DC & The Struggle
Jim Reilly
"This is more or less how we hear:
Air is set in motion by a vibrating object. This could be anything, a string, vocal chord, glass shattering on the ground, anything that moves disrupts the air, sets it in motion and causes sound. The ear, with its unique cup like folds, intercepts this moving air and channels it through a short canal to a thin membrane stretched across the ear canal. This membrane, the eardrum, vibrates in rhythm with the air’s vibrations. The eardrum transfers this motion to a group of small bones, which move in sympathy with fluctuations in pressure originally caused by the moving air. These small bones transform the physical, tangible air movements onto a coiled tube within the ear, which contains thousands of hair-like nerve endings. From there, the motion caused by the vibrating objects transform into electrical impulses, which the brain then decodes and identifies as sound.
What we perceive as a single sound is an incredibly complex combination of things. Think of a rock thrown into a pond. Ripples, waves radiate out from the point where the rock broke the water’s surface. The ripples are what sound waves would look like if our eyes could see such things. You could think of the rock as the thing producing the sound.
We differentiate between the different types of sound waves by comparing their relative length. The length refers to the time it takes for the wave to go from its highest point through its lowest point and back again. Like a wave in the ocean, reaching its crest, falling, then rising again.
Any sound, except for the purest tones—a birdcall or the highest notes of a flute—consists of several sound waves of differing lengths occurring simultaneously. The ear hears the longest wave as the lowest note and compares the other waves to it. Thus, the quality of the sound as a whole is determined by a comparison of all the shorter, higher pitched waves, to the lowest portion of the sound. The nature of the entire sonic moment at hand is decided by the lowest, the deepest portion of the sound. Music theorists call this the fundamental. Musicians call this the root.
The tangible quality of the musical instant can therefore be defined as the relationship between the higher portions of the sound waves as they compare to the lowest, the longest wave. In other words, the very nature of the sound itself owes it quality—good, bad, or indifferent—to lowest note or part of that note.
The lowest note drives the bus.
The bass player plays the lowest notes."
Air is set in motion by a vibrating object. This could be anything, a string, vocal chord, glass shattering on the ground, anything that moves disrupts the air, sets it in motion and causes sound. The ear, with its unique cup like folds, intercepts this moving air and channels it through a short canal to a thin membrane stretched across the ear canal. This membrane, the eardrum, vibrates in rhythm with the air’s vibrations. The eardrum transfers this motion to a group of small bones, which move in sympathy with fluctuations in pressure originally caused by the moving air. These small bones transform the physical, tangible air movements onto a coiled tube within the ear, which contains thousands of hair-like nerve endings. From there, the motion caused by the vibrating objects transform into electrical impulses, which the brain then decodes and identifies as sound.
What we perceive as a single sound is an incredibly complex combination of things. Think of a rock thrown into a pond. Ripples, waves radiate out from the point where the rock broke the water’s surface. The ripples are what sound waves would look like if our eyes could see such things. You could think of the rock as the thing producing the sound.
We differentiate between the different types of sound waves by comparing their relative length. The length refers to the time it takes for the wave to go from its highest point through its lowest point and back again. Like a wave in the ocean, reaching its crest, falling, then rising again.
Any sound, except for the purest tones—a birdcall or the highest notes of a flute—consists of several sound waves of differing lengths occurring simultaneously. The ear hears the longest wave as the lowest note and compares the other waves to it. Thus, the quality of the sound as a whole is determined by a comparison of all the shorter, higher pitched waves, to the lowest portion of the sound. The nature of the entire sonic moment at hand is decided by the lowest, the deepest portion of the sound. Music theorists call this the fundamental. Musicians call this the root.
The tangible quality of the musical instant can therefore be defined as the relationship between the higher portions of the sound waves as they compare to the lowest, the longest wave. In other words, the very nature of the sound itself owes it quality—good, bad, or indifferent—to lowest note or part of that note.
The lowest note drives the bus.
The bass player plays the lowest notes."
Jim Reilly is DC's bass player.
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