Re: Let's Talk Tuning!!!! Electronic, Acoustic, Challenges.

[kkissinger@kevinkissinger.com]

Quoting margaret noble <margaretnoble2000@yahoo.com>:
>
>
> Questions (Clearly Subjective!)
>
> - Is there a tolerable amount of cents you can be off when trying to  
>  be in key?
>
Hi Margaret,

This depends on some factors.  If the sounds are sustained and have  
little vibrato, then tuning errors are more noticeable.

It happens that I tune and service pipe organs which are sustained and  
normally are played without vibrato.  Within a division, it is  
important to have everything in tune (because errors tend to  
accumulate).  Across divisions, the tuning may drift (due to  
temperature variation) and as long as they stay within 4 cents of each  
other, then the "out of tuneness" doesn't interfere with music making.  
  From 4 to 8 cents the divisions start to "celeste" -- that is, the  
out-of-tuneness produces noticeable beats that are still "listenable".  
  Beyond 8 cents, the tone develops into a "honky-tonk" effect --  
beyond 12 cents it just sounds "sour".

When looping the theremin, I endeavor to stay within four cents of the  
target pitch.

Again, instruments that are not sustained may not be as noticeable.
>
> - When mixing in non-traditional sounds together, how disturbing is   
> it to listeners if tunings are loose?
>
For my ears, if the tuning is non-standard, then nothing jars my ears.  
  However, to include non-standard pitches in the midst of an  
otherwise tonal work may sound like a "wrong note".  An example, when  
a singer is accompanied by a fixed-pitch instrument (a piano) and hits  
a non-standard pitch, most listeners will percieve it as a "bad" note  
rather than a new tuning.

In fiction, there is a concept of the "suspension of disbelief" -- and  
I think a similar concept works in music.  If you set up a "frame"  
based on non-standard tuning, then it is easier to accept  
quarter-tones and other "non-tempered" pitches.

I always enjoy your work and look forward to hearing where your  
exploration of tuning/pitch/harmony will take your music.

-- Kevin