440 Hz VS 432 Hz.

seems like pretty out-there new age conspiracy stuff to me. Worried about the frequency you tune to but not even a mention of tempered scales? Which, by the way, is where overtones get wonky.

Still, it's fun to play with tunings. I recently did a track to vocals that were a bit sharp...rather than detuning the vocals, I just tuned the rest of the instruments to go with it. As long as everything is tuned the same, you can get it to sound good!
 
Didn't watch the vids...


You did know that "concert" tuning for symphony type orchestras (and the pianos in those situations) used to be tuned to 444hZ? By tuning the instruments a little sharper their tone increases in brightness. This has largely fallen out of practice since the use of speakers and amplification.

And did you also know that, through the course of a long performance, brass instruments go a few cents flat as the metal get warmer and expands, and that the strings get sharper, because, as the string players are "deafened" by the volume of the brass and percussion instruments behind them, they play a little sharper.
 
Nikki Malkavian Z-boy said:
what do you think?
Click to expand...

As the previous responders have also basically said, I think it's hog wash! Not least because both links are factually inaccurate. In the first link one cannot help but to compare the juxtaposition of the tunings rather than the tunings themselves. I'm not sure if that was intentional on the part of the video's creator (due to some agenda) or just a completely flawed test due to ignorance of how the equal temperament diatonic system works/is perceived.

Also, as Alcove mentioned, the frequency of concert "Ä" is not fixed or mandated in practise as stated in the second article. In the late baroque the tuning was almost a semi-tone higher than it is today and has gradually become flatter over time. When I was a professional orchestral musician most mainland European orchestras tuned to around 442/443. 440 has become more of a standard in recent years for popular music genres simply because of the influence of the default settings for computer based samples, sequencers, processors, etc.

G
 
Alcove Audio said:
the strings get sharper, because, as the string players are "deafened" by the volume of the brass and percussion instruments behind them, they play a little sharper.
Click to expand...

I've tried explaining that fact to conductors in the past; as no one wants to hear an out of tune string section, there is good justification for the brass section to completely obliterate the string section!!

My argument never worked unfortunately, as a brass player I think the conductors felt that my opinion/justification was ever so slightly biased. :)

G
 
AudioPostExpert said:
I've tried explaining that fact to conductors in the past; as no one wants to hear an out of tune string section, there is good justification for the brass section to completely obliterate the string section!!

My argument never worked unfortunately, as a brass player I think the conductors felt that my opinion/justification was ever so slightly biased. :)

G
Click to expand...

Sort of a related point - a major niggle of mine too!

Not because I ever subjected myself to the deafening roar of a brass section in my lugholes (fortunately my only experience with the bloody things was playing along side a couple of people in a jazzy ragtime sort of band), but all my guitars are set up with compensated tunings - depending on things like string guage, scale length, action, key/tuning, finger position (when on the neck it will be played) and the intended performance use of the instrument (different musical and performance styles require greatly varying pressue and techniques of course, from feather-touch studio accuracy and subtleties, to ham-fisted smashing of powerchords etc).

I always cringe when I hear people setting up (guitars) perfectly with a tuner, and then proceed to mash the strings into the fretboard with poor finger technique, creating all sorts of iffy sharp notes and intermodulating chords.

The easist way for them to hear the difference is to get them question to flatten thier G string a smidge (and sometimes the bottom E if they are playing with thinner guages), after that it's down to discipline and experience.

Ack!
 
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