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In this packet, you will find five masters, labeled with letters a-e, to be duplicated for use
®
as you teach the lessons outlined in the In Harmony With Education program Teacher’s
Guide.
The remaining, numbered masters can be duplicated by you or your students as a source
of ideas for the task of building musical instruments. These masters are not, however, the only
possibilities that you or your students should explore. They are included here because they are
instruments that are:
• relatively inexpensive (most of the parts can be purchased at either a hardware store or,
in the case of strings for some instruments, at a neighborhood music store).
• likely to work well together.
• well-suited to teaching important aspects of the production of musical sound.
Your students may elect to make instruments that are much simpler than those described
here. If limited by time or resources, for example, students may produce:
• an Indian jaltarang, a percussion instrument consisting of a series of bowls tuned by the
level of water in each bowl.
• a zither consisting of a series of rubber bands stretched over a resonant cavity (large
Styrofoam cups work well).
• percussion instruments such as spoons (clappers) or shakers—or even an “instrument of
defined body-percussion methods.
Whenever students produce instruments with definite pitch, you will want to make cer-
tain that the pitches used will work in the context of the In Harmony With Education pro-
gram. This means that the instruments should produce pitches from the pentatonic scale, G,
A, B, D, E. (Note that some of the instruments defined in the Black Line Masters produce a
plagal version of this scale, D, E, G, A, B). Whatever the students’ approach, you should
encourage them to think through the cultural background of their instruments, the best musi-
cal uses of their instruments, and the scientific implications of the ways that they can use
their instruments to control sound. The printed black line masters have notes on these
aspects; the blank master gives students a place to spell out this information, as well.
You should ask that all students submit plans for their instruments before making them.
This will give you the chance to make certain that the students are thinking logically about
the dimensions of sound to be controlled and the musical effects to be gained. It will also help
parents who are involved enough to accompany the students on trips to buy (inexpensive)
supplies—because the Black Line Masters used in planning contain parts lists.
Finally, you should demand that students follow all appropriate safety procedures when
making their instruments. Insist that students adhere strictly to all manufacturers’ instructions
regarding ventilation for adhesives and safety glasses or other items for tools—and insist that
they use common sense in their work.
MASTER #1
1
On the plywood, mark out
an arc by using a compass set
to 5" (or do it freehand).
10d
3
8d
Materials
The Nail Violin in
Science and Culture
❑ piece of 1/2" plywood, 12" x 6" or
larger The first nail violin that
we know of was invented in
1740 by a German violinist,
❑ 5 nails: 3 12d, 1 10d, 1 8d Johann Wilde. The nails
vibrate in much the same
❑ violin or cello bow, or general way as the bars on the xylo-
instrument bow (see Master #2) phone and, like the xylo-
phone bars, will give a pitch
that gets progressively lower
as the nails get longer and
Playing the Nail Violin heavier. That is why the nail
violin can be tuned by
Hold it in your left hand, with the arc of pounding the nails more to
make them higher in pitch.
nails facing in front of you and the bottom
[Note that, just as you can
resting on your left knee. Then, either: strike the nails on a nail vio-
lin, you can bow the bars of a
• bow the nails near the nail heads, or xylophone or metallophone.]
• strike the nails with a stick near the
board
MASTER #2
4
Tie the other end
around the stick about
1/2" short of the lower
notches. Then, slide
the knot down (bend-
ing the stick as you do
so) and pull tight.
Tie one end of
3 the bundle off
to the upper
notches and
pull tight.
Materials
The Bow in Science and
Culture
❑ 1 flexible wood lath, about 1/4" x
1/2", or 1/4" diameter dowel, about Bows for stringed instru-
24" long (in a pinch, a relatively ments are used by cultures
throughout the world—the
straight stick from a tree will do)
European viol and violin fami-
lies, the Arabic rebab, the
❑ 1 roll unwaxed dental floss Chinese er hu, to name a few.
In playing with any bow, a
❑ 1 cake violin, cello, or bass rosin musician needs to be able to
control the tightness of the
Tools bow fibers. On modern violin
bows, this is done with a screw
mechanism; on many other
❑ knife bows, this tightness is regulated
with the thumb.
