Using Audacity To Teach About Audio

''This page is at an early stage. We're brainstorming ideas for teaching about sound and the mathematics behind it using Audacity''

=Projects=

Measuring the speed of a fan
Background: Google for Hz and find out what it means.

Record the sound of a fan at different speeds. Look at the waveform, both as a wave and in 'spectrum view'. What is the speed of the fan?

How many blades on the fan? How many revolutions of the fan per second?

Tips: If you lighty hold a piece a paper against the fan the sound will change. You can use this to check.

Negative sound
Background: Google for sound cancelling earphones

Beat frequencies
Background: Google for beat frequencies.

Make two pure sounds of very similar frequencies in Audacity using 'generate tone'. Mix them down. What happens? Why?

Harmony
What (pure) sounds sound well together and what sounds don't?