Since its publication in 1990, the first edition of Music, Sound, and
Technology has enjoyed wide success and has become a popular text in
musical acoustical studies at the university level. In preparing the new
edition we have included recent developments in all aspects of music and
sound technology, and we have added data on acoustical characteristics
of musical in- struments. The first edition has been cited for the scope
and clarity of its graphics; we have emphasized this to an even greater
degree in the second edition. /ME xi Preface to the First Edition This
book is about music. the instruments and players who produce it. and the
technologies that support it. Although much modern music is produced by
electronic means. its underlying basis is still traditional acoustical
sound production. and that broad topic provides the basis for this book.
There are many fine books available that treat musical acoustics largely
from the physical point of view. The approach taken here is to present
only the fundamentals of musical phys- ics. while giving special
emphasis to the relation between instrument and player and stressing the
characteristics of instruments that are of special concern to engineers
and tech- nicians involved in the fields of recording. sound
reinforcement. and broadcasting. In order to understand musical
instruments in their normal performance environments.