Playing with the Bow On many bows, the fiber
that is rubbed across the strings
Grab the stick at the lower end (tradition- of an instrument are made
from animal hairs—the best
ally, with the right hand), and insert the
known being the long hairs
ring and middle fingers between the stick from the tails of horses. When
and the fibers. Using those fingers, hold the the bow is rubbed across the
fibers away from the stick and run them string, friction helps it pull the
over the string to make it vibrate. string to one side. When the
elastic force of the string (the
way the string “wants” to go
back to being straight) gets
strong enough, it springs back.
If the bow is still moving, it
pulls it to the side again; it
springs back again; and so on,
over and over—many times a
second.
Rosin (made from the sap of
certain trees) is rubbed on the
bow hairs to add to the friction
that makes the bow work.
MASTER #3
1
Make an acute diagonal Holding the sand-
1 cut in one end of the
2 paper flat on the
;;;;;
1/2" diameter pipe with table, round off the
the hacksaw.
2 diagonal cut so that
;;;;;
it is convex.
6
;;;;;
Insert into the
13/16" pipe.
3
On the other end of the
pipe, wrap two bands of
electrician’s tape about five
or six layers deep, leaving
about 1/4" free space
between them.
11"
5 4 4 O-
5 4.
3.
Insert the dowel through the trian-
gular openings in the can and then
through the 1/4" hole in the board.
About 2" from the lower end of the 4
dowel, wrap tape around the dowel
beneath the board to keep it from Drill a 1/8" hole
slipping back through the hole. in the center of
the intact end of
the can.
Materials
The Dan Bau in Science
and Culture
❑ sheet of 1/8" plywood, about 6" x 30"
Playing the dan bau shows
❑ dowel 1/4" diameter or larger, about 8" the interaction between
long string tension and pitch—the
❑ tin can (such as a soup can) tighter the string, the faster it
vibrates, and the higher the
❑ steel guitar string, about .014 gauge
pitch. It also shows the inter-
❑ tape (such as electrician's or masking tape) esting sound quality that can
come with harmonics. When
Tools the string is touched at a
“node,” located at a point
❑ saw, to cut wood parts to size that cuts the string into
❑ 1/4" drill lengths that form a simple
ratio, only the “harmonic”
❑ 1/8" drill
that is still at that point can
❑ can opener vibrate.
Normally, strings vibrate
Playing the Dan Bau simultaneously with many
harmonics. The result is a
• Squatting on the floor, hold the dowel high-pitched, pure sound.
in the right hand with the other end of The dan bau is native to
the board to your left. Hold down the far Vietnam. In that country, it
left end of the board with one foot. is usually more elaborate—
• Raise the can off the board by about 3" and the technique for pro-
and pull the string tight. ducing harmonics is more
• Pluck the string with the left hand while elaborate than that given
pulling on the dowel to adjust tension here. It is often used to
with the right. accompany the reciting of
• To get the real dan bau sound, you must epics, but is also played by
play harmonics. Experiment with pluck- itself.
ing the string with the index finger of
the left hand while hitting the string at
one point with the thumb—which you
have to locate at a point 1/4, 2/3, or
another simple ratio along the length of
the string. It takes practice to find the
exact point for a “harmonic node,” but
the sound is worth it.
MASTER #5
2
Run a thin line of glue
around the place
where the cloth disap-
pears into the space
between the hoops
and let it dry. Make a
thin “varnish” of
watered-down glue
3 and coat the entire
cloth surface.
Cut the bottom 2" or 3"
out of the soda bottle.
Fold about 1" of the
remaining bottle material
inside.
Materials The Drum in Science
and Culture
❑ 1 embroidery hoop (6")
Drums—membranes
❑ 1 square of linen or other cloth, about stretched over a resonant
8" x 8" cavity—appear in almost all
cultures. In any drum,
❑ white glue tightening the head gives a
higher pitch (though the
❑ 2-liter plastic soda bottle pitch may be too complex
to be heard as a single
❑ pencil or mallet pitch). This effect is used by
players of the dunsdun of
Tools the Yoruba people, who
press on the strings that
❑ knife hold the heads of their
hourglass-shaped instru-
❑ scissors ments to vary the head ten-
sion while they play.
