What are harmonics??

A video explaining harmonics, the harmonic series and how these phenomenon relate to music.

[@frs535]

You made it so clear. Cheers!

[@folland1841]

Thanks, this video was very helpful!

[@JetBob84]

VERY good!!!!

[@runix4494]

But does each and every one of harmonics matter equally, do they all have same volume or change on sound?

[@JetBob84]

The higher the overtone, the amplitude (volume) decreases compared to the fundamental. What you refer to as the "sound" of each overtone I will assume that you mean the frequency, or pitch. Yes, the pitch increases with increasing overtone number. So the answer is that each and every one of the harmonics does not matter equally (with increasing overtone number, pitch increases while volume decreases). This is a very good question, because each musical instrument has it's own "timbre" ... it's own unique distinguishing sound such as brassy or wooden, even though the same note (such as F) is played on both. The fact is that the overtones for a trumpet vs. an oboe have overtones of different amplitudes....and one can find that some instruments do not have certain overtones. This is how each instrument achieves it's own unique characteristic sound and leads to a richness of sound when played together (or some instruments do not complement each other).

[@wizard1370]

Here is a big problem: when making music, I would work with ratios instead of the difference between the frequencies because we perceive music logarithmically. However, the harmonic series is linear. Square waves only use odd harmonics (1, 3, 5, 7, 9... (adding 2 each time)). The clashing between linear and logarithmic thinking in music is confusing. When working linearly, suddenly very obscure limit ratios occur. Like a square wave has 11-limit, 13-limit, and 17-limit ratios. In fact, it as all prime numbers in it. Is it our ears that are the problem and nature just works linearly? Are there any famous sounds that use the harmonic series logarithmically?

[@aleksdizhe]

This comment actually made me think deeper🤔

[@willishokage8517]

What quarantine has done to us 😶

[@elandavenport1534]

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