Audio Engineering Fundamentals

Name: Audio Engineering Fundamentals
Rating: 4.7 (551 reviews)

Theoretical Concepts of Sound Production

Created byDavid Lauritsen

Last updated 1/2025

English

English [Auto],Korean [Auto],

What you'll learn

You will obtain a thorough understanding of audio theory fundamentals
You will be able to use the course content as a springboard with which to improve their creative craft
You will be able to apply new knowledge and skill to their chosen digital audio workstation
You will be able to more effectively and confidently conduct audio recordings
You will be able to apply audio theory in order to troubleshoot audio systems

Course content

7 sections • 81 lectures • 12h 6m total length

Sound Waves5:36
Explore how sound waves propagate in three dimensions, bounce off surfaces, and create spatial experiences in rooms; learn why a single microphone collapses 3D sound into a 1D representation.
Sound Waves Continued2:17
Sound Waves and Air Molecules5:38
Multiple Sounds Playing at Once10:33
Explore how multiple sounds sum into one waveform by adding amplitudes over time, as in Pro Tools. See how polarity inversion can cancel signals, producing silence.
The Polarity Inversion10:17
Sine Waves Out of Phase4:39
Amplitude22:13
Amplitude Continued6:56
Learn how decibels are logarithmic, why doubling a signal adds about six dB, and how amplitude differs from perceived loudness with practical room and track examples.
Frequency4:56
Sine Wave Frequency Demonstration5:57
Wavelength5:59
Harmonic Sounds8:32
String Harmonics19:03
Octaves and Harmonic Intervals7:43
Explore octaves and musical intervals by linking octave doubling of frequency to shared harmonics, and examine how perfect fifths (power chords) and dissonant intervals like a minus sixth affect sound.
EQ Curves14:11
Experiment with equalizers to sculpt harmonic content using bell curves, parametric curves, shelves, and high/low pass filters; learn how boosting or cutting harmonics shapes the attack and body of notes.
Noise Signals3:08
Compare white noise and pink noise, two static-sounding signals produced by all frequencies at once, and understand why pink noise has more industry applications in audio engineering.
Equal Loudness Curves13:30
Explore how equal loudness curves show that 90 dB at 1000 Hz equals 85 dB at 300 Hz and 95 dB at 100 Hz, illustrating frequency dependent loudness.
Comb Filtering12:12
Polarity Inversion Revisited1:58
Polarity Inversion Pink Noise Demo5:30
A Polarity Inversion Has No Audible Effect in Isolation4:08
Inversion vs 180 shift vs Comb Filter13:17
Explore phase relationships, including polarity inversion, 180-degree shift, and comb filtering, showing how duplication and micro time shifts affect complex sounds and cancellation.

Digital Audio Overview14:26
Samples Points in Software5:08
The Nyquist Theorem (Sampling Theorem)8:26
Nyquist Quiz
Importing the Wrong Sample Rate9:37
Understand how sample rate and bit depth affect audio in Pro Tools. Converting a mismatched file (44.1 kHz 16-bit) to the session rate (48 kHz, 24-bit) preserves speed and pitch.
Converting Sample Rates3:52
Oversampling in Plugins8:42
Bit Depths7:49
Bit Crushers4:47
Discover how bit crushers lower bit depth to reduce dynamic range and produce lo-fi distortion. Learn how sample rate and anti-aliasing control high-frequency content and digital artifacts.
Bit Crusher Revisited6:03
Bit Depths and Quantization Distortion9:04
Floating Point Bit Depth6:32
Floating Point Bit Depth Part 25:04
Recorders with Floating Point3:51

Microphone Level Signals5:53
Microphone Preamps3:28
Learn how microphone preamps boost mic level signals to line level in analog audio paths. See how a channel strip combines mic preamp, eq, and compression in one unit.
Mic Level and Line Level7:40
Pro Line Level and Consumer Line Level7:28
Speaker Level6:35
Instrument Level2:49
Identify instrument level as the input for outputs from electric guitars, basses, synths, and keyboards. Use the instrument switch to select instrument level, which has higher impedance than line level.
Bridging Impedance7:03
The "SM57_310ohm_into_200_1500_3000.wav" file in the downloadable materials section is a short demonstration of the sonic effects of Bridging Impedance. A 310 ohm microphone (the SM57) is fed into 200 ohm, then 1500, then 3000 (each one is separated by a beep)
DI Boxes15:33
Unbalanced Connectors5:48
Balanced Cables13:23
Balanced cables carry a signal on hot and a polarity-inverted duplicate on cold, with shield. At interface, the cold inverts again, canceling noise and doubling the signal to six decibels.
Headphone Connectors7:54

