The Miracle Of 432Hz

What should also perhaps be mentioned is that in particular the Schumann resonances are not actually even fixed frequencies; as anyone who knows a little about about related topics knows, the ionosphere changes significantly due to conditions, mainly from the influence of the sun. This allows, for example, radio waves to propagate further or the opposite which is a key concept in ham radio. There is no given Schumann resonant frequency or such - it depends on the exact time and conditions. As other ham enthusiasts (and textbooks) will confirm, these conditions depend on the season, time of day and are very volatile.

A CB radio or just observing a web SDR will confirm this beyond a doubt.
 
PelliX said:
Exactly. The 432Hz frequency is also associated with the so-called solfeggio scale, yet doesn't appear in it. Then there are the countless references to the Schumann resonances, again - no 432Hz there either. But it "sounds like it could be kinda related somehow", so there are tons of Youtube videos and stuff that try to draw parallels.

As Bea pointed out there's a low eigenmode frequency as anticipated, nothing unexpected there.



String tension is reduced in applicable instruments which alters the voicing a little, etc. You're right though; the fundamental flaw of trying to apply these notions to music is that playing a A tuned to 432Hz or 440Hz will yield a peak encompassing *both* frequencies strongly due to the Q of the note, so to speak.



Well... today we have fairly clean pitch alteration capabilities without tempo changes so one could record a harmonica (or other untunable instrument) and adjust it post-rec to match the rest of the piece. Anything sampled should be easy to do. I've actually detuned a synth with a piano patch to play along to some stuff (Beatles, for example). They recorded at concert pitch, I'm sure, but the tape was sped up or slowed down. An example of an actually detuned piano would be Coldplay's The Scientist, which sits at - IIRC - 441.3Hz.
Click to expand...
Still a PITA.
 
Depends on what you consider a PITA. Retuning a synth or electric piano is less work than a guitar typically because everything shifts equally instead of having to retune each string an even intonate the instrument again. On my EM-10's it's just holding down the Keyboard Velocity key and selecting the desired frequency for A over middle C. Can't remember off the top of my head how to do it on the JV-80 but I recall it's equally simple. As soon as you're dealing with the audio in a DAW it's generally no more than a couple of mouse clicks and bumping it by how many cents or semitones you desire.

In the case of something like a synth there's no real downside to it. Acoustic instruments however are often built and designed with concert pitch in mind so deviating from it can have unwanted side effects.

Ultimately, it's a matter of having standards. Before then it was a free for all and - as opposed to a lot of the clickbait-y videos and pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo - it often came down to people's vocal ranges and where they were able to perform best and reliably/comfortably. There was never a real standard of 432Hz, that's a modern 'invention'.
 
No dog in this hunt. But trivia, when tuned to 432 Hz, middle C becomes 256 Hz. Now for you binary folks, the next lower octaves are 128, 64, 32, etc. The next higher octaves are 512, 1024, 2028, etc !
 
F2YtohfW8AAhv8e.jpg
 
PelliX said:
Retuning a synth or electric piano is less work than a guitar typically because everything shifts equally instead of having to retune each string an even intonate the instrument again.
Click to expand...
I work very loosely, grabbing instruments and trying things out as I go, and if I had to stop and tune everything would drive me to distraction. Also, I don’t believe there’s any value in 432=A. Why bother?
 
I don't bother, I play at concert pitch unless I'm just playing along with something for fun. The point I made was more that it's fairly easy for some things nowadays compared to the analog days. Tuning a piano is doable as a layman, but is most certainly a PITA. On a digital one it's a few buttons and done. As I explained earlier, there is no real musical advantage to the 432Hz notion apart from 'appeal'. Maybe Beethoven's 9th sounds even better tuned down 8 cents to some, I'll also go with concert pitch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top