Modern orchestral kettle-
Playing the Tunable Drum drums, or timpani, have a
mechanism to accomplish
Hold the soda bottle neck down, grab the this same effect. The mech-
bottle between your legs. Place the hoop- anism on these instruments
and-cloth “drum head” over the wide open- is worked with a foot pedal
ing. Holding the edges of the hoop down or a hand crank.
The difficulty in identify-
with the left hand, use a pencil end or
ing exact pitches of many
other small stick to strike the head. drums comes from the fact
Pressing down on the hoop will raise the that the drum head can
pitch—and you can experiment with damp- vibrate in many, extremely
ening the cloth of the head to tighten it complex, ways—and not all
and get a better sound. of these ways of vibration
give frequencies that line up
according to the orderly over-
tone series produced by
instruments of exact pitch.
MASTER #6
Making a Hoseaphone
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
3
Insert the funnel into the free
4 end. Test the tuning again; it
may be necessary to trim the
Coil the tube and tape tube a little more.
the coils together.
Materials
The Hoseaphone in
Science and Culture
❑ 1 brass instrument mouthpiece
The hoseaphone is a fanciful
❑ 3/8" inside diameter plastic tubing instrument played by some musi-
cians as a joke—but, in princi-
(about 5' 4")
ple, it is equivalent to any one of
a number of “lip-vibrated aero-
❑ kitchen funnel phones” (instruments into which
the player blows, creating vibra-
❑ electrician’s tape tions with his or her lips). In
Oceania, shells have holes cut
into them that act as mouth-
Tools pieces; in Tibet, large animal
bones are hollowed out and
❑ knife blown in this way; in the north-
western corner of South
America, some cultures made
Playing the Hoseaphone “trumpets” out of pottery; and
the use of metal to make these
You can hold the coiled tube in any way “brass” instruments dates back at
you want—keeping the funnel to the front least to the first millennium
will project more sound to your audience. B.C.E. in uses by Assyrian,
Keeping your lips loosely compressed, put Egyptian, and Hebrew cultures.
the mouthpiece to the center of your One of the most interesting
mouth and blow, allowing the lips to aspects of the science of trum-
pet-making is the effect of the
“buzz.” By increasing the pressure of your
shape of the tube on the sound.
blowing and the tension of your lips, you
First, the tube can be curled
will be able to play some of the overtones around without any appreciable
available on your instrument (you should effect on the pitch or tone
be able to get at least G, D, and G an color—but the shape of the tube
octave higher). has a great effect. For example,
modern orchestral trumpets are
basically cylindrical (straight)
tubes. Cornets, on the other
hand, have a more conical tube,
giving them a “softer” tone color
with weaker upper overtones.
MASTER #7
Making Panpipes
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
Making an Erhu
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
5
Run the guitar string through
the 1/8" hole in the big
dowel, over the small piece of On the 1" dowel, drill
wood (the bridge) placed a 3/8" hole 2" from
against the can, and through one end, and an 1/8"
the 1/8" hole in the little hole at other end.
dowel.
On the 3/8" dowel,
Twist the little dowel to tune. drill an 1/8" hole near
one end.
3
4
Stick the 1"
dowel through
the tube; stick
the 3/8" dowel
through the 1"
dowel.
Materials
The Erhu in Science and
Culture
❑ can (large, such as 28 oz. tomato sauce)
The name “erhu” means
❑ 1" wooden dowel, about 20" long two-stringed barbarian [fid-
dle]—it was introduced into
❑ 3/8" wooden dowel, about 4" long China in a period of expand-
ing foreign influence. The
❑ piece of wood, about 3" x 1/2" x 1/4" real erhu has two strings,
with the bow passed between
❑ metal guitar string (about .010 gauge) them. The erhu fits into the
general classification of
❑ electrician’s or duct tape “spike fiddle” or string instru-
ment in which a single spike,
Tools which holds the string or
strings, is driven through a
❑ 1" drill resonator.
