Welcome
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Introductions
Hopes and Fears
The Module
Assignments
What Happens Next
TA212 The Technology of Music
Hopes and Fears
• TA212 is both “Arts” and “Technology”
• What brings you out in a cold sweat?
1 T
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2L 
TA212 The Technology of Music
You should have...
• Home Experiment Kit
– recorder, microphone, headphones
– 3 cardboard tubes, 1 drinking straw!!!
• First Mailing
– Block 1, Companion to Block 1
– 1 CD ROM
– 2 Audio CDs
TA212 The Technology of Music
Module Website
week by week
activities
TA212 The Technology of Music
Module Website
news
TA212 The Technology of Music
Module Website
download your assignments
TA212 The Technology of Music
Module Website
conferences
TA212 The Technology of Music
Module Website
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Searchable electronic versions of course material (pdf)
News
Study Calendar
Conferences
• Assignments
– assignments are not provided in hard copy.
TA212 The Technology of Music
Steve’s TA212 Web Site
TA212 The Technology of Music
The Module
• Five Blocks:
– Prelude
– Investigating Sound (what is sound?)
– Musical Instruments (how is sound made?)
– Sound Processes (how is sound manipulated?)
– Project
TA212 The Technology of Music
Block 1: Prelude
• Making Sense of Music
• Listening to Music
• Maths for Music
This block is designed to bring everyone up to the same basic level in both
Music Theory and Maths.
TA212 The Technology of Music
Block 2: Investigating Sound
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Sound Basics
Sound Shape and Colour
Sound and Time
Sound and Space
Sound and the Listener
Sound Capture and
Recapture
waves, frequency, wavelength
timbre, temperament
more music theory
reverberation
listening, perception
microphones, amplifiers
TA212 The Technology of Music
Waves
pressure
• Sinusoidal Pressure Waves
• Frequency
– How many times per second
• Amplitude
– How big
wavelength
TA212 The Technology of Music
The Octave
• Double the frequency
• Notes an octave apart have the same name
TA212 The Technology of Music
Decibel Examples (SPL)
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Threshold of pain
Bass drum roll
Violin at player’s ear
Piano practice
Domestic Living Room
Empty Concert Hall
Threshold of Hearing
Investigating Sound -1, Page 45
TA212 The Technology of Music
130 dB
106 dB
85 dB
70 dB
40 dB
20 dB
0 dB
Harmonics
• Modes of Vibration
• Harmonic Series
– frequencies: 100, 200, 300, 400, 500...
– Pitches
– Most higher harmonics are out of tune!
TA212 The Technology of Music
Reverberation
• Many Paths
• Long paths
– have more reflections
– take longer to arrive
– are are quieter when they arrive
TA212 The Technology of Music
The Human Ear
• Outer ear
– Collects sound
• Middle ear
– Impedance Coupling
– Acoustic Reflex
• Inner Ear
– Detects sound
Outer
Ear
TA212 The Technology of Music
Middle Ear
Inner Ear
Impedance Matching
• Impedance
– Property of all electronic circuits
• Get it wrong and you get distortion
high
low
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very
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Pre-amplifier
TA212 The Technology of Music
high
Audition
TA212 The Technology of Music
Audition
TA212 The Technology of Music
Block 3: Musical Instruments
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What is a Musical Instrument
Making sound
Families of Instruments
How do Instruments Work?
strings, pipes, pitch
orchestral, electronic, voice
TA212 The Technology of Music
String Harmonics
• Many different standing waves
• The sounds they produce are the harmonics of the
string.
TA212 The Technology of Music
Wind Harmonics
open pipe
stopped pipe
NOTE: A conical pipe (such as an oboe) behaves like a pipe open at both ends
TA212 The Technology of Music
Cristofori Action
TA212 The Technology of Music
Vowels
• Shape of the vocal tract
• Each shape emphasises different frequencies
• The frequencies which are emphasised are called
Formants
TA212 The Technology of Music
Electromagnetic Induction
electricity
magnetism
motion
• Given any two, the third is produced
electricity + magnetism = motion (electric motor)
magnetism + motion = electricity (generator)
TA212 The Technology of Music
Block 4: Sound Processes
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Desktop sound
Notation
Recording
The Industry
studio on your desktop
history, music printing
mechanical music, MIDI
creating a recording, media,
copy protection etc.
TA212 The Technology of Music
WAV File
“RIFF”
4 bytes
Size
4 bytes
“WAVE”
Format Chunk
Data Chunk
TA212 The Technology of Music
Size bytes
MIDI Connections
MIDI In
MIDI Thru
Synthesiser
“local off” switch
MIDI Out
TA212 The Technology of Music
Media Bandwidth
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Telephone
3.4 kHz
FM Radio
15 kHz
CD
20 kHz
MiniDisc
20 kHz
– but is always compressed!
TA212 The Technology of Music
Cubase
TA212 The Technology of Music
Block 5: EMA (The Project)
• Part 1: An essay about a musical instrument
– Includes research outside the course material and
analysis of the sound of the instrument using the
course software.
– Refer to Block 3 for the kind of information expected
– Choose an “acoustic” instrument.
• Part 2: Desktop Sound
– This may include creating sound samples and using
them to realise a few bars of music presented as a
score.
TA212 The Technology of Music
Assignments
• Submitted and returned electronically
– TMA00
• optional
• used to prove that you have managed to connect into
the eTMA system correctly
• 6 TMAs (Tutor Marked Assignments)
• EMA (End of Module Assessment)
• There is NO EXAM!!
TA212 The Technology of Music
TMAs
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TMA01 (20%)
TMA02 (15%)
TMA03 (15%)
TMA04 (15%)
TMA05 (15%)
TMA06 (20%)
- Block 1
- Block 2 part 1 & Audition part 1
- Block 2 part 2 & Audition part 2
- Block 3 part 1
- Block 3 part 2
- Block 4
TA212 The Technology of Music
Substitution
• Substitution does not apply to this module
– If you fail to submit a TMA, you will get zero marks for
that TMA.
TA212 The Technology of Music
To Pass...
• 40% overall for the TMAs
• 40% for the EMA (the project)
TA212 The Technology of Music
What Happens Next?
• Visit the Module Conference
• Read TMA01 so you know what to look for in the
course text
• Form a study group to meet at a local pub to
complain to each other about your tutor
TA212 The Technology of Music