A lot of people have no idea what this thread is really about.... this is obvious because they keep telling other people that it’s not about this or that....
Is killed by death one of the only people who fully understood and gave the basic info he was aware of without any extra bs or naysaying?
Lots of people have contributed great stuff but holy hell the garbage this thread accumulated along the way.... as long as you’re not saying this is pointless you’ve probably gotten at least some part of the point.
E blue
F purple
G brown
A off white
B yellow
C orange
D red
Green doesn't exist within my musical synesthesia.
Before any science I thought of E as blue.
Just out of curiosity, is there a project you are working on that requires this information? There have been studies on the topic for centuries for various reasons. It is a fascinating subject but hasn't yielded too many practical results compared to others. Maybe there's a way to convert colors to some kind of energy. Imagine that. The batteries are dead so you recharge them by shining a certain frequency beam of light on them. Voila! Then you grab your bass and play a tritone up from the corresponding note to the color of the flashlight and the batteries go dead again. D'oh!
No project. Its not about what others are doing...I see a use for it...I’ll be able to say more once I decided where to lay red for ME.
Each key has a mood associated with it. Some composers would deliberately write in certain keys for that specific purpose. How the variations in pitch and their visual counterparts effect us as humans is intriguing. The human body is made up mostly of water. Perhaps how we sense light and sound is based on how those properties act and react in water. How much of a role does timbre play as opposed to pitch? So many questions, so few answers.
I like these thoughts very much
That's why it is not very practical to communicate about what colour a given tone has.
If you see them, you see them and it might enrich the experience of listening to music.
If you don't, you don't. Nothing wrong with that.
It just doesn't help to debate what colour or shape a given tone has.
I remember starting about the subject with one of our guitarists after a practicing session. Mentioning the colours and shapes he was playing. He looked at me as if I was out of my mind. And said I should see a psychiatrist.
Synesthesia - Wikipedia
"Some synesthetes often report that they were unaware their experiences were unusual until they realized other people did not have them, while others report feeling as if they had been keeping a secret their entire lives."
Chromesthesia - Wikipedia
It’s not a debate it’s a discussion from which I am attempting to understand something.
Definitely. If you wanna get real creative with it, the shade could differentiate as you climb the fretboard?
Yes
I now, and forever, will use this to describe the opposite ends of my spectral life...
... fantastica, and craptastic.
Matt good. Fantastica for me is a negative state of fantastical thinking while stuck in a rut of inaction.
Your eyes perceive about one octave of light frequencies - a ratio of about 2 to 1 in either wavelengths or frequency
Your hearing operates over a range of about 1000 to 1 in frequency.
As stated before, the frequency ranges are widely disparate, and the wavelengths are also not even close.
About all you can say starting with the science is the lowest freq light is red, with indigo at tge high end. If you want to correlate colors, I'd start there. I’m not sure what this ultimately buys you, but it’s what you have to work with.
Yes which is why red is either e or f
Colors at the speed of sound sound
brilliant but may, in the end, be impossible to consciously describe. Hard to pin down. They move so fast so often in music and in life, and, as has been noted, will look even more complex on an unlined board or a wind instrument. But what if some of the colors of music have no name or tangible presence at all? What if some have opacity? What if some shimmer or pulse? And there must be so many shifts, so much variance, across the board. What color is white noise?
Color is a wonderful medium through which to
imagine and contemplate musical information but essentially secondary, another level of complexity, to sound in the wild. And, as such, perhaps just more to learn, more clutter. Finding the right means with which to describe what we hear, outside of the composed or accidental aural soundscapes themselves, using color representation or written or spoken language, nomenclature and such, will be a hippopotamic, swirling challenge. What's solely down on paper will never be enough. Good teachers will find the words to impart the awarenesses. Musicians will have the music. Definitely a blast,
thinking along these lines
Color sits right alongside music as a most majestic means to an exquisitely expressive end. And then there are words, but that's another story.
It will simplify ona subconscious level...
