Today a friend of mine gave me a book he thinks I might like. The timing could not have been better because I happen to be inbetween books right now.
I've read the front and back end flaps, a few reviews of it and the first few pages of the introduction. And it appears to address the intersection of music, art, neuroscience, psychology, culture and maybe a few other domains . . . all subjects I'm fascinated by.
The author is neuroscientist but has worked as a session musician, sound engineer and a record producer. Here is a quote from page 2 of the intro.
Many years later, Paul Simon told me that the sound is always what he was after too. "The way that I listen to my own records is for the sound of them; not the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound."
So far, I'm very much enjoying what this guy has to say.
For others interested in these areas and who might want to read along and discuss here or privately, this is one place to purchase it.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2025 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Reading this book is quite fascinating and is exposing me to concepts I had never thought of before. Here is a quote that I can't quite make sense of. Curious if anybody musically trained can break this apart for us folk that are self-taught.
"Led Zeppelin often tuned their instruments away from the modern A440 standard to give their music an uncommon sound, and perhaps to link it with the European children's folk songs that inspired many of their compositions."
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2025 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Some folks will change their tuner to 432 Hz rather than standard 440 Hz. As you know the 440 is the standard tuning of the A note above middle C. Some folks claim benefits of listening to 432 Hz music like reducing stress, mental healing and a whole bunch of other stuff. Other people suggest they do not notice any difference.
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<...snip...> Some folks claim benefits of listening to 432 Hz music like reducing stress, mental healing and a whole bunch of other stuff. Other people suggest they do not notice any difference.
The only thing I noticed was acoustic pianos all played out of tune - flat
Just kidding, of course. But seriously, I can't try that, as it's outside the range my saxophone will tune to.
It's interesting. Over seemingly centuries, everyone has had a thought on what the exact pitch of 'A' should be. The overall consensus now is that it should be 440Hz, but many artists (including Led Zepplin obviously) have chosen to alter it in an effort to create a more 'unique sound'.
(Also, the ACW would have a fit )
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Some folks claim benefits of listening to 432 Hz music like reducing stress, mental healing and a whole bunch of other stuff. Other people suggest they do not notice any difference.
This is one of the baffling things to me regarding the quote. Are humans, on average, able to consciously notice a 8 Hz difference in notes (not pure tones) in a rock band that was known for ear shattering dB levels, or even at comfortable listening levels? I think no, but I could be wrong.
But even if the general untrained Zepelin fan could detect and understand sub-semitone differences how does that produce an "uncommon sound" since all you're doing is agreeing to a different frequency baseline?
And thirdly, how can non-standard tuning link to "European children's folk songs"? Wouldn't all instrument frequencies in the band be shifted up or down by the same amount?
My understanding is that we are designed to percieve and understand relative pitches in music, not absolute pitches.
I also wonder where the author got that info. If from a Zepelin interview, could that have been LSD talking??
Obviously, I'm not understanding everything regarding this quote.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2025 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
There are some who say we are all born with perfect pitch and we lose the ability to use it. The exceptions are folks from Asian countries where the inflections in words are so subtle that the ear remains attuned.
I don’t know about that.
As for pitch discrimination, I’ve know many audio engineers who were taught that people cannot distinguish a change of less than six cents. I proved I can hear down to four, but not less.
And the proponents of 432 Hz claim a mathematical origin as well as the historical precedent. Our church has a Steinway grand that was built in 1866 when it would have been perfect for a European orchestra. It can be tuned to 440 but by two days later will again be sitting happily at 432. It doesn’t help that the organ is at 442.
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Some folks claim benefits of listening to 432 Hz music like reducing stress, mental healing and a whole bunch of other stuff. Other people suggest they do not notice any difference.
This is one of the baffling things to me regarding the quote. Are humans, on average, able to consciously notice a 8 Hz difference in notes (not pure tones) in a rock band that was known for ear shattering dB levels, or even at comfortable listening levels? I think no, but I could be wrong.
But even if the general untrained Zepelin fan could detect and understand sub-semitone differences how does that produce an "uncommon sound" since all you're doing is agreeing to a different frequency baseline?
And thirdly, how can non-standard tuning link to "European children's folk songs"? Wouldn't all instrument frequencies in the band be shifted up or down by the same amount?
My understanding is that we are designed to percieve and understand relative pitches in music, not absolute pitches.
I also wonder where the author got that info. If from a Zepelin interview, could that have been LSD talking??
Obviously, I'm not understanding everything regarding this quote.
I duplicated a acoustic guitar track and then detuned one track by -8 cents and yes you can hear the chorus effect between the two tracks. However if all tracks are set to 432 can I tell the difference between the 440 and the 432 I have not done that before I suppose.
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................................ And the proponents of 432 Hz claim a mathematical origin as well as the historical precedent. Our church has a Steinway grand that was built in 1866 when it would have been perfect for a European orchestra. It can be tuned to 440 but by two days later will again be sitting happily at 432. It doesn’t help that the organ is at 442.
FYI - My wife's old upright piano is tuned to 432. Our now retired piano tuner said a lot of old uprights are tuned to 432 because at 440 they would not be in tune for very long. Those pianos' wooden components could not take the string tension. He was the piano tuner for the Eastman School of Music and the Hochstein School of Music, both in Rochester NY. He said those pianos were tuned to either 442 or 444 so the brightness and volume of the piano would cut through the orchestra. He also said he had a monthly agreement to retune and to replace any broken strings!
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And the proponents of 432 Hz claim a mathematical origin as well as the historical precedent.
Hmmm, I think these folks might have lost the debate, my understanding is 440 is the global standard. And I'm thinking any standard is somewhat arbitrary, but it's important that the world agree on a standard.
But I'm still trying to figure out the linkage (if any) between altered tuning and Zepelin's uncommon sound/European children folk songs.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2025 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
And the proponents of 432 Hz claim a mathematical origin as well as the historical precedent.
Hmmm, I think these folks might have lost the debate, my understanding is 440 is the global standard. And I'm thinking any standard is somewhat arbitrary, but it's important that the world agree on a standard.
But I'm still trying to figure out the linkage (if any) between altered tuning and Zepelin's uncommon sound/European children folk songs.
Maybe the linkage is the fact that if said children folk songs were ancient they may have been in 432 and Led Zeppelin may have wanted to emulate that. There is a lot of controversy about what sounds better, songs in 440 or songs in 432. Through out the ages there has been no tuning standard, that is until 1955, or 1939 if you want to include the suggestion to standardize 440. If you are interested in 432 here is the history of it:
XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
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Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
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128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
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In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
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Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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