Tanveer Laghari, a 31-year-old from Pakistan, provides an introduction to basic audio concepts in music production. He explains that sound travels through air by compressing and decompressing the air in a waveform. The speed of sound depends on factors like the medium and temperature. Amplitude represents the height of the waveform and determines loudness. Frequency is measured in hertz and represents how many times per second a sound wave oscillates, relating to pitch. Timbre is the texture of a sound produced by an instrument and is independent of other properties like amplitude and frequency. Laghari aims to simply explain the key audio basics concepts at a high level without extensive details.

1. Introduction to
Music Production
Lesson 1 Assignment
Tanveer Laghari
31 yrs old
Pakistan

2. Audio Basics
Propagation of sound
How does sound travel? Well, sound requires a medium to get from one place to another. It can
travel through Air as well as water or other mediums. Sound propagates through air by means
of compression and rarefaction.
Speed at which sound propagates, depends on the medium, temperature, elevation e.g speed of
sound at sea level is 340m/s through air. Sound is visually represented as a waveform because
that is the shape it takes when propagating through a medium. It compresses and decompress
the air.

3. Audio Basics
Amplitude
Sound is visually represented as a waveform as pictured below.
Amplitude is basically the size of the wave or how much it compresses and rarefies the air around it. In the
example above we can see amplitude is represented as the height of the wave. An easy way to understand this
concept is that loudness is our perception of amplitude. So if the amplitude of sound is higher, we will perceive it
as louder.

4. Audio Basics
Frequency
Frequency can be represented as the number of times the wave oscillates within a time period
We measure frequency in hertz/seconds. Lets say a waveform is oscillating 500 times per second so we will
measure it as 500Hz. An easy example is to understand that when a frequency of sound is increased we
hear it as a high pitched. Pitch is our perception of frequency of sound.

5. Audio Basics
Timbre
Timbre is also another property of sound just like amplitude and frequency. However, these properties of
sound are independent of each other. We can have a high amplitude sound with a low frequency e.g you’re
car subwoofer blasting at high volume. Similarly, we can also have a low amplitude but high frequency
sound.
Its important to understand that timbre is also a property of sound which is independent of other
properties and it can be a hard concept to grasp for some but a simple example would be to hear a same
note of a keyboard play and then hear the same note on a guitar. It’s the tone or texture of sound which is
different. You may listen to same notes of guitar or piano at the same amplitude and frequency but they
will both sound different. The type of instrument used plays a major role in timbre of a sound

6. Audio Basics
I have tried to simply the concepts of sound properties and to present them briefly. I have
intentionally not gone into the details of all properties since its an overview of all the audio
basic properties.
I hope you have enjoyed this presentation. Kindly let me know if you liked it and please give
your comments while reviewing.
Cheers!!