Questions tagged [frequency]

Frequency is a property of any repeating event, and in music, the phenomenon of pitch is qualitatively assessed via a sound wave's frequency, or number of vibrations per second. Higher sounds have higher frequency, and lower-pitched sounds have lower frequencies.

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4 answers
531 views

How vowels are expressed in musical notation, the case of B5 in Lilypond

I understand that 1000Hz is B5 plus 21 cents. What is this note and how can it be represented in Lilypond notation?
17 votes
7 answers
3k views

What is the reason a given note can have different "sounds"

People, instruments, objects, etc. all are capable of producing "sounds" that sound different (not sure the proper term for this) but can produce the same note. Given that sound can be ...
2 votes
2 answers
284 views

Getting played note frequency using Unity and FFT

I am working on a project using the Unity game engine, The idea of the project is that the user plays a note on a guitar (and other instruments) and the app should display the note frequency that the ...
8 votes
2 answers
376 views

Calculating the frequency of quarter tones

I have several questions on the subject of note frequencies and their ranges: First Question How should I calculate the frequency of a quarter tone, such as the half-flat (half-bemol) that is found in ...
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why don't two Boomwhackers with a one-octave pitch difference have a 2:1 length ratio?

I frequently use the tuned percussion tubes Boomwhackers in my elementary music teaching. I noticed something odd about them. When I compare the smaller and larger C tubes, they sound one octave ...
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2 votes
3 answers
417 views

is there an instrument that plays all notes for the same volume profile (over time) regardless of pitch

So you know how when playing a stringed instrument a low note will always play longer than a high note. Here is a good question about it - When we press a piano key, why does a high pitch note not run ...
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19 votes
10 answers
6k views

Why do two identical notes never cancel each other out?

If we consider a note as a sine function with a certain frequency (ignoring timbre), if you start playing another sine function, even with the same frequency but starting at a different offset, ...
2 votes
1 answer
109 views

How to Identify Sheet Music Type, Era, or Origin?

Asking for some help here…maybe someone will recognize what kind of sheet music this is. I’m attempting to recreate the framed sheet music hung on the wall in the photos. This is my father sometime in ...
2 votes
4 answers
300 views

If a whole tone is a 9:8 ratio, and a major third is a 5:4 ratio, and a major third is two whole tones, then why (9/8)^2 != 5/4?

If a whole tone is a 9:8 ratio between frequencies, and a major third is a 5:4 ratio between frequencies, and a major third is two whole tones, then to replicate two whole tones, wouldn't one just ...
1 vote
1 answer
277 views

Help understanding frequency ratios and string length

This music book I'm reading taught me about frequency ratios as the basis for scales, but it doesn't explain it well enough for me, so I'm trying to learn more about it on my own. I want to know how ...
0 votes
1 answer
67 views

Why does major 2nd have more harmonics than major 3rd?

I was watching this video about Just-intonation tuning system. In this video he is explaining how the harmonics work. He is explaining that the first harmonic is created by dividing a string into half,...
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13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Does the lip really vibrate at the same frequency of a brass instrument?

The resonance of woodwind brass instruments can be modeled after a closed cylindrical pipe and calculated by the equation f = (nv)/(4L) where n denotes the number of harmonics, v the velocity of sound ...
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0 votes
2 answers
249 views

How to calculate the extra semitone in one circle of fifths

This is an extension to my previous question when I tried to do the math to prove the following statement: going up 12 perfect fifths takes one up 7 octaves plus one-fourth of a semitone extra Going ...
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5 votes
4 answers
1k views

Why are the frequency ratios of notes in the Pythagorean scales 9/8 and 256/243?

In Pythagorean tuning, for every 7th semitones the frequency would increase by a factor of 3/2 (to get that harmonious perfect fifth). If the frequency of C4 is set to 256Hz, the frequency of G4 can ...
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2 votes
0 answers
38 views

Effect of octave on consonance [duplicate]

Was playing around on a keyboard (Casio WK-245, default St.GrPno tone) and I'm noticing that the same chord moved up an octave feels quite different. When I play Cmaj7(no inversions: C,E,G,B in that ...
2 votes
0 answers
41 views

Producing single frequencies in Bitwig [closed]

How can single frequencies produced easily in bitwig? Ableton's operator for example has an option to input a single frequency which you can easily change yourself, and when you press every note in ...
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2 votes
1 answer
77 views

Current consensus on consonant frequencies

I just read Physics and Music: The Science of Musical Sound Book by Donald H. White and Harvey Elliott White and the book explains that consonant frequencies — those sounding "good" when ...
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5 votes
1 answer
395 views

what is a beat histogram and how is it different from spectrograms?

