25
votes
Accepted
What is the reason a given note can have different "sounds"
Simple answer - overtones or harmonics. Each sound producing machine (instrument) has the propensity to produce not only the fundamental (first harmonic), but others too. The mix of whichever these ...
- 184k
21
votes
Accepted
Does the manner in which you release a tone on the piano affect its sound?
There's a little bit of key noise and the rate of damper drop and any resulting damper noises are affected by release. At the highest levels of performance and tone, these noises are important even if ...
- 53.7k
21
votes
What is the reason a given note can have different "sounds"
There's more to an instrument's waveform than the over-riding 'perceived pitch' frequency. There's lots of other frequencies mixed in there.
And apart from the sustain portion of a musical note (...
- 85.5k
18
votes
Accepted
Is it accurate to say synths have timbre?
Certainly, electronic instruments have timbre. Every audible sound does!
The aspects of timbre that are measurable and quantifiable can be measured and quantified for all sounds. One of the most ...
- 45.7k
17
votes
How to obtain a Clean yet Distorted guitar sound?
The sounds in the songs you've listed are actually pretty different to my ears, but I'll try to generalize and go through some examples.
Here is the raw line for reference. This is a modified strat ...
- 293
16
votes
Accepted
Does capo quality make any difference?
Capo quality matters, but not for tone. A better capo may give you more even tension on the strings, it may be more convenient to use, or maybe it's made of more durable materials or components that ...
- 4,555
16
votes
Is there any way for my to become a better judge of my playing? Especially while I'm playing
This is a terrific, and very important, question!
Have you ever heard a recording of yourself speaking? Did it come across as odd to you? Did you ever think "that's not how I sound!"? The same is ...
- 83.1k
16
votes
Accepted
Guitar - How to switch from clean to hi-gain
Around time stamp 0:46 he steps on a gain/distortion/fuzz pedal with his left foot. Watch his leg under his fretting hand.
Then he plays single notes in the neck pickup with a higher gain sound than ...
- 53.7k
16
votes
Do pianos have a generally recognized "bass register"?
No, there’s no generally recognized split point — by manufacturers or musicians.
Early pianos, up until at mid 1800s at least, had three very distinct registers, each with starkly different timbres. ...
- 71.7k
14
votes
Guitar - How to switch from clean to hi-gain
You can get (mostly) clean tones from a high-gain amp setting if you go into the amp with a very low-amplitude signal. To put it simply, the amp has a maximum signal level that it can handle cleanly; ...
- 2,460
13
votes
I'm tonedeaf. If I sing to my baby, will I damage his/her musical ear?
Unlikely, because unless your child has a genetic reason for being unable to distinguish pitches (which you apparently may, if what you say is true), he or she will soon learn to identify the ...
- 3,743
13
votes
Why does the exponential curve that shows up in the orchestra not overwhelm anything?
It is mainly because increasing the number of instruments in a section does not actually make the section much louder, mostly it just makes it sound “denser”. Any doubling of the number of unisono ...
- 34.9k
13
votes
Accepted
How important is brand name and type of string to the overall sound of a guitar?
Brand doesn't matter at all, in my opinion. Most of the big names do make their own strings (contrary to some rumors you'll hear on the internet) but they're all using the same processes, similar or ...
- 4,757
13
votes
Is it accurate to say synths have timbre?
Is it accurate to say synths have timbre?
Yes.
an identical note played on piano versus a cello can epitomize timbre whereby the material and playing method of the instruments can be heard to be ...
- 17.2k
13
votes
Can smoking allow a singer to sing in a way a non smoker couldn't?
Late edit:
Paul McCartney smokes. At 80, & after his gig at Glastonbury this year, where he's still doing everything in the original key, that rather lends more weight to my argument that smoking ...
- 25.3k
13
votes
Can smoking allow a singer to sing in a way a non smoker couldn't?
Smoking affects singing in indirect ways negatively. Smoking reduces the lungs capabilites and CO will reduce the bloods abilities to bind oxygen, which most likely means that smoking will reduce the ...
- 12.9k
12
votes
Why do I feel like I sound really bad when I'm playing Guitar?
Most musicians constantly fuss over how they sound. It is understandable, given the way we communicate using sound; we want our sound to be the best sound we can create. So, you are not alone here.
...
- 25.3k
12
votes
Accepted
Why do thicker guitar picks result in a darker tone color?
Thicker picks (tend to) remain in contact with the string longer. The impulse provided to the string is of longer duration. A longer duration pulse imparts more lower frequency and less higher ...
- 17.7k
12
votes
What word describes the sound of an instrument based on the shape of the waveform of its sound?
It seems to me that the definition of timbre that uses "overtones" to describe qualitative differences between sounds of the same frequency and amplitude does not take into account the shape of the ...
- 45.7k
12
votes
Accepted
Pan flute using straws : all notes measurements?
These measurements aren't totally accurate, as they've rounded to the nearest half inch to make it look nice. It also looks like you've built a "transposing" pan flute- your "C" ...
- 6,124
12
votes
Do pianos have a generally recognized "bass register"?
One element of answer might be the number of strings behind the different keys.
Pianos have generally one heavy string per key in the low register, two per key in the middle, and three thin strings ...
- 129
11
votes
Does capo quality make any difference?
There are many different styles and types of capo, all with the same end product in mind. However, they do differ a lot. Some are dead straight, to work with flat fingerboards. Others have a radius ...
- 184k
10
votes
I'm tonedeaf. If I sing to my baby, will I damage his/her musical ear?
You should pay attention to your singing.
Tone-deafness is a result of a disconnection between what are you hear and what you produce. It is generally fixable through conscious attention.
I work ...
- 1,005
10
votes
How to obtain a Clean yet Distorted guitar sound?
The dirt and grime that comes from distortion is a result of notes with frequency relationships beyond those that are very simple ratios (e.g. 2:1=an octave, and 3:2=a fifth) going through the ...
- 45.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Why does the recording of distortion guitar sound different than what I hear through the amp?
Always remember one thing: the sound that you hear depends on the device you are getting the output through. As you say, you like the sound through your amp but not from the software, this is because ...
- 481
10
votes
Does leaving the excess string uncut, affect the guitar's tone?
No difference. The strings vibrate from where they're fretted, or the nut when open, to the saddles on the bridge. If they had a centimetre or a metre hanging off - no difference, apart from getting ...
- 184k
10
votes
Where did the term 'Tone' originate?
The relevant part of the etymology of tone is:
from Greek tonos "vocal pitch, raising of voice, accent, key in
music," originally "a stretching, tightening, taut string," related ...
- 12.2k
9
votes
How to generate the tone of a specific waveform?
The zero-skills option is to just freehand-draw the waveform in a dumb GUI editor, even Audacity will do
then copy&paste it a couple of times
and play that in a loop.
This isn't really ...
- 34.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Clarinet A/B trill with fuller sound
You are correct that the side-key trill is not a very good sound. There is really no way to produce a better trill for that one combo of notes. We all live with it.
- 14.7k
9
votes
Can you change some composition I wrote to whatever music you want just by changing the timbre of the instruments?
Destructive interference would effect what you hear, but that doesn't change the composition.
You could do other things to make a performance or playback inaudible, like move very far away or put a ...
- 53.6k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible