Black Hole Sun tuning mystery solved!

[eriky4003]

On the 1984 album, 'Jump' and probably 'I'll Wait' were in 440 but VH's normal tuning was 432 as demonstrated by Panama. All other songs that our band covers from the first five albums were in 432. I'd say this was to accomodate DLRs voice. Sammy's work (that I learned) was in 440.
Our band typically learned these songs in 432, but played them at 440.

 

[Clark W]

I didn't know it was "the Devil's tuning"

That's for the fakers. Everyone knows that you have to use 666hz tuning for the real thing. And you have to be able to actually play backwards too!

 

[LBS-bass]

In 80 or 81, a lesser known guitarist by the name of Eddie Van Halen introduced a tuning that I hadn't experienced yet, drop D a whole step down. Which is actually Drop C. That disc was called Fair Warning. And later, Drop C tuning became extremely popular with Nu Metal bands. Van Halen, and scads of others, used a basic Flat tuning system. All their discs were recorded a Half Step below standard. Fair Warning took the Flat tuning a "step" further, pun intended, and changed the way kids tuned their guitars forever. Was Eddie the first? I doubt it. But it was the first I'd heard it. We loved it cuz our strings felt loose, and the sound was mean, heavy.

Yep. People tuned down. I don't think they tuned down specifically to A=432 though. Usually it would be a half step down for the benefit of the singer, or for that crunchy, beefy guitar sound that SRV got. But who started with the A=432 stuff? I don't know.

Edit: Someone up there says EVH tuned to 432. That would be interesting if true. I know lots of guys back then just tuned guitars a half-step flat and I'm not sure there were cheap tuners that would recalibrate that low back then. You could do it with a strobe but not very many people took those out on stages.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

My band has been playing Black Hole Sun.

I practice it to the studio recording but the tuning (D#, G#,C#,G#) is always off. Tonight I figured out that Soundgarden used 432hZ tuning! It is now in perfect tune!

I only recently heard of 432hZ tuning. It has various theories attached to it. "Some theorists believe that 440 Hz was designed to stimulate fear, sickness, oppression. This imposed frequency was introduced as the standard frequency in 1940 in the US." (Now I know what caused COVID!!!)

It is supposed to be more harmonic and pleasant than 440hZ. It is supposed to help your Chakra or Shakra, and stuff like that.

Just wanted to share....

And of course Baroque music defined A as 415Hz (which is about 1/2-step lower than A=440) and Bach often used a tuning of A=466 for his German Church music. One reason that the 415Hz hung on for Baroque music was that a harpsichord could easily be shifted between 415=A or 440=A by just sliding its keyboard over a string to accommodate either tuning that the group was using at the time. All kinds of various frequencies for "A" have been used throughout history. It's a little unsettling for those of us who grew up only hearing music based on A=440Hz. Imagine the frustration of someone with perfect pitch trying to play with A-tuning at either 415Hz or 432Hz. They would constantly be on edge.

 

[Carl Hillman]

It (432Hz) is supposed to be more harmonic and pleasant than 440hZ. It is supposed to help your Chakra or Shakra, and stuff like that.

Not to get too technical, but the vibrations produced when tuned to 432 interfere with the 5G waves set up by the Lizard People to alter human DNA, making us stupid and compliant for our Bilderberger and Illuminati handlers.

The ultimate goal with that being, of course, to enslave the planet, harvesting us for adrenochrome and Human Growth Hormone, which are highly valued recreational drugs amongst the Grays and Reptillians.

 

[lermgalieu]

I am new to this idea, so I have no set opinions. However, I note that for every over the top and bizarre conspiracy theory, there is also some kernel of information that may be worth looking at more closely before an out-of-hand dismissal. My quick Google search, for example, turned up this: Music Tuned to 440 Hz Versus 432 Hz and the Health Effects: A Double-blind Cross-over Pilot Study - PubMed

"Conclusions: The data suggests that 432 Hz tuned music can decrease heart rate more than 440 Hz tuned music."

I am just offering information, not a personal opinion or conclusion.

 

[PennyroyalWe]

I’ve avoided playing with people who believe in these tuning conspiracy theories. One refused to use 440 because it’s “the nazi tuning”, another strongly preferred 432 because of the “healing frequencies”.
Some people will believe anything.

 

[Vinny_G]

I think that "Every Breath You Take" is not in A440 either. It seems to me that it is a bit below but I've not checked how much.

Edit: apparently it'd be one quarter-step flat: Every Breath You Take - The Police - Guitar & Bass Tablature PDF

 

[2112]

Also not in 440:

Rush - Xanadu
Queen - Another One Bites the Dust

 

[Raenil]

Is there any sort of processor/stompbox out there that offers pitchshift retuning on-the-fly across a continuous range as opposed to the discrete steps offered by something like the Digitech Drop?

