Audio Theory Fundamentals for Sound Design

Explore how sound moves from acoustic air to electrical waveform to digital form. Identify the roles of physical vibration and electromagnetic signals in sound design.

Explore the frequency spectrum from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with bands like sub bass, bass, low mids, mids, treble, and air, and hear how isolating them shapes sound.

Capture how waveforms represent acoustic fronts, microphone diaphragm movement, and the audio instruction for playback, while introducing frequency in hertz and kilohertz and the role of decibels in sound design.

Explore comb filtering as phase cancellations from time shifts between sound copies, with 1 ms delay. Use pink noise and spectrograms to diagnose copies.

Explore wavelength as the physical length of one sine-wave cycle, how speed of sound and temperature affect it, and how to predict phase cancellations and comb filtering in mic setups.

Explore how equalizers shape sound by boosting or cutting specific frequencies using bell curves, shelves, and filters; compare high pass, low pass, and bandpass effects with q control.

Explore harmonics and their link to musical theory, including octave relationships (doubling frequencies), fundamental pitch, and how odd and even harmonics shape timbre and distortion.

Explore string harmonics on a guitar, isolate specific harmonics with pro-q, and sculpt the harmonic profile by boosting or carving away fundamentals and overtones to shape tone.

Explore convolution reverb, a natural, real-space effect built from impulse responses of actual rooms and plates, captured by clap or sine sweep techniques.

Explore chorus and its choir-like timing, pitch, and timbre variations to widen the stereo image and thicken mono sources; use for robotic or monstrous dialogue and shimmering textures.

Handheld recorders provide an all-in-one portable recording solution that covers the signal chain. Ideal for beginners, they offer stereo capture with two condensers, built-in mic preamp, adc, and onboard storage.

Explores polar patterns and how microphone pickup varies with direction from omnidirectional to cardioid. Demonstrates hypercardioid and figure-of-eight patterns, explains front and rear sensitivity, and references polar plots.

Explore the cardioid polar pattern as the standard front-facing microphone pickup, its three-dimensional behavior, off-axis variability, and the unpredictable reverberant responses that contrast with omnidirectional stability.

Master the figure of eight polar pattern, capturing front and back equally with strong side rejection and pronounced proximity effect for isolation and natural reverb.

Discover why microphone signals need a mic preamp to boost mic-level to line-level for usable sound, and how interfaces and field recorders integrate preamps with XLR and TRS options.

Learn how stereo adds the left-right dimension on top of mono, while height and distance cues come from amplitude and reverberation. Discover how panning uses inter-channel level differences.

Explore the Haas effect, or precedence effect, where the first-arriving sound determines perceived direction. Learn how timing differences affect localization and why Haas panning risks phase issues and comb filtering.

Examine how room acoustics affect listening and recording environments, addressing bass frequency misrepresentation, reverb, and reflections, and use headphone testing to reveal issues with room response.

Apply three sound design strategies: record the same object, source from a library, or create a sonically equivalent substitute, then evaluate feasibility and impact.