What does the word "acoustic" mean nowadays?

[Joe Baldassarre]

Many people "hear" with their eyes. If they see acoustical instruments, they consider it acoustical even if sound reinforcement is used.
On the other hand, some years ago I was hired to play an outdoor event on lute, so naturally I brought a tiny amp. When the park's official saw my amp and said that amplified music was not allowed in the park, I asked her to listen to my instrument from 10 feet away. When she couldn't hear it at all, I was allowed to demonstrate my amplified sound, and an exception was made. Needless to say, the people who hired me were relieved.
On a final note, definitions are constantly shifting on many subjects due to terminology, technology, public perception and acceptance, etc..

 

[Jhengsman]

I've always thought that a tuba, sounds reminiscent of a Jazz Bass with flats, heavily favouring the bridge pickup with the low end boosted on the amp. Personally, I plan on carefully burying a tuba in case I survive the coming apocalypse, so that upon digging it up, I will be able to "acoustically" recreate the tones that once moved booties on dance floors and made heads bob all around the world...

I also had finding a high school souusaphone above finding an acoustic bass in my zombie apocalypse plans.

What is "acoustic"? It has pretty much come down to just hollow body guitars and if available a piano instead of a keyboard. While the rest of the musicians adjust to those two different inputs.

 

[Galleonmaster]

I sometimes play acoustic guitar in my band, but I admonish my band partners that just because I play acoustic guitar doesn't mean I want the band to go acoustic by any means! I will switch to acoustic guitar if I want to add something different to the sound. Our band plays rock, folk-rock, and modern country, and acoustic guitar is often used in these genres. In fact, listen carefully to some of the finest hard-rock records ever recorded and you will hear acoustic guitar on these recordings ... not all the time and not that forward in the mix, but it's still there and it definitely makes a difference in the sound of the music, making it more spacious and open sounding. On many songs the right mix of electric and acoustic guitar creates a wonderful tonality which I best describe as BIG! I like that big sound and I think many other musicians and listeners like that sound as well.

 

[bigtone23]

Acoustic (to presumably most of us) is an instrument that is designed to be played without amplification. I give slack to things like The Gibson Chet Atkins as is a specific type of acoustic guitar that has a specific benefit by having waaaay less potential for feedback in a loud, amplified situation.

 

[Drgonzonm]

While I am not Cajun, accordian falls into acoustic zydeco

 

[jacromusic]

I insist that it still means acoustic instruments - even if they are plugged in. I have a bass fiddle and an acoustic bass guitar (also a GT Micro Bass) any of which I think would qualify. I agree, the proverbial nose under the tent was letting the bass player play a solid body when all the guitars were acoustic - I play in configurations like that also, especially with my NS solid body upright bass.

 

[GZboat]

Hi,

To me, this means "acoustic".

View attachment 2768457

For some reason "acoustic" or "unplugged" usually means 'no drums' even though drums are "acoustic" instruments. We have gone totally acoustic for a few gigs, except for the electronic piano.

View attachment 2768458

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

I hope this photo of your band is not an example of a totally "acoustic" gig, because it surely isn't. There are clearly both a bass amp and a PA involved. Once those hollowbody instruments get played into a microphone, the sound waves get converted to electricity, and those electrical signals get amplified by the PA, it t'aint acoustic music anymore. Electro-acoustic music is probably the most correct description of what most folks play most of the time, unless you are sitting in a living room somewhere, no mics or amplification of any kind. Even recording studio settings are, by their very nature, electro-acoustic. The definition of "acoustic music" has been slippery and getting slipperier for 60 years or more, ever since the development of sound systems that enabled the presentation folk music, bluegrass, old time, blues, jazz, etc., to mass audiences (the early folk, bluegrass, and jazz festivals). Not meaning to bash what you are doing by any means. It's just that, for concert audio professionals and technically savvy musicians, the term "acoustic" is virtually meaningless unless it's being applied to the characteristics of sound propagation in a specific venue and then the corerct term is "room acoustics".
Greg

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I hope this photo of your band is not an example of a totally "acoustic" gig, because it surely isn't. There are clearly both a bass amp and a PA involved....

Just to be clear, if you take a close look at my ABG you will notice that it is not plugged into my amp. Neither was the guitar, fiddle, or cajon using any type of amplification for this set at this gig. The electronic piano was using the PA monitors on stage because we didn't have an acoustic piano. We were not mic'd at all in this situation, neither instruments or voices. As I mentioned, it was totally acoustic except for the electronic piano. The client had requested a totally acoustic last set as the event was winding down. We accommodated as best we could. The client was happy.

