Thread: Harmonics

Is this in regards to mastering? The harmonic thing that is.

The unique sound of something is the relation of the harmonics to the fundimental. The difference between a sign wave and a square wave is the harmonics that are generated. If you radically alter the harmonics of a sound, you can change it's characteristic. It all depends on how it was recorded as to whether altering the harmonics will make it sound better or not. Tweek and listen.

Originally Posted by splurge

The harmonics of the fundemental are exact multiples of the fundemental. eg: 40Hz fudemental =80Hz 1st harmonic, 120Hz 2nd harmonic, 160Hz 3rd harmonic etc.......

You just keep adding the fundemental to the result.

Hope this helps

Liam

Hey guys, this is good info to know, but it's a little bit different than what you suggest here Liam. Here's my post from a subject similar to this from a while ago

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Overtone 1: 1 octave above fundamental
2: 1 5th above overtone 1
3: 1 4th above overtone 2
4: 1 major 3rd above overtone 3
5: 1 minor 3rd above overtone 4
6: 1 slightly low minor 3rd above overtone 5 (This is a dangerous tone - it's not a real pitch according to Herr Bach.)
7: 1 slightly high major second above overtone 6 (bringing the overtones "back in tune")
8: 1 major second above overtone 7
9: 1 major second above overtone 8
10: 1 slightly low major second above overtone 9 (also a dangerous overtone as it is not a "real" note either)
and so on.... decreasing in interval as you go up.
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That comes from this post here:
http://www.recording.org/ftopict-22239.html

Hope this helps.

J.

Michael Fossenkemper wrote"The unique sound of something is the relation of the harmonics to the fundimental. The difference between a sign wave and a square wave is the harmonics that are generated. If you radically alter the harmonics of a sound, you can change it's characteristic. It all depends on how it was recorded as to whether altering the harmonics will make it sound better or not. Tweek and listen.[/quote]

I agree totally on this and I may add that for me, the best balance is defined by; "Enough fundamental in order to know what note, enough harmonics in order to know what instrument".
All wind instruments have a fundamental frequency which is the one generate by air vibrating inside a pipe of a given lenght. All of them generate different notes by adding lenght to that pipe (brass instruments) or substracting lenght (woodwinds), thus generating a different lenght instrument and therefore changing the fundamental. The case i know best is the trumpet (been a trumpet player myself). It generates a Bb2 (116.5 hertz)at the lowest tone in open position (we call it first pedal, no valves pushed) and by adding valve combinations (up to three valves down, maximum pipe lenght) it goes down to E2 (82.4 hertz). These notes are of seldom musical use however, these are the fundamental notes of the trumpet from the physical point of view. But, if you record a, lets say Bb 4 (466 hertz) and then remove all the above partials or harmonics you will end up with an almost pure sine wave at 466 hertz although this note is the 3rd harmonic of the fundamental Bb2. So for me, in audio, I take as "fundamental range" the actual "note range" of the instrument, be it string or wind. In the case of the Bb trumpet would be from E3 (lowest usable note at 164 hz) to E6 (1318 hz) typical. Anything above that is regarded as harmonics or "ID information" so I balance between note and harmonics. Best regards to all. Javier