From the course: Audio Foundations: EQ and Filters

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Frequency and pitch

Frequency and pitch

From the course: Audio Foundations: EQ and Filters

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Frequency and pitch

We now know that the speed at which a waveform oscillates is its frequency, but when this oscillation is periodic or repeats at the same oscillation speed over a series of cycles, we perceive the sound as a specific pitch. The faster the periodic oscillation, the higher the pitch we will perceive. Think of it this way. I'm sure everyone is played with a rubber band stretched between two fingers. Plucking that rubber band will yield an oscillation at a specific speed, where the rubber band quickly moves back and forth, cycling so many times per second. Now if that rubber band is stretched more tightly across two fingers, striking it again yields a much faster oscillation, and if you listen carefully, you can probably hear those vibrations as sound waves of a specific pitch. This same basic principle applies to all stringed instruments. A string of a certain tension is fixed at two points. The length of that string and its tension combined to create a specific frequency at which it will…

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