Audio Engineering Fundamentals

Theoretical Concepts of Sound Production

What you'll learn
Learners will obtain a thorough understanding of audio theory fundamentals
Learners will be able to use the course content as a springboard with which to improve their creative craft
Learners will be able to apply new knowledge and skill to their chosen digital audio workstation
Learners will be able to more effectively and confidently conduct audio recordings
Learners will be able to apply audio theory in order to troubleshoot audio systems
Requirements
There is no prior knowledge expected of learners undertaking this course. It would be beneficial for students to have access to a digital audio workstation of some kind in order to follow along with some of the materials, but this is not essential.
Description
This course will be a deep dive into important audio engineering and sound production fundamental topics. Knowledge of these topics will improve your skills and confidence in any facet of audio production. The concepts are mostly taught in the music production framework, but the course is intended to be applicable to those interested in film audio, game sound design and podcast recording and editing. The concepts taught are transferable between all of those subcategories of audio engineering.Whether you're just starting out or you've been producing great sounds for a while now I guarantee there will be fundamentals missing from your knowledge base. The overarching topics in this course are Sound Waves, Digital Audio, Analogue Audio Signals, Microphones, Signal Processing and Human Localization of Sounds.Course concepts are demonstrated using Pro Tools, however it is not critical that you following along with or use Pro Tools. The concepts are generic and can be emulated and solidified using any digital audio software! It is encouraged that you follow along with the demonstrations in your own software so that the concepts taught can stick in your mind.Summaries of some of the lessons are downloadable and it is highly encouraged that you download and review these summaries at a later date so that the core concepts can stay with you throughout your audio journey!

Overview

Section 1: Sound Waves

Lecture 1 Sound Waves

Lecture 2 Sound Waves Continued

Lecture 3 Sound Waves and Air Molecules

Lecture 4 Multiple Sounds Playing at Once

Lecture 5 The Polarity Inversion

Lecture 6 Sine Waves Out of Phase

Lecture 7 Amplitude

Lecture 8 Amplitude Continued

Lecture 9 Frequency

Lecture 10 Sine Wave Frequency Demonstration

Lecture 11 Wavelength

Lecture 12 Harmonic Sounds

Lecture 13 String Harmonics

Lecture 14 Octaves and Harmonic Intervals

Lecture 15 EQ Curves

Lecture 16 Noise Signals

Lecture 17 Equal Loudness Curves

Lecture 18 Comb Filtering

Lecture 19 Polarity Inversion Revisited

Lecture 20 Polarity Inversion Pink Noise Demo

Lecture 21 A Polarity Inversion Has No Audible Effect in Isolation

Lecture 22 Inversion vs 180 shift vs Comb Filter

Section 2: Digital Audio

Lecture 23 Digital Audio Overview

Lecture 24 Samples Points in Software

Lecture 25 The Nyquist Theorem (Sampling Theorem)

Lecture 26 Importing the Wrong Sample Rate

Lecture 27 Converting Sample Rates

Lecture 28 Oversampling in Plugins

Lecture 29 Bit Depths

Lecture 30 Bit Crushers

Lecture 31 Bit Crusher Revisited

Lecture 32 Bit Depths and Quantization Distortion

Lecture 33 Floating Point Bit Depth

Lecture 34 Floating Point Bit Depth Part 2

Lecture 35 Recorders with Floating Point

Section 3: Audio Signals

Lecture 36 Microphone Level Signals

Lecture 37 Microphone Preamps

Lecture 38 Mic Level and Line Level

Lecture 39 Pro Line Level and Consumer Line Level

Lecture 40 Speaker Level

Lecture 41 Instrument Level

Lecture 42 Bridging Impedance

Lecture 43 DI Boxes

Lecture 44 Unbalanced Connectors

Lecture 45 Balanced Cables

Lecture 46 Headphone Connectors

Section 4: Microphones

Lecture 47 Dynamic Microphones

Lecture 48 Condenser Microphones

Lecture 49 Phantom Power

Lecture 50 Ribbon Microphones

Lecture 51 Comparing Our Three Mic Types Part 1

Lecture 52 Comparing Our Three Mic Types Part 2

Lecture 53 Polar Patterns

Lecture 54 Plosives

Lecture 55 The Proximity Effect

Section 5: Signal Processing

Lecture 56 Gate/Expanders

Lecture 57 Compression Explained

Lecture 58 Kick and Snare Compression

Lecture 59 Voice Compression

Lecture 60 Parallel Compression

Lecture 61 Bass Compression

Lecture 62 Side Chain Compressor

Lecture 63 De Esser (Side Chain Example)

Lecture 64 Side Chain Kick and Synth

Lecture 65 Reverb Demonstration

Lecture 66 Reverb Drum Timing

Lecture 67 Reverb Auxiliary Inputs

Lecture 68 High Pass Filter on Reverb Auxiliary

Lecture 69 Pre and Post-Fader Sends

Lecture 70 Convolution Reverbs

Lecture 71 Delay

Lecture 72 Chorus

Lecture 73 Flanger

Lecture 74 Distortion

Lecture 75 Tape Saturation

Section 6: Localization

Lecture 76 The Illusion of Stereo

Lecture 77 Localization of Sounds

Lecture 78 Diffraction

Lecture 79 Speaker vs Headphone Mixing

Lecture 80 Single vs Stereo Microphone Recording

Section 7: Finale and Recap!

Lecture 81 Final Recap

This course is for musicians, audio engineers or sound designers who are either beginners or intermediates, who are looking for a course that will give a firm foundation of audio engineering knowledge with which to build their skills upon