❑ 3/8" drill Instruments of this type
❑ 1/8" drill show up in many cultures
❑ metal shears (tin snips) and are possibly at the basis
of modern Western bowed
❑ nail or awl
string instruments.
Making a Maraca
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
Making a Güiro
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
3
Drill a 1/4" hole about Thread a nut and wash-
1 1" from one end of the 2 2 er up to the top of the
tube; use the nail or eye bolt; insert in the
awl to poke a small 1/4" hole.
hole in the other end.
Put the other washer
3 and nut inside and
tighten finger tight.
7
Loosen
the 1
string
and cut
notches at the marked 4
positions. The notches 5
should be deep enough that Saw a shallow
a Pospsicle stick placed in notch per-
each one just clears the top pindicular to 6
of the tube the axis of the
tube about 1/2"
Re-tighten the string. from the small
hole. Place a
Popsicle stick
in it.
4
6 5
Press the string against the tube to find the Working from inside out, poke guitar string
notes E, G, A, B, and D. Mark the positions of through the small hole, run it over the
each note. They will be about 2 1/2", 5 3/4", Popsicle stick bridge, thread it through and
7 1/4", 8 3/4", 10 3/4" from the screw. around the eye bolt, twisting to bring it up
to a “d”.
Materials
The Vina in Science
and Culture
❑ 1 cardboard mailing tube (about 3"
diameter, about 24" long)—must be The earliest references to
thick cardboard the vina are about 3,000
years old—and various relat-
ed instruments are still
❑ 1 eye bolt (1/4" x 2", with 2 nuts and
played today in India and in
washers) Southeast Asia. The bin and
the sitar are perhaps the best
❑ 6 Popsicle sticks known such instruments. In
addition, the basic idea of a
❑ 1 guitar string (D or 4th for nylon-string stretched string running over
guitar) frets appears in many cul-
tures—closest to home in the
United States, in the guitar.
Tools Plucking the string gives
energy for vibration, and the
❑ saw (preferably a keyhole saw) speed of vibration is directly
proportional to the length of
❑ 1/4" drill the string. That is why the
fret for the octave D in this
instrument ends up exactly
❑ nail or awl half way between the bridge
and the tuning bolt.
Making a Mbira
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
4
Tighten the screws a little—
still allowing some move-
ment of the sticks. Pull in
and push out to tune to G,
A, B, D, E.
Making a Metallophone
MENC: The National Association for Music Education 4"
3"
Cut the cardboard as 3"
1 shown and tape
together to form a box.
11 3/4"
12"
Making a Koto
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
6 Sand the
small wood
blocks to make
a peak on the top of
each one. Fold the
sandpaper and
sand a notch
across each Run nylon twine 5
peak. through the holes
on the left, tie it to the screw eyes on
the right, and twist the screw eyes to
tighten.
Materials
The Koto in Science and
Culture
❑ 1 sheet 1/8" plywood, about 9" x 30"
The koto is basically a
❑ 2 1/2" wooden slats, about 1" x 30" zither with moveable bridges.
As such, it is a member of a
large family of instruments
❑ 5 screw eyes, about 3/4"
across eastern Asia such as
the zheng of China or the
❑ 5 wooden blocks, about 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/8" kayagum of Korea. Zithers
are also important to many
❑ thin nylon twine other musical traditions. For
example, the Latvians play a
❑ 6 small nails (brads) kokle; and in Burundi, musi-
cians play an inanga.
Tuning and playing the
Tools koto demonstrates the inter-
dependence between length
❑ glue (white glue or carpenter’s glue) and tension in setting the
pitch of a stringed instru-
ment. Tuning the strings
❑ 1/8" drill tighter (raising the tension)
raises the pitch—but so does
❑ hammer moving the bridge (adjusting
the length). And the ko
❑ coarse sandpaper technique of increasing string
tension while playing also
changes the pitch.
