I’m trying to get a basic conceptual understanding of spherical harmonics and how they’re used in ambisonics. I see how mic positions relate to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. harmonics (which also seem to have something to do with electron orbitals?) but I can’t conceive how in the world that’s used to synthesize the sound field.

When trying to get an overview of the Fourier transform, there are a lot of resources out there explaining it in a way for audio folks who don’t have much of a math background, but with spherical harmonics it’s hard to find anything that doesn’t immediately dive into deep mathematics and quantum mechanics.

Anyone have insight on this topic or a decent resource to check out?