchla modular system, Morton Subotnick produces Silver Apples of the Moon using
contrasts in texture and timbre as organizational principles. This is the first piece of electronic
music to be commissioned by a record company (Nonesuch). It is followed by The Wild Bull,
Sidewinder, Four Butterflies ...
Wendy (Walter) Carlos Switched On Bach.
Charles Dodge begins composing using the computer facilities of Columbia University.
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1968
A light pen that eliminates much of the tedious work of punching data on IBM cards is developed
at Bell Labs. Any of the musical elements such as pitch and amplitude can be shown by drawing
a graphic representation of their contour, which is then relayed to the computer for calculation
and storage.
Orient-Occident III by Xenakis utilizes a wide variety of sound sources: cello bow being drawn
across cardboard boxes, metal rods, gongs, electric signals from the ionosphere recorded and
transposed to produce low roars, high cries, and glissandi.
Founding of Le Groupe de Musique Exprimentale de Marseilles. (Georges Boeuf, Michel Redolfi,
Jacques Diennet, etc.)
Vladimir Ussachevsky produces his Computer Piece No. 1 in which concrte sources, an electronic
organ and voice are used in combination with computer-generated sounds.
late 1960s
1969
Charles Wuorinens Times Encomium realized on the RCA Mark II Synthesizer at the ColumbiaPrinceton Electronic Music Center.
Charles Dodges Changes involving very accurate simulation of musical instruments which result
from changes in filtering, envelope contour and basic waveshape.
Lejaren Hiller and John Cage bring their two year collaboration to fruition to produce HPSCHD,
and through the use of computer printout sheets of highly sophisticated random numbers,
create the first available recording of which each performance (the listener performing on his
record player knobs), and each copy of the recording, is different and indeterminate. Each sheet
contains a different set of numbers for loudness and treble/bass control on each speaker.
J. K. Randall produces his Quartersines with a computer controling all aspects of the composition.
A sine wave is transformed to create complex glissando patterns using a FORTRAN-language
version of MUSIC IVB (written by Godfrey Winham).
Barry Vercoe produces his Synthesism at the Experimental Music Studio of MIT (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology) employing the computer to create a division of the octave into 16 equal
parts as well as creating unique timbral relationships by mixing bands of filtered noise with
specific pitches. (Written in MUSIC 360 for the IBM/360 computer.)
Jean-Claude Risset, after a period of research at Bell Labs, publishes a catalog of computersynthesized sounds and produces his computer-generated work Mutations I.
Morton Subotnick installation piece: Music for Twelve Elevators.
Max Mathews and Frederick Moore create their GROOVE program which uses the computer to
control analog synthesizers.
Laval University Studio founded by Nil Parent.
late 1960s
16 and 24 channel tape recorders appear; portable open reel video recorders (b/w)
A number of manufacturers began to make analog synthesizer modules, notably MOOG, ARP, EMS,
Buchla, Korg, Roland The modules were interconnected with patch cords, so every sound was
somewhat unique (and extremely difficult to accurately reproduce!). The modules included the sources of
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oscillation (VCOs) and noise (white and pink), with basic processing by filters (VCFs), amplifiers (VCAs),
ring modulation and cheap spring reverbs. In time, more sophisticated modules became available, but
they were mostly combinations of existing basic modules.
Controls were in the form of low frequency oscillators (LFOs), transient voltage (envelope) generators, and
control voltage processors such as inverters, sample and hold (S/H), track and hold (T/H), analog
sequencers, and logic functions such as switches, comparators etc.
By the end of the 1960s, most institutional studios possessed one of the growing number of voltage
controlled modular synthesizers. As well, the low cost of these instruments led to their increasing use by
composers and performers in pop music and film.
1990s Analog returns with a vengeance!
1970
Semiconductors (integrated circuits ICs) begin to appear, reducing the size and cost of
equipment, while increasing power, speed, flexibility and memory.
