On Spectrogram Settings

Today’s post is the promised follow-up to my post on the history of spectrograms. I want to explain some basic concepts of spectrographic analysis so that I can clear up some common misconceptions and explain why some things may not always look quite the way you expected. [Read more]

A Brief History of Spectrograms

To understand the variation in the way spectrograms look (and why I call them “spectrograms” instead of “Sonagrams”), it’s useful to know a little bit about their history. [Read more]

How to Read Spectrograms: Polyphony

Well, the cycle is complete: Lesson Six on Polyphony is up. [Read more]

How to Read Spectrograms: Nasality

I’ve finally posted Lesson Five on Nasality. It’s a bit of a doozy, but I’m proud of it. [Read more]

How to Read Spectrograms: Trills and Beats

I’ve published Lesson Four on trills and beats. Lessons five and six may be a while in coming, since they are slated to deal with nasality and polyphony, which is where things start to get complicated. [Read more]

How to Read Spectrograms: Noise

Lesson three is up; it covers noise.

Also, I neglected to mention it before, but I’ve been working on updating the Bird Sound Glossary as well.  As I expand the spectrogram pages, I’ll add more “example” links to the glossary, and I’ll expand the number of terms as we go.

As always, [Read more]

How to Read Spectrograms: Musicality

Lesson two is [Read more]

How to Read Spectrograms: Pitch & Inflection

I’ve just posted the first part of my online tutorial on how to read spectrograms.  Lesson One deals with Pitch and Inflection.  More lessons to follow; all will be permanently available through the menu bar.

Let me know what [Read more]