Dynamic Microphones10:46
Explore how dynamic microphones, a passive type that requires no phantom power, capture sound by moving a coil through a magnetic field for close-range, rugged handheld use.
Condenser Microphones10:39
Phantom Power8:15
Ribbon Microphones11:45
Comparing Our Three Mic Types Part 19:07
Comparing Our Three Mic Types Part 24:27
Polar Patterns12:15
In the downloadable materials are a string quartet recording of Por Una Cabeza. Representations of different polar patterns have been created so that you can hear and compare the differences.
Plosives6:07
The Proximity Effect6:01
Understand how the proximity effect boosts bass in directional microphones like cardioid, hyper cardioid, and figure of eight at close range, while omni directional microphones remain unaffected.

Gate/Expanders20:22
Compression Explained12:49
Kick and Snare Compression9:00
Voice Compression9:07
Parallel Compression4:45
Explore parallel compression for drums by blending a compressed and an uncompressed drum track to thicken the overall sound while preserving natural dynamics.
Bass Compression11:09
Side Chain Compressor2:37
Explore side chain compression, where a compressor applies gain reduction to one signal while triggered by a different secondary signal, with a dialogue example and the concept of triggering signals.
De Esser (Side Chain Example)11:14
Side Chain Kick and Synth4:31
Apply sidechain compression by routing the synth to a kick-triggered compressor, causing the synth to duck in time with the kick and shaping rhythm with attack and release.
Reverb Demonstration16:55
Explore how reverb simulates room acoustics, control decay time, pre delay, and wet/dry mix, and hear plate, spring, and various plugin reverbs in Pro Tools examples.
Reverb Drum Timing3:55
Reverb Auxiliary Inputs5:22
High Pass Filter on Reverb Auxiliary4:17
Pre and Post-Fader Sends11:12
Convolution Reverbs6:20
Delay16:34
Chorus8:38
Explore the chorus effect, duplicating a sound with small timing and pitch variations controlled by rate and depth to create rich textures on guitar or backing vocals.
Flanger10:57
Distortion11:14
Explore how distortion adds harmonics and bite, placing it in line to help drums and bass punch through a mix, using air distortion, fab filter, saturation, tape models, without overuse.
Tape Saturation7:55

The Illusion of Stereo8:22
Explore how two-channel stereo creates the phantom center using amplitude-based panning across left and right speakers or headphones, revealing the illusion of sound position.
Localization of Sounds7:42
Explore how two ears and our brain localize sound using volume and timing differences, and why low frequencies rely on timing differences, not just amplitude-based panning in Pro-Tools.
Diffraction15:28
Explore how diffraction makes sound bend around objects, creating acoustic shadows and explaining how high frequencies vs low frequencies behave, plus practical examples like the pencil trick and subwoofers.
Speaker vs Headphone Mixing6:01
Single vs Stereo Microphone Recording9:44

Requirements

There is no prior knowledge expected of learners undertaking this course. It would be beneficial for students to have access to a digital audio workstation of some kind in order to follow along with some of the materials, but this is not essential.

Description

This course will be a deep dive into important audio engineering and sound production fundamental topics. Knowledge of these topics will improve your skills and confidence in any facet of audio production. The concepts are mostly taught in the music production framework, but the course is intended to be applicable to those interested in film audio, game sound design and podcast recording and editing. The concepts taught are transferable between all of those subcategories of audio engineering.

Whether you're just starting out or you've been producing great sounds for a while now I guarantee there will be fundamentals missing from your knowledge base. The overarching topics in this course are Sound Waves, Digital Audio, Analogue Audio Signals, Microphones, Signal Processing and Human Localization of Sounds.

Course concepts are demonstrated using Pro Tools, however it is not critical that you following along with or use Pro Tools. The concepts are generic and can be emulated and solidified using any digital audio software! It is encouraged that you follow along with the demonstrations in your own software so that the concepts taught can stick in your mind.

Summaries of some of the lessons are downloadable and it is highly encouraged that you download and review these summaries at a later date so that the core concepts can stay with you throughout your audio journey!

Who this course is for:

This course is for musicians, audio engineers or sound designers who are either beginners or intermediates, who are looking for a course that will give a firm foundation of audio engineering knowledge with which to build their skills upon

Audio Engineering Fundamentals

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Sound Waves22 lectures • 3hr 8min

Digital Audio13 lectures • 1hr 33min

Audio Signals11 lectures • 1hr 24min

Microphones9 lectures • 1hr 19min

Signal Processing20 lectures • 3hr 9min

Localization5 lectures • 47min

Finale and Recap!1 lecture • 46min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: