The Science of Sound

Produced by Bell Telephone Laboratories, the recordings in this two-disc set “describe and demonstrate various phenomena of sound as an aid to understanding how sound is put to work for the benefit and pleasure” of human beings. Interweaving narration with sound effects, this educational documentary covers frequency and pitch as well as the differences between music and noise. The descriptions of the science on the albums can be quite technical and often utilize scientific and mathematical jargon, but the frequent use of sampled sounds to demonstrate the concepts helps makes the information approachable. Liner notes include a complete transcript and a guide to Folkways’ “Science on Records” series.

Track Listing

101	How We Hear	n/a	02:03
102	Frequency	n/a	03:11
103	Pitch	n/a	05:10
104	Vibration and Resonance	n/a	03:32
105	Intensity	n/a	06:26
201	Loudness	n/a	07:39
202	Noise Measurement	n/a	05:01
203	Masking	n/a	02:02
204	Echo and Reverberation	n/a	04:19
205	Delay Distortion	n/a	02:45
301	Fundamentals and Overtones	n/a	03:25
302	Quality	n/a	02:47
303	Subjective Tones	n/a	05:45
304	Music or Noise	n/a	03:20
305	Filtered Music and Speech	n/a	04:36
401	Dissonance and Consonance	n/a	05:23
402	Music Scales	n/a	08:14
403	Vibrato and Tremolo	n/a	03:20
404	The Doppler Effect	n/a	03:09
405	Narrator Closing Statement	n/a	00:14