Acoustics: The Art of Sound

by Steve Marshall

Overview

What is the difference between an echo and a reverberation? Where do you best place microphones for that perfect recording? How do you calculate the best note to whistle in a toilet? In this fascinating little book, musician Steve Marshall explores the field of acoustics. From decibels to dolphins, stereo to surround, this book will appeal to singers, musicians, architects, biologists, and anyone who ever wanted to know more about the wonderful world of sound. WOODEN BOOKS US EDITIONS. Small books, BIG ideas. Tiny but packed with information. “Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781952178337
Publisher:	Wooden Books
Publication date:	03/15/2023
Series:	Wooden Books North America Editions
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.33(d)

About the Author

Steve Marshall has built a dozen recording studios and composed and recorded music for several hundred TV programmes, working for a time in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. He lives on the Glastonbury Festival site in Somerset.

Read an Excerpt

Sound is vibration, but not all vibrations are sound; we normally use the word to describe only those vibrations that can be detected by the ear, with its inherently limited range.
We ‘hear’ when vibrations from a sound source (such as a twanged guitar string) are transmitted to air molecules. Air is naturally elastic and its molecules vibrate in sympathy with the physical motion of the original sound source. The vibrating air molecules bounce off their neighbours and pass the movement along, through the air, until it reaches an eardrum, where it is converted into electrical nerve impulses that are sent to our brain and interpreted as sound (see below).
Sound waves are invisible to us, but are similar to ripples moving across a pond or the wind blowing waves across a field of barley. Although the individual components (water molecules or stalks) are fixed and only oscillate in place, we perceive an apparent movement across the entire field. Unlike these two-dimensional analogies, sound in three-dimensional and radiates in every direction.
Sound contributes to the sense of wonder and majesty we experience in sacred buildings. Many cathedrals, temples and sacred spaces around the world have extraordinary acoustics (see examples opposite).