Playing the Koto
Tune the instrument to D, E, G, A, and B
by turning the eyes and moving the wood-
block “bridges” to the left or right. Pluck
the segment of string to the right. When
playing, you can get notes in between the
tuned pitches by pressing down with the
fingers of your left hand on the segment of
each string to the left. This technique is
called, on the Japanese koto, “ko.”
MASTER #16
Making a ______________
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
Tools
❑
Playing a ______________
Draw a continuous line for each of the four dimensions of musical sound. The first section of “dynamics” has been completed for you.
Dynamics
soft
high
Pitch
low
Brahms Hungarian Dance #5
rich
Tone Color
less rich
long
Duration
short
Master a
A Section:
Identify the instrument type for each instrumental part. Then decide if specific pitches are to
be used, and write them in the space provided. Finally, add a melody (if desired).
Melody
Part 1
type_________
Pitches? – –– –– –– – – – – – ––
Part 2
type_________
Pitches? – – – – –
Part 3
type_________
Pitches? – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Part 4
type_________
Pitches? – – – – – – –
B Section:
Identify the specific instruments to be used, describe the character of the music to be played, and spec-
ify and rythmic or melodic ideas.
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Rhythm or melody
MASTER #1
C Section:
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Rhythm or melody
D Section:
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Rhythm or melody
E Section:
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Rhythm or melody
MASTER c
1 2 3 4 56 7 12345 67 1 2 3 4 56 7 1 2 34 5
1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 4 56 7
Part 2
Listen, and identify the sound used on CD Track 11. (It is the same sound as that used on CD
track 12, with one difference.)
CD Track 1 CD Track 2
(loudness)
intensity
time
MASTER #1
Part 3
Listen to the “envelopes” for a series of sounds on the same instrument.
• CD track 13
a b c d e
Instrument name:__________________________________
Method of playing:_________________________________
Instrument “envelope”
(loudness)
intensity
time
MASTER d
If you are considering a career in music, you may not be aware of the variety of music professions available to you and the opportu-
nities they hold. In particular, there are several careers that can call on an individual’s talents and knowledge in the areas intro-
duced in the Bose® In Harmony With Education® program.
Studio Arranger
Arrangers can be freelance or affiliated with a particular studio. They score songs for the group and the instruments used in the
recording session. The arranger may be a songwriter scoring his or her own works, be a member of a performing group, or work full-
time at arranging. Arrangers’ fees are set by union contracts based on number of score pages: the more scores an arranger prepares,
the higher the fee. Many arrangers work nights; daytime hours are spent answering inquiries and sometimes conducting.
If you want to become an arranger, it is important to read music quickly and write neatly. While you do not have to play any instru-
ments well, it is very important that you have a working knowledge of each instrument for which you might be scoring, including
their timbres, temperaments, and ranges. You will also need a strong sense of what is currently popular and an instinct for future
trends. Income as an arranger is usually based on commissions when music is sold for publication, recording, or broadcast.
If you want to be an electronic design engineer you will need a high level of math proficiency and knowledge of the sciences (par-
ticularly the physical sciences and, perhaps, the life science of psychoacoustics). This means, in practice, taking as much math and
science as you can in high school. With some vocational education, this would allow you to work as a technician, or it could allow
you to get into engineering school. Once in college, you will need a four-year Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering to start
design work. Further study (useful in moving forward in the profession) generally includes specialization in fields such as program-
ming, circuit design, power engineering, or manufacturing/process engineering.
You have the necessary personal attributes if you are good at working as part of a team toward a well-defined, technical goal. And,
of course, a love of music can help as a motivator. Salary range in this field for a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree is in the
$40,000 range to start.
The newer instruments, such as synthesizers, require the talents of engineers who understand microcircuitry and computer technol-
ogy. Since electronic instruments contain chips to handle a variety of functions, engineers must understand not only the functions
of the components but their musical potential as well. (See the section on Design Engineers.)
MASTER #1
Pianos, despite changes in style and appearance, are basically the same instruments they have always been. Modern production
methods may be used to manufacture metal interior pieces and for primary woodworking, veneering, and mill operations, but the
final product is the result of handcrafting and skilled artisanship.