I am learning about audio signals for analytical purposes. I came across beat histograms and spectrograms. I understand that a spectrogram is all about frequency and time but I am confused about beat ...
3 votes
1 answer
106 views

Visualization of Tones being played together

Recently I found this video showing the "visual representation" of sound waves. I was trying to figure out how these shapes were being generated. I am interested in the parts where there is ...
4 votes
5 answers
1k views

Why do "in tune" bass lines sometimes seem sharp to me?

I've noticed that certain bass and baritone register sounds often seem sharp to me, even when they are ostensibly in tune- the notes are checked with a tuner or generated by a digital synth that won't ...
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0 votes
1 answer
67 views

At what frequencies do you usually high/low pass male vocal doubles?

I'm speaking in general but if it depends on the vocal how can I find out by ear?
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8 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is the "Jazz Bass Mid Scoop"?

I've heard of the "Jazz Bass Mid Scoop", what exactly is this? Some people say that the "Scoop is generally 500-600 Hz", others say "The frequencies that cancel are different ...
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5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Difference between drum sounds and melody sounds

I would like to learn more about the kind of sounds used in music that can make a scale discernable. Regular drums for instance do a bad job, even if they can be tuned. I've no idea if that's true ...
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-3 votes
1 answer
108 views

How to flatten frequencies like that

What I just didn’t work out. No multiband compressor will work that way. It's only a clipper or distortion that can do that.
22 votes
4 answers
5k views

What is an All-Pass Filter? What are its uses?

Wikipedia says: An all-pass filter is a signal processing filter that passes all frequencies equally in gain, but changes the phase relationship among various frequencies. What does changes the ...
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0 votes
2 answers
132 views

Similarities between the frequencies 130.81 and 261.63 Hz [duplicate]

I have been learning to play guitar, and I wanted to look at it from a more physical point of view, because that is something I like to do. Maybe a similar question has been asked here, but I could ...
4 votes
2 answers
340 views

How do polyphonic pitch-shifting algorithms handle doubled/tripled octaves?

I do not in the first place how polyphonic pitch shifters work. What happens internally when one that’s adding octaves (or simply, octaves are being played) is fed into another? Does it treat the ...
2 votes
4 answers
124 views

Under what arithmetic conditions do collections of vibrations sound "nice"

I can't recall where but I had read somewhere (different places and different times) the following two pieces of advice: when playing an interval of two notes one after the other at A-hertz and B-...
5 votes
5 answers
162 views

Balancing audio frequency bands and instrument volumes for consistent audio quality in highly variable environments, software, and hardware?

I use GarageBand to write music but in theory this question could apply to any composition and recording workflow. A problem I often run into is that different audio players seem to have their own &...
3 votes
1 answer
80 views

Different frequency response despite having similar waveforms

I'm just comparing two pedals that generated square waves by using Audacity. The pedals are Homenoise Effects Serpent Cult silicon fuzz and Metasonix F1 distortion pedal. First is the waveforms and ...
0 votes
5 answers
4k views

What frequency ranges are most instruments in

I made a spectrum analyzer, but I'm struggling to find a range where I can cover the most instruments, but also still make the bars visible. I tried the range 20Hz - 800 Hz but seems like some songs I ...
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1 vote
2 answers
211 views

What determines the tone coming from a pickup?

I hear a lot of hocus pocus in music. One such thing called "Premium" pickups are heralded as some must-have for a good sounding guitar. To me, it seems like pickups are just electromagnets ...
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0 votes
1 answer
604 views

frequency components of C major scale

I was trying to replicate the notes of the C major scale on a circuit simulator and i found online that there are website that only give one frequency for a certain note in that octave, so i was ...
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0 votes
1 answer
160 views

What is meant by a 'simple' frequency ratio?