A mapping between musical notes and colors – nothing to see here
I’ve known two musicians who were capable of synesthesia. Some of their colour/note combinations were similar but not identical. It seems to be highly personal but it definitely is a thing. Both of these guys used to say they could actually see colours when notes were played. Coincidentally, they were both piano players. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. Frankly, I’m jealous. I’d love to have that ability.
Thanks for the link
One principle that has been tried is to take the bass frequency i.e. 41hz and keep doubling it until you get into the light frequency range then see what corresponds.
Exactly I’ve tried a few things....just to build a relationship...no matter how arbitrary.... this is meant to accomplish a simple task not communicate with aliens who might annihilate us if I get the tone wrong.
Interesting concept; I think of notes as primary colors, and chords structures (regardless of the tonality) as true colors.
Whereas C major is yellow, Cm is light blue, Cmaj7 is orange, C7 is red, Cm9 is deep blue and C diminished is florescent green
I like the more specific ideas but right now I’m having difficulty with the initial basis.
Weird replies! Note names are meaningless. INTERVALS is where you can start start seeing/feeling colours!!! There has to be some relevance, no?
Perhaps it is me who is the weirdo!!
Invalid Link Removed
What do you mean by the intervals in this context?
+1. Individual. No way to attach specific frequencies that are the same for everyone. Sorry.
Never the intent. So no problem
A1 is 55hz. A4 is 440 hz. If you continue doubling, "A44" is ~484Thz, which is in the orance part of the color spectrum.
Yep
= 704,374,636,544 = 704 ThZ or Violet
A = 55 Hz
so, 472,446,402,560 Hz is its corresponding Red
D = 73 Hz, corresponding to 627 ThZ or Blue
G = 98 Hz, the problem child
it's either 841 ThZ, which is over the range for colors
or 421 ThZ, which is under the range
I’ve appreciated your input the most...very simple along the lines of the stuff I had seen but very much what I’m trying to present and collect. I’ve welcomed all info... but I like the basics of your information. I. This post I think we’ve got very technical. I’ll address it better later.
You start off mixing Hz (frequency) with wavelength (nanometers). These are of course related, but playing with those number interchangeably makes no sense.
If you have no inane sense of color relationship to music then it won't matter one bit. For a standard tuned bass start with red at E and go from there.
I’ll explian it better for you later. Yes F or E... why do you say E? I have my own reasons as well.... I tried to explain some of them but was up very late.
Ok, the riff is green, while the bass scales over eggshell minor ... and the drummer give it a coconut beat!
What an adorable thread ... i'll pass by again in 2525, as Zager & Evans predicted! CU!
What an adorable response see you then muffin
Wait for it ........................................................wait ...........................................
What’s the best color for metal?
Double Brutal Black Death
You guys ever see Adam Nealy's bit on synesthesia and the colours he sees with music? pretty iunteresting
Cool
My answer came to me when I woke up fairly early, a bit before dawn. A single string exercise is pretty standard fare in learning stringed instruments. So I would start with Eb as sunrise and open E would be my target note, sunset. For starters work down through the Cycle Of Fifths, with each successive note being the primary complement on a color wheel. The octave E would the dawn chorus: all the notes, white. Since I don't actually experience any of this, I'm just making up something that I can relate to.
View attachment 3265088
I’m interested I. This relationship of colour to chords and the circle of 5ths after the initial spectrum is decided.
I think this exercise is only useful as a means of technical guidance or artistic expression, and therefore submit that there is no answer, just make something up that pleases you.
Pretty pointless... I’m infinitely better off from the answers and partial answers than I was before this started.
What makes you say that?
So here’s the deal: Believe it or not, the idea of the middle A on a piano vibrating at 440 cycles-per-second is fairly new. It is not some sort of “cosmic, from the spheres” absolute, that was in the Beginning, Is now and ever shall be...oops, sorry.
