Chapter 2: Sound Properties and the Waveform View
Examples
Frequency and Pitch
- Period and frequency [YouTube video]—four pitches are heard arpeggiating a major chord. Notice the inverse relation between the period and the frequency. As the frequency (pitch) goes up, the period gets shorter.
- Infrasonic to sonic [audio]—A series of clicks that speed up until they become a single glissandoing pitch. Starts at about 2 Hz (infrasonic) and ends at about 185 Hz (in our hearing range). The voice-like sound at the end is the result of the quality of the clicks—the clicks never change, they just get faster and faster.
- Endless downward glissando with spectrum video—[YouTube video] related to Shepard Tones sine waves in may octaves glissando downward. Gradually the loudest sine wave fades and the octave above it gets louder causing us to shift our focus to that sine wave. The process can continue indefinitely (this one goes on for two minutes).
Waveform and Timbre
Bach on a sine wave [audio]—the waveform will play on one pitch for a couple of seconds and then you'll hear an excerpt from Bach's Invention No. 1 using this timbre. 
Bach on a triangle wave [audio]
Bach on a square wave [audio] 
Bach on a pulse wave [audio] 
Bach on a sawtooth wave [audio] 
Bach on white noise [audio]—since noise has no real pitch, you'll hear the rhythm of the Bach, but no the pitches. 
Bach on pink noise [audio]—since noise has no real pitch, you'll hear the rhythm of the Bach, but no the pitches. - Bach on filtered noise bands [audio]—here the noise is filtered to emphasize the frequencies corresonding to the pitches in the Bach so you'll hear the melody here
- Reason file for waveform demonstrations [.zip file]—a simple Reason file using the Thor synthesizer
Amplitude and Articulation
Bowed or Blown envelope (ADSR): trumpet [audio] 
Struck or Plucked envelope (AR): drums [audio] - Struck or Plucked envelope with long attack: Bowed Cymbal (audio)
Links
Frequency and Pitch Links
- Mosquito "teen repellent" blog post and product
- Elephant infrasonic hearing from the Elephant Listening Project
- Organ pipes and infrasonic sounds—from the BBC News Online
- pitch illusion (Shepard tones)
Amplitude and Loudness Links
- "Collegiate Musicians' Noise Exposure and Attitudes on Hearing Protection"—from The Hearing Review
- "Awareness of musicians on ear protection and tinnitus: A preliminary study"—from the National Library of Medicine
- Noise and Hearing Loss in Classical Orchestra Musicians—from the National Library of Medicine
- Hearing Conservation in Music and Entertainment—from the UK Hearing Conservation Association
- Noise and hearing loss in musicians [PDF]—from Safety and Health in Arts Production and Entertainment (SHAPE), Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Listen While You Work: Hearing Conservation for the Arts [PDF]—from Safety and Health in Arts Production and Entertainment (SHAPE), Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Occupational Noise Exposure Standards—from the Occupational Health and Safety Adminstration of the U.S. Government
- Noise and Hearing Loss Prevention—from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association