What is sound and audio? How can we measure it? Why do we perceive it the way we do? Learn the nature and science of musical sound, audio and perception in this pro-level audio course by sound engineer, Joe Albano.
This first course in our Audio Concepts series, is all about the basics of sound and audio. It touches on all the concepts and terminology that audio pros need to know as they dive into into typical, everyday studio activities. This includes the physical properties of sound waves: Amplitude, Frequency and Wave shape which are the elements of sound that are creatively manipulated in recording and mixing.
It also covers sound measurements and demystifies the terminology and acronyms you see in plug-in graphs and mixers, like Hz, kHz, dB and dBfs, that help us find just the right settings for particular tasks. There’s even a section on how our human hearing works. This is the basis for understanding the psycho acoustic perceptions that underpin many classic studio techniques and effects. Then there’s a very brief but serious look at hearing protection which is a very important but often overlooked topic.

Content:
01 Introduction to the Audio Concepts Series (07:39)
02 Sound & Vibration (03:16)
03 Sound Transmission in the Air (04:53)
04 Amplitude & Frequency (05:40)
05 Gain & Level (05:18)
06 Decibels: dBspl, dBu (05:42)
07 Decibels: dBfs (03:30)
08 Hertz (Hz) & kiloHertz (kHz) (06:41)
09 Harmonics (05:28)
10 Overtones (04:44)
11 Spectral Content: ADSR (07:37)
12 Spectral Content: Distortion (07:25)
13 The Ear (06:15)
14 Fletcher-Munson Curves (04:18)
15 Hearing Limitations & Protection (05:05)