CALLUM COLLINS:
Exegesis Working Doc
GAME AND SOUND DESIGNER
Sound Glossary
Sound
Sound is classified as an energy that travels through a medium such as air, which creates vibrations that stimulate nerves inside of ears to precipitate the sensation of hearing.
Frequency
Frequency is the number of times an event repeats for example; the rate, per second, of vibration such as sound.
Pitch
Pitch refers to the steepness of a slope. In relation to sound, this is determined by the rate of vibration (Frequency).
Timbre
Timbre is the difference between sounds and their origins; two instruments playing the same note will sound different.
Hertz
Hertz is the unit used to measure frequency, equal to one cycle per second.
Sonic
Sonic is the term used to describe "sound" or sound waves and things that travel at the speed of sound.
Sound Culture
Sound culture is the broad study of the production of sound and music.
Soundscape
A soundscape is an acoustic environment made up of musical and or sound components.
Sound Design
Sound design is the practice of producing music or sounds using a broad range of tools and techniques.
Tone and Mood
In relation to sound, Tone is the characteristic quality of a sound while Mood is the emotional response of a sound.
Psychoacoustics
Psychoacoustics is the study of sound perception and its effect on the mind.
Toccata and Fugue
Toccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers.
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In music, a fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
Dynamic Range Compression
Dynamic range compression (DRC) or simply compression is an audio signal processing operation that reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds, thus reducing or compressing an audio signal's dynamic range.
Reverb
Reverberation, in psychoacoustics and acoustics, is a persistence of sound after the sound is produced.