Otherwise, I appreciate your profound glimpse into the obvious.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[noagreement]

All I learned from this thread is that there are some fine looking female singers in Turkey and Poland! Thanks @pklima

 

[Matthias Grob]

this question is especially interesting to me since we have been working decades to clean the ways human expressions turn into meaningful and comfortable sound - searching bridges between body, mechanics, electricity and acoustics!
as it seems, the common effort of the music industry managed to blur between those worlds .

basically, "acoustic" means related to hearing and sound. so the first abuse of the word was to add the meaning that there is no electricity involved.
amplification means making bigger and is not related to electricity.
one method to amplify a string vibration is to add surface and move more air with a wooden top, the other to move a membrane electrically. but the result is always an acoustic event.
the first record players did not use electricity but did that make their sound better or softer? it was hardly possible to regulated their volume!

to amplify an instrument does not necessarily mean to make it louder, it is at least as interesting to let the musician play softer, with less effort and more expression.

somewhen in the far past, the purely mechanical instruments available probably sounded dreadful and out of tune.
if the electrified do not sound as clean or nice yet, its because we have only been working about a century on them
at least we virtually eliminated hiss and hum

the clearest difference I hear between a vibration created by a machine and one by human touch - and this difference is usually called 'electric' vs 'electronic' which is a lot further from the original meanings than the use of the word 'acoustic'. and its also a very blurred gap because a keyboard is touched by a human but the result is a lot more sterile and less expressive than to touch the vibrating object itself. and the same goes for the acoustic piano, but would you say that it sounds like a machine?

one of the biggest advantages and nearly a definition of the electric instruments is that their volume can be reduced to nearly silence (electronic instruments can play totally silent which is only philosophically interesting

and now tell me wether a guitar built from a junk of hollow CNC'd wood and a piezo pickup is an acoustic or electric instrument - or even electronic because there is a preamp built in
it certainly does not sound like an electric guitar - unless its plugged into a cranked guitar amp

some new and better defined words would definitely help to become better aware of the rich choices we have!
Matthias Grob

 

[mellowinman]

From now on, in place of shoe word "shoe," I will be using shoe word, "shoe." This should not result in anyone misunderstanding shoe meaning of shoe things I post, at least not any more than usual. And that's shoe truth.

 

[Ian Lewis]

Played a gig last night with a lineup of singer, keys, drums, and me on computer with backing tracks and guitar. Our drummer also plays in a rock band. Before the gig, he posted about it on FB, saying he was going to play something "more acoustic" for a change.

Now, we have keys, electric guitar, and tracks, with a lot of those tracks doing weird stuff, like virtual singers singing sequences of nothing but consonants. His rock band has keys, electric guitar, and bass guitar - arguably theoretically more acoustic, definitely much less electronic than we are. Our singer has also used the word "acoustic" to mean play a song with electric guitar (which is going through the computer for processing as well), keys and drums but no backing tracks.

It seems the word "acoustic" has evolved to mean pretty much "drums are mostly real but not very loud" or "bassist is sitting down". It's like "deejay" in Jamaica has evolved to mean "vocalist". Not that this is terribly important, just a curious thing.

We are Polish, but here's an example from Turkey...



What does "acoustic" mean in your area and scene?

Come on guys, don't complicate matters - if you need electricity to be heard it's not ACOUSTIC

 

[Drgonzonm]

We have over 600,000 words in the English language, and we have problems with words like acoustic, love, round, and etc.,

 

[Matthias Grob]

Come on guys, don't complicate matters - if you need electricity to be heard it's not ACOUSTIC

ok, this simplifies, but it makes the word useless and we need a new word, because on what stage no electricity is needed nowadays? and if well amplified, it can sound pretty much the same as without electricity, so what is the point?
the new word would probably describe a kind of music that comes from mechanical sound generation and resonances (not necessarily mechanical amplification). but nobody would understand this if you say mechanical music...

 

[Michael Schreiber]

ok, this simplifies, but it makes the word useless and we need a new word, because on what stage no electricity is needed nowadays? and if well amplified, it can sound pretty much the same as without electricity, so what is the point?
the new word would probably describe a kind of music that comes from mechanical sound generation and resonances (not necessarily mechanical amplification). but nobody would understand this if you say mechanical music...

