What Are Overtones?

[dannydawiz]

Just what in the world are overtones?


Not just overtones but these terms as well.


-Fundamental Frequency
-Resonant Frequency
-Inharmonics
-Partials


Where does this terminology come from? What is the name of the subject and where can I learn more about it?


EDIT:


I now understand the meaning of overtones. Correct me if I'm wrong but an overtone is anything found above the fundamental frequency. A harmonic is the fundamental frequency multiple by any whole number.


So if I had 440hz as my fundamental then 880hz and 1320hz would be the first and second harmonics. Is this wrong?


Is the fundamental considered the first harmonic?

EDIT 2:

Nevermind guys I've figured everything out.

Partials = A collection of sine waves that make up a complex waveform
Fundamental Frequency = Lowest frequency of a waveform
Harmonics = Fundamental Frequency times any whole number.
Overtone = Any partial found above the fundamental.
Inharmonics = Any partial that isn't a harmonic.

 

[bandcoach]

Just what in the world are overtones?
Not just overtones but these terms as well.
-Fundamental Frequency
-Resonant Frequency
-Inharmonics
-Partials

Where does this terminology come from? What is the name of the subject and where can I learn more about it?
EDIT:
I now understand the meaning of overtones. Correct me if I'm wrong but an overtone is anything found above the fundamental frequency. A harmonic is the fundamental frequency multiple by any whole number.

So if I had 440hz as my fundamental then 880hz and 1320hz would be the first and second harmonics. Is this wrong?

Is the fundamental considered the first harmonic?

EDIT 2:

Nevermind guys I've figured everything out.

Partials = A collection of sine waves that make up a complex waveform
Fundamental Frequency = Lowest frequency of a waveform
Harmonics = Fundamental Frequency times any whole number.
Overtone = Any partial found above the fundamental.
Inharmonics = Any partial that isn't a harmonic.

So I'm just going to lay it all out again, with probably more in depth explanations of each

this comes from the field of acoustics within physics, sometimes referred to as musical physics or musical acoustics

Fundamental Frequency	The base pitch of a sound
Overtones	Tones that sound over the fundamental frequency they can be harmonic or in-harmonic
Harmonics	Whole integer multiples of the fundamental frequency that sound above it
Partial	Any tone that sounds above the fundamental frequency, which may be either integer or fractional (partial) multiples of the fundamental frequency
Resonant Frequency	The frequency at which a body will resonate, displaying the largest amount of acoustic energy for the least input
Inharmonics	These are partial multiples of the fundamental frequency - some sounds are naturally in-harmonic in their structure particularly bells

Most of the work done in this field was by Helmholtz and Rayleigh. Fourier's work in thermodynamics was found to be analogous to the workings of complex waveforms in acoustics and thus a useful analytical tool was found, the Fourier Transform and its sub-tools the FFT and DFT

I would be interested in your source for your defintions

 

[dannydawiz]

So I'm just going to lay it all out again, with probably more in depth explanations of each

this comes from the field of acoustics within physics, sometimes referred to as musical physics or musical acoustics

Fundamental Frequency	The base pitch of a sound
Overtones	Tones that sound over the fundamental frequency they can be harmonic or in-harmonic
Harmonics	Whole integer multiples of the fundamental frequency that sound above it
Partial	Any tone that sounds above the fundamental frequency, which may be either integer or fractional (partial) multiples of the fundamental frequency
Resonant Frequency	The frequency at which a body will resonate, displaying the largest amount of acoustic energy for the least input
Inharmonics	These are partial multiples of the fundamental frequency - some sounds are naturally in-harmonic in their structure particularly bells

Most of the work done in this field was by Helmholtz and Rayleigh. Fourier's work in thermodynamics was found to be analogous to the workings of complex waveforms in acoustics and thus a useful analytical tool was found, the Fourier Transform and its sub-tools the FFT and DFT

I would be interested in your source for your defintions

Thanks for the clarification on the definitions bandcoach.

I haven't looked into the fourier transform or the FTT and DFT. I don't really know what they are but I'm sure that if they're of any sort of importance I'll come across it eventually.

Understanding this stuff about sound design is really exciting. I first came across this subject because I was wondering what in the world caused instruments to contain different timbres. I must read up more on this.

As for the source of my definitions, it was really just a bunch of random google pages and youtube videos. I had to check a lot of them in order to finally make sense of all the terms. If you want more specific sources then just type in "Partials, Harmonics, and Overtones" into google and you'll get all the exact sources I was reading.

Thanks as always!

 

[bandcoach]

part of understanding is to understand that any instrument has a time-based amplitude envelope for its harmonics and partials including a separate but simultaneous phase envelope over the same time frame - it is complex because it is complex with overtones/partials changing amplitude and phase from moment to moment