Fundamentals of Audio and Music Engineering: Part 1 Musical Sound & Electronics

Introduction to oscillations and sound waves, simple oscillating systems, sound pressure, sound waves, the speed of sound, wavelength, frequency and pitch, sound pressure level, loudness, making sound, properties of musical sound versus “noise”. Electronics fundamentals - charge, current, voltage, power, resistance, Ohm’s law, DC circuits, finding currents and voltages in simple circuits.

Reflection and absorption of sound, resonances in air columns, resonances in enclosures and rooms, diffraction and diffusion of sound, reverberation, principles of designing a good music studio. AC signals, phase and complex numbers, capacitors, inductors, transformers, impedance, AC circuits and AC circuit analysis, simple filters (high-pass, low-pass, band-pass)

Transistors, vacuum tubes, opamps, amplification, power gain, single-stage amplifiers. Converting sound to electrical signals –microphones and guitar pickups, converting electrical signals to sound – loudspeakers

Electric guitar electronics, pickup design, pickup placement and tone, volume control circuits, tone control circuits. Overview of a simple guitar amplifier, power supply, volume control, preamp, tone control, power amp section.