Being a classical music fan, to me it does matter whether it's eclectrically amplified or not.
Yet, I see your point and I do agree. That's why I always thought the word "unplugged" might come in handy

So, there'd be three categories:
acoustic + unplugged
acoustic + plugged (electrically amplified)
plugged (any instruments electrically amplified)

And "unplugged" implies acustic, IMHO.
But that's just me and what I thought to understand until this thread popped up

 

[Matthias Grob]

So, there'd be three categories:
acoustic + unplugged
acoustic + plugged (electrically amplified)
plugged (any instruments electrically amplified)

that would be nice, but unfortunately, all shows that are announced as unplugged are electrically amplified while the ones really without electricity like classical music never talk about unplugged, do they?

 

[Drgonzonm]

that would be nice, but unfortunately, all shows that are announced as unplugged are electrically amplified while the ones really without electricity like classical music never talk about unplugged, do they?

It used to be that concert halls were lighted using candles, or later gas lights.
Last concert I went at Pope Joy Hall, they had the lights turned on, and they used electricity to tune the walls and the ceiling above the quartet. (In Pope Joy Hall, the walls and ceilings are moveable allowing the stage to be tuned).
I went to a concert at the Santa Fe Opera house, and the orchestra pit did not need artificial lighting. (I played Pope Joy Hall in the mid 60's)

This the 21st Century (isn't it), rather than play the semantics game, (we will leave that for those who choose to live under bridges, and are ugly beyond belief,). Let us agree that acoustic means, instruments are designed to acoustic in nature, and the sound produced may be enhanced by electronic or mechanical means, so those listening at original playing or subsequent playing, can enjoy the music.
Yes we have to expand the dictionary's definition, but thats ok.
to quote Stan Lee, 'nuff said

I am ugly and live in the desert, so there are not many bridges to live under.

 

[Matthias Grob]

Let us agree that acoustic means, instruments are designed to acoustic in nature,

if I understand right you suggest to define that:
acoustic music is played by or composed for acoustic instruments
and
acoustic instruments are designed to sound without electricity but are often electronically amplified to be heard
accordingly:
electric instruments vibrate mechanically but are designed to be amplified and altered electronically
and, not in the focus here, but important to complete:
electronic music is composed of electronically stored or generated vibrations

the problem I focus here is that the most recent and possibly soon the majority of instruments like our Paradis, Godin Multiacs, Frame, Silent... and also basses starting at Eberhard Weber... neither fit to the definition of the electric nor acoustic.
so we would need another category like electroacoustic or hollowbody or ? that could be defined as:
instruments designed to sound similar to their acoustic ancestors but need electric amplification to be heard

 

[GZboat]

Hi,



Just to be clear, if you take a close look at my ABG you will notice that it is not plugged into my amp. Neither was the guitar, fiddle, or cajon using any type of amplification for this set at this gig. The electronic piano was using the PA monitors on stage because we didn't have an acoustic piano. We were not mic'd at all in this situation, neither instruments or voices. As I mentioned, it was totally acoustic except for the electronic piano. The client had requested a totally acoustic last set as the event was winding down. We accommodated as best we could. The client was happy.

Otherwise, I appreciate your profound glimpse into the obvious.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Perhaps, then, you would care to explain the microphone that is sitting clearly dead in the middle of your picture?

 

[Drgonzonm]

if I understand right you suggest to define that:
acoustic music is played by or composed for acoustic instruments
and
acoustic instruments are designed to sound without electricity but are often electronically amplified to be heard
accordingly:
electric instruments vibrate mechanically but are designed to be amplified and altered electronically
and, not in the focus here, but important to complete:
electronic music is composed of electronically stored or generated vibrations

the problem I focus here is that the most recent and possibly soon the majority of instruments like our Paradis, Godin Multiacs, Frame, Silent... and also basses starting at Eberhard Weber... neither fit to the definition of the electric nor acoustic.
so we would need another category like electroacoustic or hollowbody or ? that could be defined as:
instruments designed to sound similar to their acoustic ancestors but need electric amplification to be heard

I am not familiar with the list of instruments you provided. I believe a good way to look at what is not an acoustic, is an instrument that uses changes in magnetic fields such a pup. Piezo pickups, microphones, still fall into the acoustic definition, This definition does exclude some early guitar players who used steel strings and a single coil pickup on an acoustic guitar from being defined as acoustic. (And that my friends is a new can of worms, we can use to tempt our basses).
regarding electronic music definition, too narrow, as any music stored on my android would be considered electronic, even if its Clapton's Liala unplugged. I never liked vinyl or lacquer records.