Music, Sound, and Technology

Since its publication in 1990, the first edition of Music, Sound, and Technology has enjoyed wide success and has become a popular text in musical acoustical studies at the university level. In preparing the new edition we have included recent developments in all aspects of music and sound technology, and we have added data on acoustical characteristics of musical in­ struments. The first edition has been cited for the scope and clarity of its graphics; we have emphasized this to an even greater degree in the second edition. /ME xi Preface to the First Edition This book is about music. the instruments and players who produce it. and the technologies that support it. Although much modern music is produced by electronic means. its underlying basis is still traditional acoustical sound production. and that broad topic provides the basis for this book. There are many fine books available that treat musical acoustics largely from the physical point of view. The approach taken here is to present only the fundamentals of musical phys­ ics. while giving special emphasis to the relation between instrument and player and stressing the characteristics of instruments that are of special concern to engineers and tech­ nicians involved in the fields of recording. sound reinforcement. and broadcasting. In order to understand musical instruments in their normal performance environments.