Anyway, it was only agreed upon as a standard in Western culture (only) c. 1930 or so. Before that, in Western culture, the exact frequency of A --and ALL musical pitches -- fluctuated. So that being the case, tell me then...before we all agreed that A = 440, hmm...what where the colors for the specific notes then? Was say, red, maybe not QUITE red? Maybe a pink?
And what about non-Western cultures, in which the pitch “A” may STILL to this day not be the same as our beloved 440Hz? What colors do, e.g. folks living in the Mongolian highlands or other indigenous lands see when they hear a certain note?
And what were the colors, say, 400-500 years ago, when pitch in Western music was literally all OVER the place? Were the standardized color/pitch relationships somehow different for those folks?
Please, tell me what frequency corresponded with chartreuse before A-440 became the standard. I really need to know.
You are terribly disgruntled.... to the point of pointlessness. As other members point out to you later, your point ads nothing. You have literally been the most useless member in this thread. People who have said nothing have been more useful.
The frequencies wouldn't change, only the notes that have been labeled to them. So chartreuse would be the same frequency yesterday, as it is today, and will be tomorrow; if you're down with all the mumbo-jumbo to begin with that is. I agree most with the guy who listened to PIOUHGD on page one.
Yes. What’s piouhgd?
Although I find this concept peripherally interesting, I'd rather just go play my bass.
Have fun!
Thanks
This begs the question. With people who have chromesthesia, are the note/color associations tied to frequency or note names. Since chromesthesia is tied to perfect pitch, I would guess primarily to frequency and sometimes both. In creating something artificial it could be tied to one or the other.
Nothing would stop a composer from creating multiple pitch/color association themes or using one theme for an entire life's work. As I have stated multiple times, I don't think there is any inherent natural or physics related basis for establishing a fixed pitch/color association construct. But that does not diminish the artistic potential of the concept. Some people will think it's great art and some will think it's ridiculous.
I agree the lack of a universal pitch standard could complicate matters somewhat, but it doesn't have to. It would not be to difficult to establish a strict tone/color association based strictly on frequency relationships. If a note is out of tune or warbles a little, the color could shift or shimmer with the pitch variation. Likewise if the theme is based on note names, the colors could just snap to the nearest pitch when blue notes or touch are used, and the tuning standard need not have anything to do with it.
Colors could also be tied to frequency bands. Consider that above a certain frequency range, music is not particularly tonal. Think about cymbals for example. So maybe above a certain frequency, a different theme would come into play where light textures are associated with a frequency band or the spectral balance of a sound. I don't have chromesthesia, but I would tend to think of a cymbal crash as a bright near white light that diminishes with the sound. Of course white is all colors, but perhaps different cymbals could have a different hue to represent their spectral balance.
Most people really enjoy a concert with a good light show. Take a performance that integrates a dynamic light show with music and break it into it's components. The music by itself would probably be very good, and the light show by itself would probably have some interesting moments. Together they could be phenomenal and, in my experience, people tend to really remember punchy well timed lighting effects. Seems there are opportunities here to use pitch/color association themes. Maybe it would not even be important to inform the audience that a pitch/color association theme is being used...but it could probably be leveraged to increase audience interest at some types of events. It might even be possible to cultivate somewhat of a cult following using the concept...you never really know what sort of crazy thing you can pull off.
Exactly
Purple does not exist in nature. It's a color you will not find in any rainbow.
It does not exist.
Having "purple" as part of the visible spectrum is scientifically false.
Because your brain sees it's a mix a two colors, your brain creates a unique tint you perceive, but that tint does not itself exist in the real world as such (it does at a specific light frequency but light frequency and perceived tint are two very different things).
This post is dedicated to you, Prince. You were truly unique in this universe.
Doesn’t matter. Interesting though and it helps me understand colour better
Check out close encounters.....
Actually back in the 70's I had these really cool custom made organ lights.
Orange and Red were the high and high mid notes...green and blue were the low mid and low notes in that order.