I've tested my HX Stomp, it seems to do this, 50 cents in either direction in the simple pitch shift.

By the way, in my youth in a british style brass band, i faintly remembers that we were tuned to something lower than 440 - maybe 436.
Not to align with the universe, but rather to align with a bunch of teenagers not practicing enough...

 

[keith1r]

Recording could’ve been sped up a bit

 

[smeet]

Older recordings are not in 440 because they didn't have/use digital tuners. No deeper reasons for that.

I've read a lot of the foolish propaganda surrounding the A 432Hz idiocy (no judgement tho ).

Every aspect of the "theory" is pure BS. Even if we accept that the A 432 is a calming frequency because it is in tune with the electromagnetic resonance of the earth (I'm willing to accept that it's a possibility), what about the other 11 tones in the 12-tone octave system? In equal temperament, none of the other 11 tones has any simple relationship to the 432 number, so that goes out the window, unless you ONLY play the A pitch.

Every other argument for 432 vs 440 falls apart equally easily. I can't believe the crap people believe.

 

[boggus]

I can't believe the crap people believe.

Yup. Especially with stringed instruments, even fretted ones. Just fret a string a little harder or do a slight bend, and you're already 'ruining' the perfect soul-healing magical voodoo frequency tuning! Not to mention all the stringed fretless instruments.

 

[bobfarabaugh]

So I set my tuner to A 432 and tuned my bass to it. Played it for a quick minute. Just sounds flat to me. Nothing mystical or anything happened. Just sounded flat. Tuner is back to 440 before I forget I did it at next rehearsal whenever that is.
Reminded me of the time I accidentally set my GPS speedometer to nautical miles and wondered why everyone was driving so slow.

 

[SunByrne]

The story I heard was that Eddie would just tune his guitar to something he liked, everyone else would tune to whatever he was tuned to, and they'd go.

The version of this legend that I heard is that they intentionally tuned down a half-step for DLR's voice, but that the original Frankenstrat was not easy to tune properly (or Eddie just didn't care and made everyone tune to him) so most of their songs are in what my teacher likes to call "E#-ish".

If you listen carefully to all of their first album you'll find some songs are a little sharper than E# and some are a little flatter. Apparently whatever the Frankenstrat felt like that day.

Some here are suggesting that they were tuned to 432 but I think that's only true for some of their songs and that it's more of an accident than anything else.

Oddly, once they got to Jump (playing keyboards and guitar in the same song), suddenly everything was in normal tuning - he tuned his guitar to the keys, no doubt.

Yeah, funny how that worked. Suddenly Eddie could tune the Frankenstrat properly. A miracle!

 

[Angus]

I am new to this idea, so I have no set opinions. However, I note that for every over the top and bizarre conspiracy theory, there is also some kernel of information that may be worth looking at more closely before an out-of-hand dismissal. My quick Google search, for example, turned up this: Music Tuned to 440 Hz Versus 432 Hz and the Health Effects: A Double-blind Cross-over Pilot Study - PubMed

"Conclusions: The data suggests that 432 Hz tuned music can decrease heart rate more than 440 Hz tuned music."

I am just offering information, not a personal opinion or conclusion.

Although their findings were not statistically significant and the whole paper is kind of garbage, so I would not draw the same conclusions that they did.

 

[lermgalieu]

Although their findings were not statistically significant and the whole paper is kind of garbage, so I would not draw the same conclusions that they did.

"I am just offering information, not a personal opinion or conclusion." - Me

 

[micguy]

One thing to ponder: Lower tunings (I'm pretty certain the tuning foks of the day weren't that spot on) were commonplace in orchestras a few hundred years ago - the tension of strings being a bit lower was probably an advantage. Stradivarius violins that have survived don't have their original necks on them - they've been rebuilt to accomodate higher tunings and steel E strings - early E strings were silk, and they were reportedly rather fragile - if you could tune them lower, they would last longer. Having most of the violins' E strings intact at the end of the piece was probably an incentive to not tune too high.

 

[pickaxe]

Re- practicing along with the recording. You can shift the pitch using software, like Audacity and then save that modified mp3. Lot more handy than retuning.

or ajust the speed on your turntable so the record is in pitch(the good old days)

 

[Barticus]

In bands, we always tuned to the keyboard player’s A, since there was no easy way to re-tune a keyboard on the fly. I don’t recall any howls if outrage from the audience: “Say! You guys are half a cent off, I want a refund!” You can drive yourself nuts with this stuff to no useful purpose. The first time I plugged into a full blown Peterson Strobe Tuner, I realized how approximate the intonation is on most instruments anyway. If it sounds good, it IS good.

This is funny... we were recording a song the studio last year and our singer was playing piano and singing... he was having a hell of a time signing the song, and after about 4 takes I discovered someone had accidentally detuned the digital piano to 432!

once I corrected it, the recording was done in one take