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Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum Scale -- Sethares
( = concept)

Chapter 2 :: The Science of Sound

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What is Sound? p.11
- Physics - vibrations transmitted through an elastic material or a solid, liquid or gas, with
frequencies in the approximate range of 20 - 20,000 Hertz. (ie. factual physical occurance)
- Psychological - The sensation/stimulation in/of the organs of hearing by vibrations in the air or
other medium. (ie. organ of perception must be present)
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Physical Attributes of Sound (ie measurable properties of sound) -p.12
- Frequency - The number of complete oscillations of a waveform that occur in one second.
(named for German Physicist Heinrich Rudolph Hertz)
- Amplitude - The difference between the highest and lowest pressures measured.
- Phase - Where the measurement is taking place within one period of a waveform, generally used
for denote the beginning of a waveform.
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Perceptual Attributes (ie mental understanding of aspects of sound) p.12
- Pitch - The ear perceives the frequency of a sine wave as a pitch
- Loudness - The ear/brain perceives higher amplitude as louder and lower amplitude as softer.
(Commonly measured in dB = decibels - a logarithmic unit that expresses magnitude of a physical
quantity(power or intensity) relative to a specified or implied reference level.
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What is Spectrum? p.13
- combinations of sine waves can be used to describe, analyze, and synthesize almost any
possible sound.
- The spectrum of a waveform correlates well with the perceptual notion of timbre.
- Fourier Transform is a mathematical tool this is closely related to our perceptual mechanism,
because it breaks complex waveforms into their constituent components and represents them in a
manner that is analogous to how humans perceive sound. (two waveforms can look drastically
different, but have the same spectrum and this is what we hear). p16
- Partials - (or overtones) The constituent sine tones that a complex sound can be decomposed
into. A collection of partials is called the spectrum. Fundamental = 1*freq, 2nd OT = 2*freq, 3rd OT
= 3*freq etc.
- These can be observed as the the nodes of a vibrating string. If one presses the string at 2f
(12th fret) this dampens the vibration of 1f (this is the antinode of 1f, ie the point of the most
vibration, while it is a node, point of least vibration for 2f) and the next most prominent OT is heard,
2f. Continuing, if one presses at 3f, this dampens 1f and 2f and 3f (octave and 5th above open
string) is heard. p.21
Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) - In mathematics, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is one of the
specific forms of Fourier analysis. It transforms one function into another, which is called the frequency
domain representation, or simply the DFT, of the original function (which is often a function in the time
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domain). But the DFT requires an input function that is discrete and whose non-zero values have a limited
(finite) duration. --- A DFT decomposes a sequence of values into components of different frequencies.
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) - A specific kind of DFT wherein an algorhythem is used to compute the
same result more quickly.
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Analytic v Holistic Listening : Tonal Fusion p.25

- Analytic - The learned ability to hear individual components of a sound/spectrum. More akin to the
trained musical hearing
- instrumental templates occur from repeated listenings to instruments
- Holistic - Hearing where the fundamentals fuse together to form one perceptual entity. More akin
to the grand sound mass perceived by the untrained ear
- partials are more likely to be grouped if
1. begin at the same time (attack synchrony)
2. have similar envelopes
3. are harmonically related
4. have the same vibrato

- Fusion/Fission - Break apart / group together

"By carefully emphasizing parameters of the sound, the composer or musician can help to
encourage the listener into one or the other perceptual mode." p.27
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What is Timbre? p.27 (reduciton of material from the books answer)

-nearly complete description. "Sound quality is determined by the overtones, the distinctive timbre
of any instrument being the result of the number and relative prominence of the overtones it
produces." p.28 --- Accounting for the attack noise and envelope of the sound,in addition, would be
a more complete description.
- Timbral Perception
1. Multidimensional scaling - Look at different perceptual continuums of sound (dull<-->sharp,
rough<-->smooth) and chart these in a manner that accounts for the various dimensions of the sound.
(Cogan did this with categories based on linguistic research). Also David Wessel experiment that results
in "Brightness" and ???
- Some salient PHYSICAL features 1) Degree of synchrony in the attack and decay of partials
2) Amount of spectral fluctuations
3) Presence or absence of high freq, inharmonic energy in the attack
4) Bandwidth of signal (Frequency space)
5) Balance of energy in low versus high partials
6) Existence of formants
- The physical accounting for the perceptual/subjective (Grey and Gordon) p.30
1) Spectral Energy Distribution = How is the enegry distributed? Where is the spectral
centroid (the point on which the 2 1/2's of the mass can be balanced)
2) Spectral Fluctuations = static v dynamic timbre
3) The existence of high frequencies inharmonicity during attack = soft v hard or calm v
explosive
2. Analogies with Vowels
- requires basic assumption that "many musical sounds can be described as variable sources of
excitation passed through a series of fixed filters" p.30 Changes in the filters leads to changes in the
perception of the sound.
3. Synthesizer - basic model for control of parameters of sound that are perceptually relevant.
Importance of the ADSR envelope arrises.
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- ADSR (attack, sustain, decay release) - attack dictates some perceptual aspects, the steady
state typically lasts longer and has larger perceptual impact. (Sus portion could be.... compact<>scattered || bright <-> dull || colorful<->colorless || static<->pure<->rich)
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Frequency and Pitch p.32

- Perceived pitch for sine tones is proportional to the logarithm and is best represented by the mel scale. (
a perceptual scale of pitches judged by listeners to be equal in distance from one another -- reference point for
this scale is 100Hz @ 40 dB above the listener's threshold of hearing)

- Musically useful intervals are defined by ratio's, not differences in frequency.

- Virtual Pitch is when the pitch of the sound heard is not the same as any of the partials. ie. present the
overtones of a pitch and it will be heard, without being present.-- the missing fundamental -- can be
thought of as a "harmonic template" (Terhardt is the researcher associated with this)
- The perception of pitch requires that the components of the complex tone are partitioned into entities
(only when a cluster of partials fuse into a single group can they be assigned a note).
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Summary p. 37
- Pitch, loudness, timbre and dissonance are all perceptually based constructs. (they require a
human mind!)
- Amplitude, frequency, and spectral content are measurable physical constructs of sounds.
- Frequency primarily leeds to pitch perception
- Amplitude primarily leeds to loudness.

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