lec 7- Timbre Flashcards
what is Timbre?
The quality of sound
what are the 3 things sounds are characterized by?
pitch, loudness, and timbre
what does timbre allow?
the ability to distinguish sounds even if they have the same pitch and amplitude
what are the 3 things that determine timbre?
-spectral content of sound (harmonic frequencies)
-dynamic characteristics of sound (vibrato)
-envelope of sound (attack,delay,sustain,release)
what can be used to analyze sound?
the Fourier Theorem which turns sound into sine waves
what is spectral analysis done with?
Fourier transform
what is a spectrogram?
the visual representation of the frequency spectrum
what is fundamental frequency?
the lowest resonant frequency of a vibrating object
what is overtone?
any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency
what is harmonics?
overtone in simple ratio multiples of the fundamental frequency
what is inharmonic sound?
sound that clashes
what does a low pass filter do?
cuts high freq. out and allows low to pass through
what does a high pass filter do?
cuts low freq. and allows high to pass through
are low and high pass EQ filters?
yes
do synth sounds use a high EQ?
yes
what is resonance?
frequencies that amplify each other
it is easy for an object to vibrate at its frequency, what is it hard to get an object to do?
vibrate at other frequencies
