Embedded Files
Too bad I wasn’t able to accomplish this task as soon as the brief was given to us because of an unfortunate event and that event is probably the worst nightmare that could ever happen to a senior- standing college student--- a broken laptop. Anyhow, I’m not going to let that incident get the best of me, so here I go…
For this assignment, we were asked to record 6 sound clips that embody the 6 Properties of Sound. At first, I was kind of lost to be honest on as to how I am going to get this done but not because of my laptop getting jammed but rather because of my lack of thorough attention towards sounds in general. I love listening to music especially pop-music that I would spend like half of my day during my off from work schedule listening or browsing the most interesting pop music regardless if it’s old or new. In spite of that, I wouldn’t really mind knowing the technicalities behind it. Now, the sound clips that we were asked to record are random sounds so what I did was that I read and analyzed first the course manual for MMS 172 before doing the recording to make sure that although these sounds were random, it should still characterize the properties of sound. Below are the sound clips with corresponding sound properties that I was able to put up.
PITCH
Recording Device: Smartphone Recorder
Sound Source: A glass half-filled with water being hit by a pencil (00:09 sec)
Explanation: As the pencil hits the glass, the pitch of the sound becomes higher. As the waveform image suggests, those waves with a bigger height basically are the exact moment when the body of the pencil hits the body of the glass and those with the smaller height are basically the in- between moments where the pencil is not touching the glass. I was thinking that most probably, the friction or the pressure between two objects may have an effect when it comes to the production of the pitch; however this is still depending on what make the material is. For example, we wouldn’t expect a high-pitched sound if the pencil will hit a wall or a table. But since I have used glass and somewhat filled it with water, if we come to think of it, the physical characteristics of water and the glass is weaker than the wall or a table and yet it produced a higher pitch.
AMPLITUDE
Recording Device: Smartphone Recorder
Sound Source: Passing-by of a train from a nearby railroad (00:10 sec)
Picture: Waveform (Screenshot of the waveform)
Explanation: Our house is located near a PNR (Philippine National Railroad) Station, particularly the Sucat Train Station so hearing the sound of the train passing by is more likely a common phenomenon I experience every single day so why not use it for this activity. As you can see in the waveform, the steeper the wave it is, the bigger the amplitude will be. As the sound of the train’s horn is being hit, the loudness also increases.
TIMBRE
Recording Device: Smartphone Recorder
Sound Source: Sipping from a glass of water (00:05 sec)
Picture: Waveform (Screenshot of the waveform)
Explanation: Timbre is basically the color, the quality, and the identity of a particular sound. I always remember my mom saying “Ang ganda ng timbre ng boses nyang si Basil Valdes (a local Filipino balladeer)”, when his songs are being played during a Sunday’s morning radio program. So back then, I have associated the word timbre as the specific quality of sound. It’s almost like an I.D. for a particular person like when we hear a particular song; we already knew who sang it because of that distinct voice. So for this sound property, you’ll already know that without someone telling you what that sound is, you’ll know that it is what it is--- a sound of someone sipping from a glass of water.
DURATION
Recording Device: Smartphone Recorder
Sound Source: Tearing of paper (00:06 sec)
Picture: Waveform (Screenshot of the waveform)
Explanation: The definition provided in the video learning resource of the course manual mentioned that the duration being pertained to when talking about the study of sound is not the actual length of the sound but more like the speed (how fast or slow the sound waves move) of the sound. In this sound clip, I tried recording the sound of me tearing up a paper with varying speed and as you can see in the waveform, the faster the speed sound of the paper tearing up, the steeper the sound wave gets.
ARTICULATION
Recording Device: Smartphone Recorder
Sound Source: Whistling (00:08 sec)
Picture: Waveform (Screenshot of the waveform)
Explanation: The first blow of the whistle sound seemingly sounding strong already, but the second blow sounded like stronger as you can hear a little bit of an air pressure accompanying the whistle sound. The difference between the two whistle-blows talks about the intensity of how a sound can get, and that is how articulation works.
DIFFUSION
Recording Device: Smartphone Recorder
Sound Source: Water being poured into the glass (00:07 sec)
Picture: Waveform (Screenshot of the waveform)
Explanation: As we all know, diffusion basically talks about the direction of the sound. It tells you on as to where the sound is coming from and where it is heading to that if we close our eyes and critically listen to it, we can determine which direction it is going to. In this sound clip, I have decided to record the sound of water being poured down the glass and if we listen to it, we can certainly have that cognition as well as imagination of that image or scene where the water is being poured into something ceramic or into a glass container. That’s how diffusion works.
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