Presque Rien No. 1 by Luc Ferrari. An environmental piece that utilizes voices, children playing,
birds, motors, footsteps, waves, bells, insects etc, with an absence of any electronic or tape
modifications, except for selection, eq, editing and mixing.
Founding of Le Groupe de Musique Exprimentale de Bourges by Franoise Barrire and
Christian Clozier. Many composers from all over the world have worked at the studios in
Bourges and been performed and honored during the Festival International de Musique
lectroacoustique de Bourges for the past three decades.
Alvin Lucier creates I Am Sitting in a Room, which is included in Source magazine. A revised
version, lacking the cutting intensity of the original, is available on CD.
University of Calgary Studio founded by Warren Rowley
Sir George Williams University (later Concordia University) studio created.
1971
The Allan Company Computer Organ is demonstrated using wave-table lookup.
Jean-Claude Risset establishes a computer music installation in Orsay, France.
Barry Vercoe establishes an electronic music facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ussachevsky employs Max Mathews and F. Moores GROOVE program in Two Sketches for a
Computer Piece which involved computer control (by means of a PDP 224 computer) of an analog
synthesizer by means of a keyboard. Random production of pitches, amplitudes and rhythms
was controlled by computer. A large part of the piece is produced in real time.
Dalhousie University Studio started by Steve Tittle.
alcides lanza becomes director of the McGill EMS
Canadian Electronics Ensemble founded in Toronto (live electronics performer / composer
group).
MetaMusic created in Montral (live electronic music improvisation ensemble).
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Synclavier II is introduced.
DMX1000 (DSP) introduced.
1970s First digital recorders appear; Home video formats (VHS/ Beta)
1980
First commercial sampler, the Ensoniq Mirage, is marketed.
Conservatoire de musique a Montral Studios started by Yves Daoust.
Universit de Montral Studios started by Marcelle Deschnes.
1982
MIDI Specification 1.0 adopted by major music / sound manufacturers.
1983
Yamaha markets the first DX-7 polyphonic synthesizer with 64 progamable FM timbres: a
dedicated music computer.
McGill U ensemble, GEMS, founded.
1984
Barry Vercoe improves on his compositional software MUSI 11 by using the more portable C
programming language, and creates CSound.
Apple Macintosh
1986
Creation of the CEC.
1980s Multi-channel digital recording; CDs; Home digital recording (PCM); DAT; Computer based
sound (Apple)
1990s Computer-based digital recording; Minidisc
IV. The Present (and future....!)
and ..... personal computers and studios, thousands of dedicated computers in the forms of synthesizers ,
digital signal processing modules and sequencers, MIDI, DAT, samplers, live and interactive computer
music systems, DAWs (digital audio workstations), ADATS, surround-sound, virtual audio (?!?)
...etc....etc......etc. IN PROGRESS
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INDEX (INCOMPLETE)
