How Sound Actually Works

The physics you need, and none that you do not.

Frequency, amplitude, phase, decibels, sample rate and bit depth. Everything in mixing and sound design is downstream of this, and most people never learn it properly.

Waves

What is actually moving.

1. Air, pressure and what a microphone hears
2. Frequency and pitch
3. Amplitude and loudness: why they are different
4. Harmonics and timbre
5. Phase: why two good sounds can cancel out
6. Waves check

Decibels and levels

The one scale that confuses everybody.

1. Why decibels work the way they do
2. dBFS: the decibels inside your computer
3. Peak, RMS and LUFS
4. Headroom, and the mistake you cannot undo
5. Reading a meter properly

Digital audio

What the computer is actually storing.

1. Sample rate: how computers capture sound
2. Bit depth, dynamic range and dither
3. Latency, buffer size and wired headphones
4. File formats: WAV, MP3, AAC, M4A and FLAC
5. Gain staging from start to finish
6. Prove it to yourself
7. Digital audio final