I have never really fully understood how a speaker vibrating air molecules which then in turn vibrate the membrane in your ear works. How can a speaker make multiple sounds at the exact same time if its based on movement of a physical object?
In: Physics
It’s a bit hard to visualise but they use a principle called linear superposition which basically means that you can add any number of sine waves (single, pure notes) on top of each other to create any sound profile you want.
Think of it like moving a steering wheel: you can do small changes to align yourself to the road, while also doing a big movement to get round a corner (sorry it’s not a great analogy).
The key thing is that the speaker is only making one, very complex noise. It isn’t making separate noises for drums, guitar and voice. It just adds them all together and plays the result. Your brain can separate them out again because we know the difference.
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