For the most part, I understand the application of simple ratios when determining consonance/dissonance, but I still don’t really know what makes one ratio more ‘simple’ than another. What really ...
12 votes
6 answers
3k views

Is it mathematically possible to create an equal temperament which matches just interval ratios?

I've coded a Python app which lets us have any number of semitones in an octave in order to experiment with microtonal music. I would like to ask if there's a possibility to create such an equal ...
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0 votes
3 answers
185 views

Why do we use geometric Progression?

It seems what's important in the progression of the frequencies in notes is...the difference in frequency of any two notes is not the same, but the ratio between any two notes of the same distance is ...
0 votes
1 answer
356 views

Why were the frequencies for notes chosen?

I understand that the first note of each octave is twice the frequency of the first note from the octave before, but how are the frequencies for each note chosen subsequently after that. So far, I’ve ...
1 vote
3 answers
148 views

Why am I unable to hear subtle differences in timbre?

An E an F, any octave, sound different; I'm not deaf to pitch. This is about timbral quality: I can hear the difference between a plucked string and an eBow'd string, but I can't hear pick vs finger. ...
2 votes
0 answers
151 views

The discriminating power of experienced listeners

Consider a choir of n singers who sing the same tune in almost perfect unison. When asked how many singers they do hear, test persons may say: don't know more than 3, 5, 10, ... 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ... ...
4 votes
2 answers
617 views

Third resonant frequency when two notes are played

I have noticed that when two notes - relatively spaced apart, more than a tone and less than an octave - are played, there is a third frequency that can be heard, and this frequency lies between the ...
2 votes
3 answers
273 views

How to calculate the "middle" tone between two given frequencies

For one octave, we double the frequency, so 400Hz to 800Hz is one octave higher. To get the tone that is perceived to be in the middle of those two frequencies is however not 600Hz but 400*1.059463⁶=~...
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2 votes
1 answer
562 views

How did musicians know what were the notes frequencies if they had no measuring tools? [duplicate]

Today we have devices that with the aid of a microphone can detect the frequency of a note. We can therefore calibrate all instruments and voices to a same pattern. But, how did people know how the ...
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3 votes
2 answers
167 views

Does the series of octaves (1, 2, 4, 8) have a name?

We call any series of frequencies which are multiples of 1,2,3,4,5... etc a harmonic series, and they define the notes (for example) C0-C1-G1-C2-E2-G2-Bb2-... Is there a name for the series of ...
9 votes
4 answers
2k views

How do I use an equalizer?

So mixing... (audio engineering). When using an equalizer on trackouts/instrument tracks, the general approach is cut out the "bad frequencies" and increase the "good frequencies" to accentuate the ...
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10 votes
5 answers
6k views

Is there a relationship between prime numbers and music?

Is there a relationship between prime numbers and the series of overtones and their frequencies? I've found links to Euler's research about math and about music, and I got goose bumps when I found ...
4 votes
3 answers
462 views

Do accidental notes have their own name?

So if I understand correctly in western tonal music we chose 12 lucky notes that we decided use tremendously more than the others, among which we have gloriously named 7 even luckier notes as follow : ...
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2 votes
1 answer
279 views

Calculating consonance/dissonance (i.e. need for resolution) from list of frequencies [duplicate]

Is anyone aware of any formulas that can be used to calculate consonance or dissonance from a list of frequencies (in hertz)? I realize consonance/dissonance is a somewhat nebulous concept. What I ...
1 vote
2 answers
271 views

Why Is My Music Waveforms Exported From LMMS So High?

The height of music waveforms exported from LMMS are very high and I'm afraid it might lead to clipping or unbalanced volume when accompanied with video. The track in LMMS which is a 1-min loop was ...
11 votes
9 answers
5k views

Why is the relationship between frequency and pitch exponential?

I read that the formula relating frequency to the note played was: F = 440 × 2 n / 12 Where F is the frequency in hertz of the note played and n is the number of notes from middle A. It seems ...
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-3 votes
1 answer
235 views

In one note played on a piano, say C4, what can we say about the phases of the different frequencies heard?

Say C4 is played. There are the harmonics, and then other frequencies of lesser amplitude. Based on how a string vibrates, can we describe a pattern to the phases of these frequencies?
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