Anyone tuning at 432hz?

[40Hz]

I expect it would make me feel anxious to listen to stuff in A=432 or other similarly off tunings. I have to struggle through the original single release of Teacher these days and watching the first Mad Max movie is right out. It didn't used to be this bad.

That’s ok. It happens. Doesn’t mean you’re not a nice person.

 

[ddnidd1]

Don't buy any of it.
I can certainly understand different standards throughout history due to region or instrument maker.
If a 15th century violin maker created a masterpiece to sing at xxxHz, then by all means tune the rest of the orchestra to that standard, but don't cloud the issue with gobbledygook about the Earth's resonance.
The Earth is ever changing in displacement, density, and disposition. It may oscillate at 7~8hz, but that is due to external stimuli, and doesn't necessarily reflect it's resonance. Gravity, tides, storms, magnetic fields, solar wind and radiation all affect the planet's oscillation.
If resonance is defined as the frequency at which an object reflects the most of, if not more than, the energy level of external stimuli, then I'm not even sure the Earth's resonance can be statically measured.
The violin can be made to resonate at practically any pitch, but only with the strong, direct stimulus of the bow. Set upon the table, at which note, played by another source, does it begin to uncontrollably resonate sympathetically. That's it's resonant frequency, subject to humidity variations.

When a singer attempts to shatter a crystal goblet by singing at it's resonant frequency, the glass is always empty. Liquid would constantly change the target freq, rendering the task impossible with a single human voice.

Put your A440 tuning fork in the freezer overnight. First time you strike it in the morning it will not vibrate at 440hz.
Starting to see any parallels here?

Earth's shape shifts minutely. It's temperatures vary widely between regions and seasons. It has a liquid core. All these would affect a resonance point, and shift it accordingly.

Just an old guy rambling.

Please - let's not muddy the water with facts - geez lighten up

 

[lucianoxrp]

Prior to the days of affordable and accurate tuners when bands mostly tuned to themselves, I probably did more often than I knew.

Outside of some early music ensembles I’ve been in that used period correct instruments however, I’ve pretty much stayed with A=440 tuning. And these days most times it’s with a little instrument specific sweetening added.

I’ve tried A=432 for awhile and didn’t notice it really changed things up all that much. Sounded better with some songs, and (not surprisingly) not as good as standard tuning on others. So to me it was more an exercise in satisfying my own curiosity rather than the epiphany some people experience while exploring it.

But maybe that’s because I listen to a lot of different music from different ages and parts of the world where our current Western tuning standards and music theory doesn’t hold sway. So my ears aren’t as locked into hearing things as being “correct” as they’d otherwise might be.

IMO everybody should give the A=432 thing a try and form their own opinion about it as well as some of the mumbo-jumbo and ‘woo!’ surrounding it.

I’d suggest checking it out if for no other reason than to expand your musical horizons. That’s always effort well spent.

This brings me to another thought. When I started, I was a teenager in the 80’s, and none of us had electronic tuners. So we learned to tune by ear, whether by direct string to string or by harmonics and frequency oscilation.
I remember that in 4 or 5 friend bands, only one of them use to have an old boss tuner (not the pedal). I feel that because of that, we had a very nice ear training and we developed a more accurate ear and listening.
Nowadays everybody has a tuner and you can even have it in your phone.
I don’t know if I’m getting old or what, but I have the feeling that, since the tuning by ear practice is gone, we are somehow loosing that training that I find so useful, and probably the newer generations don’t even know how their instruments should sound.
I’m not generalizing, I’m just pointing out a trend, or being an old grumpy, who knows

 

[devnulljp]

You're unlikely to listen to me, so here's Adam Neely

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Yes. I used to tune pianos.

I should have asked ‘Could I even tell’? Yea, as a piano tuner, you’re better than the average bear in that regard.

Anyway, I went to this tone gen site, and the diff is pretty obvious even to me. I was just trying to convert the difference to cents.

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

 

[Bander]

I occasionally play or gig with a really well known musician, who insists on 432. Drives me crazy. It takes half a session or gig to actually get everyone dialed in. Plus, there's so little value in it, it just seems superstitious to me. I'm really glad when another equal pro or celeb shows up with this artist - we tune to 440 hz, and that's that lol.

 

[TakeABreak]

Wait, earth has a base frequency???

 

[40Hz]

I would probably do this if I were willing to deal with the PITA it would present in terms of literally not syncing up with almost every recording and piano and random instrumentalist out there that I might be called upon to play with. But I don't think the juice would be worth the squeeze for the stuff that I do. However, if you're playing originals with one group of people on electronic instruments only, and you don't care about being in sync with anything other than yourselves, could be an interesting experiment.

That’s pretty much where I was experimenting with it. It’s an everyone in the ensemble or nobody thing. It can’t be just you.

