Guide to Timbre in Music: 7 Ways to Describe Timbre

Timbre (pronounced TAM-bər) is the sound quality, or tone quality, of a note played on a particular musical instrument. Two musical instruments can play identical pitches at identical volumes and still produce distinct musical sounds, or timbres. The effect of timbre is most pronounced when comparing different families of instruments; for instance, brass instruments have a very different timbre than string instruments or the human voice. Even within a given family, different instruments have varying tone timbres. For instance, both the oboe and the clarinet are wind instruments, yet their tone colors are distinct.

One reason instruments have different timbral characteristics is the relationship between the fundamental pitches and overtones they produce.

• When you play a note on an instrument, you primarily produce a fundamental frequency associated with that specific musical note. For instance, when you play the note F3, the fundamental frequency is F3. In addition to the fundamental frequency, any note you play also produces overtones—additional frequencies in the harmonic series, in this case F4, C5, F5, A5, and so forth.
• In general, lower-pitched instruments produce more audible harmonics than higher pitched instruments. For example, a cello produces more audible harmonics than a violin. Likewise, the high-pitched piccolo produces fewer audible harmonics than the lower-pitched flute. These differences contribute to the timbre of each instrument.
• Some instruments emphasize overtones more than others, resulting in varied musical timbres. Certain woodwind instruments, like the clarinet, amplify the sound of harmonics while others, like the oboe, project the fundamental more loudly. Some percussion instruments, like crash cymbals, produce so many overtones that it's nearly impossible to hear a definite pitch, which gives them a unique timbre distinct from other instruments.

A sound's sonic envelope alters the listener’s perception of timbre. Sonic envelope consists of four factors: attack, decay, sustain and release (sometimes abbreviated as ADSR).

• Attack is the time it takes for a note to go from inaudible to its loudest peak.
• Decay is the time it takes for a note to go from its peak loudness down to the sustain level.
• Sustain is the loudness of the sound's post-peak level, lasting until the player stops sounding the note.
• Release is the time it takes for the sound to decay all the way to silence after the instrumentalist stops playing.

Different instruments, synthesizer patches, and vocalists produce different sonic envelopes, contributing to the timbre of the sound they produce. This can account for the difference between two singers performing the exact same cantata. Two instruments of different brands can produce distinct timbres on account of their ADSR envelopes. Even the same instrument can produce multiple sonic envelopes; a violin played pizzicato (plucked) has a faster attack and decay than a violin played arco (with a bow). The variances in playing style affect the physical characteristics of sounds produced by the violin.

It can be hard to describe the timbre of a sound using mere words. Still, there are certain words often associated with audio characteristics, including:

1. 1. “Nasal” often refers to a loud fundamental pitch with minimal overtones.
2. 2. “Rich” or “thick” describes a sound laden with multiple overtones.
3. 3. “Noisy” can describe a sound where overtones overwhelm the fundamental pitch.
4. 4. “Distorted” often refers to compressed sound waves where high and low frequencies are cut off and middle frequencies are intensely amplified.
5. 5. “Breathy” can describe sounds where un-pitched airflow is audible.
6. 6. “Vibrato” describes the audio effect of oscillating frequencies, which results in tiny pitch shifts.
7. 7. “Tremolo” describes changes in a sound wave's amplitude, which causes rapid volume changes.

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