Different methods of listening to music combine various elements, equipment, and systems. Understanding how we listen to music is helpful before gaining a deeper understanding of how music is created and the purpose of various components and systems.
General Process – Applies to all audio playback
Smartphone Audio Process – How your phone plays music
Classic Vinyl Process – How a record is played
How do these devices produce a sound?
Music starts as sound waves produced by the artist. Those sound waves are then recorded and stored digitally or on a physical medium. When we listen to music, we access that stored information and play it back as an electrical signal that is amplified and sent to speakers.
Sound is produced by a device called a transducer, also known as a speaker or driver. A transducer contains a coil of wire surrounded by a permanent magnet, which is attached to a diaphragm. When an AC Current is applied to the coil, an electromagnetic field is generated, causing the coil and diaphragm to move together with reference to the permanent magnet. This movement vibrates the air nearby and is how sound is produced.
“A transducer, or speaker driver, uses an electromagnetic field and signal to produce sound.”
Both speakers and headphones utilize transducers, but they vary in sensitivity and how they interact with the ear. Headphones require less power than speakers due to their close proximity to the ear. Headphones are also more user-specific, with the sound quality changing significantly depending on how the headphones are worn and used. Similarly, the sound of speakers can vary depending on the room they are used in, and the location of the listener relative to the speaker.
The next concept to understand is creating signal, as it is the foundation of the working of music systems.
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