ABSTRACT
Learning the craft of audio engineering is like learning a foreign language. A new language may be intimidating and difficult at first, but with time and dedication, a vocabulary is built. Soon words turn into phrases and phrases turn into full sentences. This chapter describes details of a sound wave and explores some of the language of audio. It deals with the seven characteristics of a sound wave, such as amplitude, frequency, phase, velocity, wavelength, harmonics, and envelope. Understanding these characteristics is essential to make a decent recording, become a competent mix engineer, and generally increase people knowledge about audio. A square wave is typically associated with digital audio. A sawtooth wave contains both the even and the odd harmonics of the fundamental. Sawtooth waveforms are best known for their use in synthesizers and are often used for bowed string sounds.