abstracted hearing, 10
accent, 8, 9
acceptable order, 6
acceptable semantic, 7
Acousmatic, 4, 23, 32
acoustic environment, 3
acoustic flow, 19, 20
acoustical mixing, 30
acoustics, 2, 19, 31, 48, 138, 139,
141, 142, 143
ADC, 27
aesthetic, 4, 135, 158
AI, 11
algorithmic, 32
alphabets, 9, 14
Alveolar, 13
ambient, 29, 69
amplitude, 8, 19, 23, 34, 35, 37,
38, 40, 41, 48, 50, 53, 56, 57,
58, 67, 89, 90, 91, 98, 100,
127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134,
149, 152, 153, 154
analog, 27, 56, 57, 59, 95, 96,
132, 136, 156, 157
analog to digital converter, 27
analysis, 2, 6, 16, 19, 20, 22, 34,
37, 45, 48, 97, 129, 150
animation, 3
aperiodic, 19, 34
applause, 17
Applications, 5
Aristotelian logic, 22, 24
Artistic practice, 5
ASA, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 137
associative, 20, 35
attack, 11, 35, 46, 50, 95, 98,
126, 132
attack transients, 11
Auditory Scene, 16, 19, 20, 23,
137
Auditory Scene Analysis, 16, 20,
137
automated, 10
Calon, 32
capsules, 28
case, 6, 7, 22, 23, 25, 28, 37, 50,
95
categories, 9, 15, 16, 32, 42, 43,
44, 47, 104, 129
categorization, 15, 16, 23
central, 3, 13, 37, 48, 53, 89, 140,
145
channelization, 20
channels, 17, 71, 150
characterizing, 22
clarifying, 22
classification of a sound, 23
cocktail party effect, 17
collective, 16, 22
coloration, 29, 30, 91
commonalities, 23
communications, 2, 3, 142, 159
communications studies, 2
complex, 9, 10, 19, 20, 22, 34,
35, 42, 46, 47, 48, 50, 58, 88,
89, 95, 98, 100, 147, 153, 154,
156, 157
complexes, 17, 34, 35, 126, 136
components, 6, 18, 25, 28, 38, 39,
40, 87, 132, 136
composite event, 17, 34
composition, 6, 7, 16, 22, 23, 32,
34, 35, 37, 48, 97, 98, 100,
136, 140, 142, 143, 147, 150,
151, 154, 156
compression, 37, 38, 56, 98,
127, 129, 131, 133
computer-based, 10, 32
concepts, 6, 37, 137, 139
concerts, 3, 37, 65, 69, 148
condenser, 27
consonant, 9
consonants, 6, 10
Context, 16
continuous, 10, 11, 19, 20, 34, 56,
94, 99, 130, 153
continuum, 3, 9, 17, 19, 22, 23,
34, 97, 102, 126, 153
controls, 25
converted, 25, 26, 37, 57, 63, 88
converters, 27
criteria for unity, 23
Cyrillic, 14
B
back, 13, 25, 26, 37, 53, 89, 90,
92, 94, 135, 136, 139, 140,
146
bass response, 29
beats, 11
bi-directional, 28
Bilabial, 13
black box, 25
EAMT
deafness, 37, 65
decay, 35, 91, 98, 101, 132
decibel, 37, 67
Degazio, 32
delay, 23, 127
delimiting, 22
Dental, 13
describing sound, 16, 22
Dhomont, 32
dialect, 9, 10
digital, 3, 27, 57, 58, 59, 129,
150, 157, 159
digital to analog converter, 27
diphthong, 9, 10, 50
Diphthongs, 12
directional, 27, 28, 127
discrete sources, 17
dualistic, 22
dynamic, 22, 27, 96, 103, 126,
127, 133, 134, 152, 153
E
echo, 29, 38, 89, 92, 102, 104,
129, 149
electret condenser, 27
Electro Acoustic, 2
electro-acoustic, 2
electroacoustic studies, 3
electronic music, 2, 136, 147, 149,
150, 151, 155, 157, 158
electronic sound art, 3
emotional, 20, 32, 35
envelope, 10, 19, 35, 49, 129,
132, 133, 134, 152, 156
envelopes, 20, 35, 131
experimental, 3, 143, 146, 152
exploration of the object, 23
F
families of sounds, 22, 23
family, 23, 35, 42, 43, 94, 95, 96,
100, 101, 103, 105, 126, 128,
