Do books for school count? This is the sort of book I'd probably pick up to browse through at the library, but I don't think I'd check it out. So it's good to have to read it for a class I'm taking on acoustics. I love acoustics and psychoacoustics and neuropsychology, so the book is very intriguing. I guess it's considered a seminal book on the subject. It's written by a physicist but there's very little physics or math. I don't understand all the formulas and charts, but the verbal descriptions are easy to comprehend. I'm only on the second chapter, though, so maybe it will get tougher as I continue reading.
3 comments:
hi sharon
can you recommend any EXTREMELY BASIC books about the mechanics of sound? I am really intimidated by science and not very mechanistically inclined, but i always here arty and or musician-y dudes referencing things i don't understand at all. ditto for electronics/electronic music; computers; recording; music theory.
whoa i just envisioned a whole other academic life for myself. well i don't have time, as gertrude stein once said 'all knowledge is not my province'. still i would like to have some kind of manual to this kind of stuff. help?!!!!
Hi Tobi, I can't think of a really basic book, unfortunately. I don't know if there are any! I usually get my extremely basic info from the web. I searched around a bit for you and found some good introductions to the mechanics of sound.
1.
INTRODUCTION TO SOUND
2. Basics of Physics: Introduction to Sound Waves (cool short video)
3. Science of Sound
4. Pythagoras: Music and Space
Also, this book might be good once you've already gotten down some of the basics:
Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound: An Introduction to Psychoacoustics, edited By Perry R. Cook
oops, the Pythagoras link was missing one letter. Try this:
Pythagoras: Music and Space
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