Not specific enough for me and no other comparison to reinforce....cool though
Right. I am fine with the idea that some people do have chromesthesia. I am just not fine when anyone says, for example, that the note Bb represents, I dunno, "yellow" -- implying that it's the same for all human beings.
So, if it's agreed that the phenomenon varies from human to human, then all these charts with "this frequency equals that color" are nothing but b.s.
But then of course, if it's on the Interwebs, it must be true!
You’re involvement is no5hing but b.s. those charts that killedbydeath posted were exactly what I wanted. Please go contribute absolutely nothing elsewhere.
That really won't work since the visible light spectrum spans less than one octave. Since eyes and ears don't work the same, why limit the idea in this way?
IMHO, Conceptually you could make a spectrum analyzer that overlays the sound spectrum with the visible light spectrum. This would allow you to graphically display octaves, intervals, and harmonics/overtones encoded with color. Also, you could modulate brightness of the display with the volume of each frequency, so fundamental tones would be brighter than overtones.
It doesn’t need to run nuclear reactors just explain a basic relationship to build on.
Mostly just toasting in an epic bread, but also to politely ask the wet blankets who keep posting the same wikipedia links to tone it down.
Surely, there must be some kindred spirits willing to follow this Psychonaut down his rabbit hole?
I’m really surprised no Western Esotericists have chimed in yet. The correspondences between the colours, the planets, the days of the week, the names of the angels and demons, etc. is a subject of deep interest for me, not least of all because of their possible applications to music theory.
I’m not sure what your post means. I like almost everything contributed here. Charts, Wikipedia, personal opinion....on topic and to the point but not stubbornly ignoring my initial request for people who don’t think it matters to just bounce right back out of the thread.
I like your post I just don’t want to discourage anyone who is actually trying to contribute
The idea had to do with the colors and pitches common existence in the frequency domain. This excludes, and makes the operation of eyes and ears, and all the strangeness of that irrelevant.
None of this color/sound linking has any basis in physics. In chomesthesia, colors are subjective, there is no universal correlation. If you have it, great, enjoy the light show. It must make music more of an encompassing experience. For the vast majority, i.e. the rest of us, attempts to create one are great, if you are trying to set a standard for making color organs. Do not be fooled into believing there is a universal, mystically resonant connection though.
Thanks I don’t think anyone is in danger of that though.
Yep, but many of those plots also clearly show a stronger first overtone than the fundamental, which is what I was getting at. Apologies for the lazy posting!
I’d love to understand what you mean better... I guess I’ll have to read deeper.
I think this is a tremendous waste of time and effort.
THEN GO AWAY. For me and apparently many others it is not.
Are you talking about synesthesia? How some people hear sound as color? I know a top guitarist who has this. I checked his note/color matches, and they weren't in spectral order. That is, as the frequency of the tone went up, the frequency of the color (ie on the light spectrum) could go either up or down.
Talking about a lot of things that all have to do with colour and sound.
Your writing makes no sense whatsoever. And it's "its," not "it's."
How old are you? No one cares. Your presence here makes no sense whatsoever.
It occurs to me that what we are talking about in this thread, is not whether colour and light have an esoteric fundamental and indelible relationship but rather, how different brains relate colour to sound in their own way. This is about brains, not measured scientific tables.
Wrong. We’re talking about everything to do with colour and sound and how they relate and don’t.
New age "stuff"..... You're trying to associate sound frequencies with how our eyes and brain perceive a narrow range of electromagnetic wave frequencies. Apples and oranges. Read good introduction to physics and human physiology books and consider abandoning your quest.
You’ve missed the point.
Totally a guess, but I would guess that the reason the same note on the E string say an E played at the 12th fret, sounds different than the same note played on the D string would be because of the harmonics on the strings themselves. The Low E string would produce some lower harmonics of the same fundamental as the D string just because it is capable of producing lower harmonics, while the same note on the D string would be capable of higher harmonics.
Again, just a guess from me. Anyone know for sure??
Very cool... that’s a good start I think.