 

[Quinn Roberts]

I'm always curious as to the source of information saying musicians used to tune to 432 in some mythical time long, long ago. If anything they tuned above 440; a little simple research would show that, before the standard hertz rate was set (440hz), soloists would be known to tune their instruments higher than their peers in an attempt to sound brighter. Eventually pitches began raising so much and becoming so sporadic from musician to musician, region to region that a standard needed to be formed for the ever growing and connecting world we live on.

I know we learned in school not to trust Wikipedia, but this is an interesting read. Concert pitch - Wikipedia

 

[40Hz]

This brings me to another thought. When I started, I was a teenager in the 80’s, and none of us had electronic tuners. So we learned to tune by ear, whether by direct string to string or by harmonics and frequency oscilation.
I remember that in 4 or 5 friend bands, only one of them use to have an old boss tuner (not the pedal). I feel that because of that, we had a very nice ear training and we developed a more accurate ear and listening.
Nowadays everybody has a tuner and you can even have it in your phone.
I don’t know if I’m getting old or what, but I have the feeling that, since the tuning by ear practice is gone, we are somehow loosing that training that I find so useful, and probably the newer generations don’t even know how their instruments should sound.
I’m not generalizing, I’m just pointing out a trend, or being an old grumpy, who knows

I hear you. Tuning by ear and getting a balanced and decent sounding house mix using just your backline amps and a small vocal PA are both becoming lost arts. I think letting them fade into memory is akin to throwing out the baby with the bath water sometimes. But that’s me.

 

[AcridSaint]

I tune in 442 from time to time.

 

[Rib 13]

5 pages in...gotta be about that time.....

 

[TrueNorthMatt]

The international standard was established as 435 in the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI, then modified to 440 in the 1955.

Didn't know that, so I went on for a little research. Article 282 of the Treaty of Versailles, point 22:

Peace Treaty of Versailles, Articles 264-312, Economic Clauses

If I understand correctly, it was first decided at the 1885 Convention, and later re-established by the Treaty of Versailles (is that it?).

Convention of November 16 and 19, 1885, regarding the establishment of a concert pitch.

 

[Quinn Roberts]

This brings me to another thought. When I started, I was a teenager in the 80’s, and none of us had electronic tuners. So we learned to tune by ear, whether by direct string to string or by harmonics and frequency oscilation.
I remember that in 4 or 5 friend bands, only one of them use to have an old boss tuner (not the pedal). I feel that because of that, we had a very nice ear training and we developed a more accurate ear and listening.
Nowadays everybody has a tuner and you can even have it in your phone.
I don’t know if I’m getting old or what, but I have the feeling that, since the tuning by ear practice is gone, we are somehow loosing that training that I find so useful, and probably the newer generations don’t even know how their instruments should sound.
I’m not generalizing, I’m just pointing out a trend, or being an old grumpy, who knows

As a person in their 20's I can attest to this. I refuse to use tuners and will always argue the importance in learning to go without one. What happens when you wanna play guitar one day and you can't find your phone, your crummy one spot is shorted, and you can't come across that spare 9v in the fridge.

 

[gln1955]

As a person in their 20's I can attest to this. I refuse to use tuners and will always argue the importance in learning to go without one. What happens when you wanna play guitar one day and you can't find your phone, your crummy one spot is shorted, and you can't come across a 9v.

As a person in their 60's, I don't want to hear anyone tuning, especially at a gig.

 

[shaggy45]

I never tune my bass. I just pick it up and play it. I figure Mother Nature tunes it naturally to what she wants. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go hug a tree.

 

[Sean Riddle]

Anyone is allowed to tune however they please, but this whole conspiracy theory nonsense about A 432 being how we should tune is a total lie. The only thing that happens when you tune a Western instrument down a few hertz is that each note becomes a little flatter. Since we use equal temperament, the distance between each note is going to be exactly the same no matter how flat or sharp you tune your instrument. Changing the reference pitch does not change the tuning system. If someone is really keen on playing in harmony with the universe (or whatever new agey nonsense) of just really wants to play truly in tune, then Just Intonation is where it's at since it is based off of the naturally occurring harmonic series

 

[And I]

if anyone is building sonic weapons, i hypothesize 432hz-based systems will produce maximum damage. Invalid Link Removed

 

[Quinn Roberts]

As a person in their 60's, I don't want to hear anyone tuning, especially at a gig.

Neither do I, that's why as a group you prepare beforehand; be that the parking lot or soundcheck... And, to reiterate, learning how to tune so it doesn't take you more than a couple (two) seconds helps also.

 

[And I]

this is an interesting study, though not "scientific" exactly.

Testing the "God" frequency: What's the difference between 440 and 432 hertz?