Sound Science Builds
Today you build real things.
A speaker. A sound visualizer. And you'll capture real sounds from the world. Two take-home artifacts and a library of sounds you'll use for the rest of the program.
You're going to build a speaker with no electricity. Just shape, cardboard, and physics. The speaker on your phone is tiny — but if you channel the sound waves through the right shape, you can amplify them dramatically.
- Cardboard (various sizes)
- Cardstock or thin cardboard
- Paper cups or plastic bottles
- Scissors
- Tape
Before you build anything, measure how loud your phone is on its own:
- Pick one song to use for all your tests
- Open a decibel meter app on a different phone
- Place the measuring phone 1 foot from the playing phone
- Play the song. Record the dB level. This is your "before" number.
Think about megaphones and cupping your hand around your ear. You're shaping sound waves.
- Cut an opening for the phone's speaker
- Build a horn or cone shape that flares outward
- Tape it stable, make sure the phone fits snug
Put your phone in the amplifier. Re-test at the same distance.
- Note: a 3 dB increase is noticeable. 10 dB increase is roughly twice as loud.
- If time, modify your design and test again
You keep this. It's your take-home from today.
Real sound designers don't just live on Foley stages. They go out into the world and capture sounds. Today you do that.
- A door slamming
- Footsteps on at least 2 different surfaces
- A water sound (fountain, sink, anything)
- Ambient background (hallway, classroom from outside)
- Something mechanical (vending machine, fan, motor)
- Something unexpected — your call
- Get CLOSE to the sound — phones don't have great mics
- Hold the phone steady
- Get a few seconds of just the sound — no talking over it
- Label your files as you go ("door_slam_1," "footsteps_carpet")
These recordings become the SOUND LIBRARY for your Makey Makey board later in the program. Don't lose them.
You can't see sound. But you CAN see what sound does. When you push a frequency into a metal plate, the vibration creates standing wave patterns. Sprinkle salt on top and the salt moves to the "quiet" spots — making the wave pattern visible.
This is also why Foley works: your brain identifies sound by vibration pattern, not by the source. A coconut struck on stone makes vibrations like a hoof. Your brain says "horse."
- 1 aluminum pie tin
- Plastic wrap (cut your own length from the roll)
- 1 rubber band
- A small baggie of salt or fine sand
- Cut a piece of plastic wrap big enough to cover the pie tin with a few inches extra
- Stretch it TIGHT across the top of the pie tin
- Secure it with the rubber band around the rim
- Sprinkle a thin layer of salt on top
Three ways to push sound into the plate:
- Bluetooth karaoke speaker — press the speaker firmly against the rim of the pie tin. Use a phone tone generator app (free) to play different frequencies. THIS IS THE BIG ONE.
- Phone speaker direct — hold phone face-down with the speaker pressed against the rim. Smaller patterns but works.
- Your voice — hum or sing directly into the rim of the pie tin. Hardest to control but the most fun.
- Try different pitches — go higher, then lower. Patterns change.
- Try different volumes. Does loudness change the pattern, or just how dramatic it is?
- Which frequencies create the MOST complex patterns?
- Can your group find a frequency that makes the same pattern as another group's?
You keep this. Take it home and show someone.