Likewise, there are few shortcuts in the manufacture of quality guitars, violins, and other stringed instruments. Highly refined wood-
working skills are necessary for the production of a good stringed instrument and its decorative carving or inlay.
Among traditional musical instruments, drums have perhaps benefited most from the development of new materials. Plastics have
replaced animal skins as drumheads and are widely used for the bodies. The finished drum, however, still requires handwork. Skilled
craftsmanship is necessary for gluing joints, centering the head, trimming, sanding, and tuning. The final assembly of any instru-
ment, in fact, is reserved for the best trained and most highly skilled members of the production staff.
After completion, each instrument is evaluated by a tester before it leaves the plant. Testers must be musicians as well as craftsmen,
familiar with the instrument and its musical capabilities and able to make minor adjustments or pinpoint problems for adjustment
by others on the production line.
While some production functions can be handled by a person without musical training, knowing how to play the instrument is an
important asset. According to one manufacturer, knowing how to play an instrument might be compared to having a college degree
in another field. In many instances it will be helpful in progressing to a more skilled, better paying job.
If you are interested in a career in musical instrument manufacturing, you can find job opportunities around the United States. The
supply industries, those making cast-iron plates, actions, keyboards, hardware, tuning pins, strings, and mouthpieces are generally
located near the manufacturing site.
For a career in instrument manufacturing, you must meet age requirements of various states as well as labor and insurance laws. You
do not need any basic skills for a beginning job other than the ability to learn, since most manufacturers have on-the-job training
programs. Some firms also have apprenticeship programs for the more skilled craft jobs. Salaries vary widely according to the wage
and salary scale of each industry.
Inventor
Another possibility for a career in instrument manufacturing lies in design and development. Often, specialists in other fields, such
as electronics and engineering, computer software, or music performance, have created new instruments that have led to the devel-
opment of new industries.
Influential musical instrument inventors have included John Philip Sousa, sousaphone; Laurens Hammond, electric organ; Harold
Rhodes, electric piano; Robert Moog and RCA engineers Harry Olson and Herbert Belar, synthesizer; and John Chowning of
Stanford University, digital synthesizer. Hundreds of others have made refinements in basic instruments or created accessory items,
amplification equipment, and adapters that have broadened the capabilities of instruments or have made them easier to play.
Salaries in this field can vary widely, depending especially on the size and success of the studio. Since engineering is one of the most
popular career areas in recording, studios are extremely selective in hiring. To prepare yourself, enroll in a college that offers specific
courses in sound engineering, learn to operate all technical machines, read the trade magazines, and visit recording studios. Try to
get a studio job to learn more about the capabilities of the equipment.
MASTER e
Glossary
MENC: The National Association for Music Education
Analog: In sound, the method of recording and transmitting sound that was used until a few years ago. It involves
transforming the changes in sound intensity directly into changes in another medium (and back again). For example,
a phonograph record contains grooves that vary in width and depth according to the sounds they represent, so a nee-
dle in a spinning record’s groove vibrates in a way that can, with amplification, give a recognizable musical sound. A
magnetic analog tape (like a cassette) contains particles of material that are magnetized more or less strongly—like
the record groove’s higher or lower depth—in a way that can be amplified, converted to vibrations in the air by a
transducer, and heard as a musical sound.
Cardioid: A type of microphone that exhibits a heart-shaped pattern of sensitivity. In a cardioid microphone, the
area behind the microphone (the “notch” at the top of a heart shape) picks up very little sound; the sides and front
are quite sensitive.
Chorusing: A type of sound effects processing that makes a single voice sound or instrument sound like a chorus. It
is done by making copies of the sound and combining them back with the original signal—but a little later.
Digital: Refers to the recording of sound not as an analog trace (such as the peaks and valleys of a phonograph
record) but as a series of binary digits (numbers in a counting system that use only 0 and 1). A digital recording of
the loudness of a sound that starts piano and increases to forte, for example, look like a smooth line going up but
would be recorded as a series of numbers, each larger than the one before.