143
feedback, 27, 29, 30
feeling, 32, 33
figure-of-eight, 28
film, 3, 20, 142, 144, 145, 146,
156
filter, 10
filtered, 23, 42, 47, 151, 153, 154,
156
formant glissando, 10
framework, 3, 6, 16, 22, 37, 128
free-field condition, 38
DAC, 27
160
Readings
linguists, 7, 9
liquids, 13
live performers, 3, 4, 23
live processing, 3
loudness, 8, 19, 65, 66, 67, 68,
156
loudspeaker, 17, 27, 28, 29, 37,
38, 45, 56, 71, 73, 94
loudspeakers, 2, 4, 25, 28, 29, 30,
93
lungs, 9, 137
G
gaming, 3
gender issues, 2
gestural, 7, 96, 101, 128
glides, 13
glottal, 10, 13
grouping, 11, 23, 34, 47, 94, 95,
128
H
Harmonic Series, 37, 39, 51, 52
Harrison, 32
headphones, 28, 29, 30, 64, 65, 66
hearing loss, 29, 37, 64, 65, 67,
68, 69
Hertz, 37, 66
hierarchies, 23, 128
history, 2, 3, 4, 135, 136, 137
homonyms, 9
Hz, 37, 39, 40, 46, 48, 49, 51, 55,
56, 66, 67, 68, 69, 87, 92, 140
I
Idea, 25
identity, 10, 23, 35, 48, 98, 99,
100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 127
indistinguishable sources, 17
input, 25, 71, 129, 130
International Phonetic Alphabet, 9
internet, 3, 142
intonation, 8, 40, 138, 139
Intuition, 32
intuitive, 19, 34
IPA, 9, 12, 48, 49
irrational, 32
J
journalism, 2
Jung, 32, 33
L
Labial, 13
Labiodental, 13
language, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15,
17, 22, 23, 104, 153, 156
Lateral, 13
layers, 20, 95, 126, 135
learned, 19
letters, 9
linguistics, 2, 22
EAMT
M
macro, 6, 8, 97, 98, 101, 127
mass structure, 16, 17, 98, 153
meaning, 6, 7, 8, 15, 32, 97, 100,
137
measurable, 19, 34
mental image, 16
metric rhythm, 23
micro, 6, 8, 10, 97, 98, 101, 130,
131, 136, 140
microphones, 2, 25, 27, 28, 93,
148
MIDI, 3, 55, 135, 159
models of production, 23
modifying, 22, 144
modulation, 23, 40, 98, 127, 129,
136, 149, 152, 153, 156
mouth, 9, 13, 34, 42, 45, 48, 49,
50, 104, 153
multi-layered, 20
musical, 3, 7, 11, 17, 35, 48, 49,
126, 135, 138, 139, 147, 148,
149, 151, 153, 154, 156
musique concrete, 2
N
narrative, 20
nasal, 9, 12, 13
negative space, 23
network, 23
noise, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 29,
34, 39, 42, 45, 46, 47, 64, 65,
69, 96, 98, 100, 102, 130, 133,
134, 136, 143, 146, 151, 152,
153, 154, 156
Normandeau, 32
notes, 6, 11, 20, 46, 48, 49, 51,
138, 147, 159
not-noise, 16
O
objets sonores, 35
omnidirectional, 27
openness, 13
opposite, 8, 22, 24
opposition, 16, 23, 128
oppositions, 22, 23
oral, 9
order of words, 7
output, 25, 29
161
P
Palatal, 13
parameter, 34, 41, 101, 102, 103,
126, 154
parameters, 19, 22, 23, 34, 35, 37,
93, 99, 100, 103, 128, 130,
147, 150, 151, 154
Paris, 3, 8, 146, 149, 150, 157
partials, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45,
46, 48, 141
pattern matching, 10
perceived, 17, 20, 34, 35, 37, 64,
66, 67, 68, 95, 98, 126, 127,
131
perception, 2, 16, 24, 32, 34, 45,
64, 66, 99, 101, 140
perceptual, 16, 66, 96, 101, 102,
126
periodic, 19, 34
personality, 32
Pharyngeal, 13
phoneme, 6
phonemes, 9, 104
phonetic, 9, 150, 151
Phonetic Reference Guide, 12
phrasing, 11
pictograms, 14
pitch, 3, 23, 34, 46, 47, 66, 95,
127, 129, 140, 147, 151, 153,
154
pitched, 19, 22, 42, 47, 95
places of articulation, 13
