Unit 25:Sound recording

LAB
PRINCIPLES OF SOUND
Doppler Effect
The doppler effect is the change in frequency or wavelength of a wave in
relation to observer who is moving relative to the wave source. A
common example of doppler shift is the change of pitch heard when a
vehicle sounding a horn approaches and recedes from an observer. The
time between the arrival of successive wave crests at the observer is
reduced causing an increase in the frequency. While they are travelling
the distance between successive wave fronts reduced, so the waves
‘’bunch together’’. conversely , if the same source is moving away from
the observer, each wave is emitted from a position farther from the
observer than the previous wave so the arrival time between the waves
is increased reducing the frequency. The distance between wave fronts
is then increased so the waves spread out.
Transmission of sound through various mediums
Sound waves need to travel through a medium such as solids, liquids and gases. The sound waves move through each of
these mediums by vibrating the molecules in the matter. The molecules in solids are packed very tightly. Liquids are not
packed as tightly, gases are packed very loosely this enables sound to move much faster through a solid than a gas. Sound
travels about four times faster and further in water than air. This is why whales are able to communicate over huge
distances in the ocean. Sound waves travel thirteen times faster in the wood than air. Sound waves move faster on hotter
days as the molecules bump into each other more often than in cold days.

In the case of glass the solid material is glass, because glass is a amorphous solid, vibrations are able to be absorbed and
internally reflected by glass. In the case of windows, where double panel windows are used a small amount of sound
actually gets through.
Reflection / Echo
Sound reflection is how sound travels and bounces off objects to reach you. Depending on the object the sound is travelling from
will produce a different effect. For instance if a sound hits a hard solid surface it is reflected back and causes an echo of the original
sound but travelling back towards the source whereas if fabric or an upholstered chair or sofa it is absorbed and does not muddy
the clarity of the original sound. Recording studio walls are acoustically insulated so that sound is not reflected but absorbed.

When a sound wave hits a surface part of the energy gets scattered while some is absorbed this is known as absorption, this is
where the wave the energy of the sound gets transformed into another form, high frequency sound waves are absorbed more
easily than low frequency sounds.

Refraction of waves involves the change in the direction of waves as they pass through one medium to another. Refraction is
accompanied by the change in speed and wavelength of the waves, so if it's properties are changed the speed of the wave is also
changed meaning waves that pass through one medium to another are refracted. Sound waves are known to refract when traveling
over water this is because the sound is traveling through a medium with varying properties.
Exterior and interior
In this audio you can hear an interview between two people outside you can identify male and female due to the frequency of the voice,
the male is a lower frequency and the female is a higher frequency. In the recording you can hear wind in the background and would
have ruined the entire recording if we didn't decide to use a jumper in order to get rid of the strong sound of wind. In the other audio
that I have used you can hear a male being interviewed in a studio, the audio is recorded inside sometimes when recording inside you
can experience echo in your recordings as the sound bounces off of objects. In this recording your cannot hear much echo but there is
a slight hissing but gives a overall clear sound. A hiss is a kind of white noise, a background noise that is always present in recordings
but cannot always be heard this hiss is usually described as a shh or s sound and has components around the whole frequency
spectrum even though it is more prominent in high frequencies.
Sound Frequency
Frequency means the number of cycles per unit of time. Nowadays, frequency is generally measured in CPS as well as
the interchangeable Hertz. When measuring Hz, 1 Hz is known as one cycle per second and 10 Hz is known as ten
cycles per second, also 1000 Hz is usually known as 1 kilohertz. Around 20 Hz to 20 kHz is the general range of
hearing in the young and when humans get older the number usually decreases.The lower the frequency the longer
the wavelength but higher the frequency the shorter the wavelength.

The speed of the vibration is called Frequency, which also decides the pitch of the sound. The size of the vibration
is called Amplitude which determines how loud sound is, the larger the vibrations the louder the sound will be, the
smaller the vibrations the quieter the sound will be.
Refraction
Refraction of waves involves a change in the direction of waves as they pass from one medium to another. Refraction, or
bending of the path of the waves, is accompanied by a change in speed and wavelength of the waves. Refraction of sound
waves is most evident in situations in which the sound wave passes through a medium with gradually varying properties.
For example, sound waves are known to refract when traveling over water. Even though the sound wave is not exactly
changing media, it is traveling through a medium with varying properties; thus, the wave will encounter refraction and
change it's direction.
Diffraction
Diffraction involves a change in the direction of waves as they pass through an opening or around a barrier in their path.
Diffraction increases with increasing wavelength and decreases with decreasing wavelength. In fact, when the wavelength
of the wave is smaller than the obstacle or opening, no noticeable diffraction occurs. We mostly notice sound diffraction
around corners or through door openings, allowing us to hear others who are speaking to us from adjacent rooms. Owls are
an example of an animal that actually takes advantage of the diffractive ability of long wavelength sound waves.

Owls are able to communicate across long distances due to the fact that their long wavelength hoots are able to diffract
around the forest trees and carry farther than the short wavelength tweets of songbirds. Low pitched sounds carry further
than higher pitched sounds.
Classroom
At first I began recording in the classroom with the windows
open this allowed sound to escape the room which made the
room have less echo than if the windows where close, so I
closed them and recorded again, In the recording you can hear
that the sound of the two peoples voices being reflected as
they reflect in the process of transitioning through solid
surfaces if the classroom had more soft furniture the sound
would reflect as much.

I tried to record in this setting before but only recorded for a

short amount of time this wasn't enough to show what this
setting was like when recording sound so I re recorded making
sure that the recording was long enough to show what the
setting is like when recording.
CROWD NOISE
When recording outside the sound I had to make sure
that the audio was clear and wasn't ruined by the
sound of the wind. To do this I put the mic under a
jacket which helped to get rid of the sound of the wind.

When recording outside at first I recorded for a short

time but realised it wasn't a good representation of
sound as you could only hear the wind and mic
movement therefore I decided to re record the audio
making sure to record for an effective amount of time
which gives a good example of recording in exterior
locations.
STAIRWAY
In this recording a lot of sound has been reflected and
this is because the sound is being reflected off the
walls and floor as they are solid flat surfaces if there
was carpet or softer walls the echo in this recording
would be much less. To make sure that the sound
recording was effect I made sure to record for a good
amount of time. In the stairway the frequency of the
audio is changed slightly as there is more vibration in
the sound.

Something to make sure I do in the future is to make

sure not to move the mic when recording. In the
stairway the sound would also diffract around corners
which is why you can hear the second person talking
as well as myself.
Bathroom
In this recording I started off recording in the school
bathroom but I didn't think the sound accurately
represented what a bathroom is supposed to sound
like so I went into the cupicale and in doing so the
echo increased and sound also diffracted as it passes
through as the sound bounced off solid flat surfaces
being the walls as they try to transition through the
walls. This gave a good representation of how it would
sound in a bathroom. In future If I was to record this
again I would record the sound at home as my
bathroom would have a wider space giving a better
example.
Just like the other recordings I made sure to keep an
actual conversation for a more effective example.