In this course students learn the basic concepts of acoustics and electronics and how they can applied to understand musical sound and make music with electronic instruments. Topics include: sound waves, musical sound, basic electronics, and applications of these basic principles in amplifiers and speaker design.
Fundamentals of Audio and Music Engineering: Part 1 Musical Sound & Electronics
Instructors: Robert Clark
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(569 reviews)
What you'll learn
Students will be able to explain basic concepts of acoustics.
Students will be able to apply the concepts of acoustics to the creation of music and sound.
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There are 6 modules in this course
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.
What's included
13 videos8 readings
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)
What's included
13 videos1 assignment
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
What's included
18 videos
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.
What's included
15 videos1 assignment
Designing speaker enclosures, basic principles, interaction of speaker driver with the cabinet, why a cabinet at all? Speaker designs for home stereo, crossover networks, guitar amplifier (open) speaker enclosures, bass amplifier (closed and vented) speaker enclosures.
What's included
8 videos
Building the guitar amplifier, how to solder, getting the amp to work - systematic testing and troubleshooting. Visualizing sound waves, frequency content and tone, signal modification in electro-acoustic systems, tube amplifiers and distortion, wah pedal, talk box.
What's included
14 videos1 assignment
Instructors
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Electrical Engineering
Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST)
Berklee
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Reviewed on Oct 22, 2016
As a retired EE this was a fun course for me to take, but it does cover a lot of territory quickly. I really liked the more practical aspects of the course
Reviewed on Jun 13, 2018
Great course. It teaches all the fundamentals in electronic engineering and acoustic engineering and how to analyze complex systems using basic but powerful tools.
Reviewed on Oct 20, 2016
Excellent Course. I can't wait for part 2 after this course. Thank you to instruction for sharing their experience and knowledge with us.
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