plosives, 13
poetry, 7, 143
point of articulation, 11
possessive, 6
predictive, 19
pre-echo, 100, 102
processes, 7, 16, 23, 32, 47, 67,
97, 100, 102, 127, 128, 149,
151, 153
processing, 3, 4, 23, 49, 96, 127,
128, 129, 133, 145, 156, 158,
159
processor, 25, 140
profile, 23
programatic, 20
programmatic, 35
psychoacoustic, 19, 20, 66, 90, 93
psychoacoustics, 2, 18, 19, 66,
142
psycholinguistics, 7
psychological, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23,
36, 65, 98, 139
psychology, 2
psychometric, 18, 19
public address, 27, 28
punctuations, 20
Q
quantifiable, 19
Readings
R
radio, 3, 4, 29, 65, 142, 143, 144,
146, 147, 155
rarefaction, 37, 38, 56, 131
rate of delivery, 8
rational, 32
ratios, 39, 40, 51, 93
recording, 3, 17, 27, 28, 65, 88,
96, 133, 142, 145, 156, 159
re-enveloped, 23, 134
reflections, 30, 88, 89, 90, 91
reiterative, 19, 34
relationships, 16, 19, 96, 99, 126,
138, 156
repeatable, 19
repetition, 23, 68, 102, 104, 131,
153
Research, 5, 142, 150, 151
reverbed, 23
reverberation, 11, 38, 48, 88, 89,
90, 91, 93, 126, 127, 129, 143,
149, 152
rhythmic, 3, 19, 98, 126, 153, 154
ribbon, 27
S
sampling, 27, 58, 59, 94
Science, 5, 53
segment, 10
Segmentation, 10, 11
segregation, 17, 20, 101, 137
selective hearing, 17
Semantic, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 66
semantic dimension, 8, 10
semantics, 6, 8, 22
semi-consonants, 9
semi-vowels, 9
S e n s a t i o n , 32
sentence, 6, 7, 8
sequence, 6, 7, 15, 19, 102, 140,
145
signal, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 57, 59,
67, 68, 73, 89, 90, 91, 92, 129,
130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 159
signal path, 25, 130
simple, 10, 16, 19, 22, 23, 25, 34,
35, 44, 48, 88, 89, 95, 126
singularity, 16
slowed down, 23
sonic, 2, 3, 4, 9, 23, 31, 37, 66,
95, 97, 98, 136, 148, 152
sonic arts, 2, 3, 4
sound documentation, 3
sound objects, 35, 147
sound pressure levels, 29, 30, 64,
65, 68
T
tape music, 2, 149
teeth, 13, 42
telephone, 10, 27, 28, 65
television, 3
terminology, 6, 16, 22, 37
text, 3, 10, 50, 97, 135, 143
texture, 20, 98, 99, 101, 126, 155
theater, 3, 144
Thesaurus, 20
Thought, 32
three-way system, 28
timber, 19
timbre, 34, 35, 38, 39, 94, 141,
142, 143, 144, 154, 155
time, 2, 4, 8, 16, 17, 19, 23, 34,
35, 47, 50, 64, 65, 68, 69, 91,
94, 97, 98, 100, 103, 126, 127,
U
unidirectional, 28, 127
unmediated responses, 20
unvoiced, 9, 10, 12, 13, 42, 45,
50, 95, 130
un-voiced sounds, 10
Uvular, 13
V
Velar, 13
velocity, 37, 87
verbal, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 23, 104
video, 3, 17, 20, 142
vocabulary, 6, 7, 15
vocal cords, 9, 10, 42, 45, 49, 104
vocal folds, 9
voice, 6, 9, 10, 27, 34, 35, 38, 42,
45, 49, 94, 95, 130, 137, 139,
149, 153, 154, 155
voice recognition, 10
Voiced sounds, 10
volume, 37. See amplitude
vowel, 9, 10, 46, 48, 49, 50, 150
vowels, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 48, 49,
50, 53, 54, 55
W
wall, 17, 29, 89, 90
wall-of-sound, 17
Wishart, 32
word, 6, 7, 8, 10, 22, 24, 50, 126,
153, 158
X
Xenakis, 32, 151, 152, 153, 155
2005 IX 04
ka
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