Distortion: “Errors” introduced in the recording or transmission of sound. They are usually unwanted errors that lead
to a lack of clarity in the sound, and engineers have designed devices such as limiters to avoid distortion. Some styles
of rock, however, intentionally use more or less controlled distortion for musical and dramatic effect.
Equalizer: A device that can be used to alter the relative strength of various frequencies in a sound. In its simplest
form, an equalizer can be the device controlled by the “tone” knob on a radio. More sophisticated equalizers are gen-
erally “graphic equalizers,” which have one control for the relative strength every one of several fixed frequency
ranges, or “parametric equalizers,” in which both the strength of a range and the frequency of that range are subject
to control.
Headroom: The extent to which a recorder can accept strong signals. If the signal being recorded exceeds the head-
room, overload distortion results.
Layering: The process of combining several tracks to produce a complete recording. The musicians providing indi-
vidual tracks can, with this technique, work on a recording “together”—but on separate days. It is best done with a
recorder that offers many tracks (standard for professional studios is 24 tracks), but can be done with only two tracks
by recording track a, mixing the recording from a with a new signal on to track b, mixing that combined recording
with a new signal back onto track a, and so on.
Limiting: The setting of a limit on the intensity of a signal. It is usually done so that the signal does not exceed the
headroom of a recorder.
Mixing: The process of combining the signals from different sound sources to achieve a well-balanced final sound. It
can be done for a live performance that must be amplified or for a recording.
MASTER #1
MIDI: An acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It was developed as a way to allow electronic instru-
ments to communicate with one another by means of a “code” of digital numbers representing aspects of a musical
performance. A signal in MIDI “code” might say, for example, that a middle C is turned on with an intensity of
100 (on a scale of 1 to 128), and then the pitch is “bent” up by 40 percent, and then turned off. MIDI has
become especially useful with computer programs that store these signals in much the same way that a word pro-
cessing program stores the letters typed on a computer keyboard.
Noise: This can simply mean unwanted sound—such as noise that someone makes in the next room when you
are trying to record a song. It has a technical meaning, too; sound that contains all frequencies (rather than the
few overtones found in pitched sounds).
Noise reduction: All transducers, recorders, or other devices used to store and reproduce sound introduce some
noise. This is particularly a problem with analog tape recorders, so a variety of noise reduction techniques have
been developed to minimize noise. A series of techniques labeled Dolby A, Dolby B, Dolby C, and Dolby S are
used on many recorders, as is a technique known as DBX.
Omnidirectional: A type of microphone that picks up sound equally from all directions.
Panning: The process of distributing a signal between two stereo tracks in the mixing process. A single piano
note, for example, could have 50 percent of its signal to the left and 50 percent to the right, making it sound as
though the piano player was sitting in the middle of the sound field. By changing the panning to 10 percent left
and 90 percent right, however, a studio engineer can make it sound like the piano player just picked up the piano
and moved it to the right.
Patch: An electrical circuit set up to route a signal, especially one set up by means of “patch cords.”
Reverberation: The quality of echoes in a room. All rooms (except for specially-built anechoic chambers) have
some reverberation; that of a small room with a lot of cloth furniture is relatively minimal; that of a large, stone
cathedral is almost enough to overwhelm sounds produced in the room. Because of its importance in coloring the
way we hear sounds, recording engineers will often add reverberation by means of electronic devices.
Sampling: The process of taking a digital sample—a sort of audio snapshot—of a sound. The sample can be stored
in a computer’s memory and played back (in its original form or altered) at will.
Track: One “line” of information that goes into a recording. Often, a track is the recording of one instrument
that will be combined with other instrument parts in layering the final mix.
Transducer: A device that changes sound to or from another medium—such as electricity. A microphone is a
transducer, for example, that changes sound waves to waves of variation in an electrical signal. A speaker does the
reverse, changing electrical variations into the mechanical vibration of air that is sound. A speaker can even
function as a microphone—and some microphones can function as speakers (but don’t try the experiment unless
you know what you’re doing or don’t mind destroying your microphone).
Transient: A part of a sound that changes quickly in loudness and often in frequency content—especially, the
first 1/2 of a second or so of a sound’s “envelope.”