The Science of Sound: How Audio is Recorded and Reproduced

When I was 12, I remember asking my older brother "What is sound? And, how, from this random squiggle of lines, do you get the sound of an orchestra with a variety of instruments?" In essence, not only did I want to know what sound is but also how sound is recorded and reproduced. Unfortunately, I don't remember his explanation clearing things up.
Now, years later, with the help of one of our Friends of CircuitBread, PUI Audio, we are able to answer my 12 year old self. Using a series of examples and animations, we show what sound is physically, how it's a longitudinal wave that can be recorded as a transverse voltage wave, and how different sounds can be recreated with a single signal. We use some samples from PUI Audio to show how microphones record sound and how speakers can play that sound back.
We hope you enjoy learning about this topic with us and want to thank PUI Audio for their help and support in sharing this message. Please learn more about them, their audio products, and their commitment to audio education at:
www.circuitbread.com/friends/...
and
www.puiaudio.com/
Table of Contents:
0:00 Introduction
0:26 The nature of sound
1:56 How microphones work
3:08 How speakers work
3:41 How are multiple frequencies reproduced?
4:53 Finding all the frequencies in a signal
5:33 Recording and playback fidelity
7:44 Summary
8:35 Sound waves flickering a flame
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[@dataflowgeometry]

This excellence blows me away. I started out in musical electronics in 1972, and while software has revolutionized/democratized what can be done, the concepts in this video haven't changed and will withstand the test of time.

[@RyanMurgatroydMusic]

Brilliant video, underrated

[@an_explorer.s_touch]

Excellent video. Thankyou for simplifying the basics behind the Sound's recording & reproduction.

[@CircuitBread]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jayeshupadhyay4537]

Informative, Entertaining, Creative. Loved the video!

[@taylorpearson6266]

Fantastic video! Loved it!

[@jamesdugalais5653]

highly valuable info, thx!

[@mhqaim]

Sir great work.
❤️

[@erfanehtesham7353]

Very Good and Educational

[@alla9859]

Loved this video!! However, I'd love to know more about how audio was recorded back in the day. Have you done a video about that by any chance?
I think we sort of understand today's technology better than what was actually done with those gramophones and phonographs. I always wondered how they could get sound in a vinyl record, a flat round thing. Then, the same with the tape recorder... I could never get what was going on there. How did they capture and get the music in there?

[@CircuitBread]

Thanks! Unfortunately, we haven't done a video on that and, while I know how it works with recording on a vinyl record, I too have no idea how the magnetic tapes of my youth worked. With vinyl, the concept is so simple it's somewhat ridiculous, though the real-world application is always more challenging. With the original records, the "recorder" was physically controlled by the sound that would force it into the recording material deeper or more shallow depending on the intensity of the sound waves hitting it. It would etch this depth into the record, again, varying in depth and length dependent on the input sound. I think this recording was then transferred to a much harder material which, using a needle that moved up and down on the grooves made, recreated the sound by basically going backward from how it was recorded. I think you're right, though, a video would show this much better than this somewhat lame attempt at describing it.

[@oliverszegedi7575]

Any tips on how to get into audio engineering (as an EE student)?

[@CircuitBread]

Mostly I'd look into internships at audio companies, that would be your best bet to get your foot in the door!

[@oliverszegedi7575]

@@CircuitBread Thank you! I'll try my best.

[@why_plays_fl_studio]

we can actually need only one subwoofer not two because the sub will have a *phase* or a not accurate *syncing*

[@CircuitBread]

Properly spaced (and setup) dual subwoofers shouldn't have any phase or syncing issues. Having two subwoofers actually can significantly reduce dead areas in the room as well. One subwoofer is certainly better than none, though. But, this seems like a discussion for an audio system-specific community!

[@abrahamfoam7376]

Not all microphones use the same principle to turn audio or mechanical waves to electrical signals, like piezoelectric microphones. But thanks it was very good 👍 ⚘