Module Two Lesson 1: Decoding The Science Of Sound

Module Two

Jun 20

Watch the video above and then take the quick quiz below to make what you just learned sticky!

Transcription

Your Body — Your Instrument

Imagine a sound in your mind. You open your mouth to sing and your body responds.

How does that happen? How do you make those sounds you hear in your head?
Vowel colors, dynamics, texture, and vibrato aren't just created in your mind. Your vocal cords, tongue, resonators, rib cage, diaphragm, and abdominal muscles all work in concert to make those sounds come alive. The more you know about how your body produces sound, the easier it will be to make the sounds you hear in your head and expand your artistic possibilities.

But there’s more to the science of sound than your body as your instrument — it's also about live performance and recording. A basic knowledge of the language of sound makes it easier to communicate with sound technicians, saving you time at both sound-check and in the recording studio. When you work with sound technicians, you'll know what frequencies to ask for in your stage, or in-ear monitors, so you can hear yourself better. When you can hear yourself, you'll be able to give the best performance possible. This is about music after all!

How Is Sound Created?

So, how is a sound created? This 4-minute video is an excellent primer on the mechanics of sound. It’s a bit technical, but hang in there, the information is important. And, if you’re a little on the geeky side like me — you’ll love the way it’s presented. So, here we go...

[MOVIE: ACOUSTICS]

So, Let’s recap, and make this specific to singing.

Imagine sound molecules being like little balls. When one ball moves through space, it bumps into another ball, which then bumps into another, which bumps into another — and that’s how they all move through space and create a sound wave.

Low-frequency instruments have a sound wave that travels through space more slowly than the sound wave of a high-frequency instrument. That being the case, which voices are easiest to hear? High voices. Because they travel through space more quickly, high voices “cut” through and over other instruments.

Back to the little bouncing balls. A sound wave travels through space until it’s stopped by a physical object. If you’re singing in a room with high ceilings and hard walls, the sound will bounce around and create reverb. If you’re singing in a low ceilinged room with soft walls, the air molecules will be absorbed and you’ll experience little to no reverb, or what some refer to as a “dead” sound.

Little to no reverb is great for when you’re recording because it makes it easier to capture the sound of your voice. But you’ll always want to have some reverb in your headphones or your monitor if a room doesn’t have natural reverb. That way you won’t try to push too hard to create a bigger sound, and your voice will sound better to you. More on that when we get to the module on live performance!

Acoustic instruments, including your voice, need three things to create sound:

An Energy Source - something that causes vibration.

Something that Vibrates - the thing that actually vibrates, resulting in the sound.

A Resonator - an object or space that shapes the vibration and makes it sound the way it does.

Take wind instruments for example. Like your voice, they use air as an energy source. When you play the clarinet, you blow air into the mouthpiece. Your breath is the energy source, the reed vibrates, and the body of the clarinet resonates.