The Science and Art of Tuning

Dr. Milton Mermikides

December 2010
All Material ©2010 Milton Mermikides

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 What is in Tune?
How Long is a Piece of String?

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 How Do We Decide?

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Concepts

• Wavelength & Frequency

• Hz. The Frequency of Human Hearing
• The Law of Octave Equivalence
• Harmonic Series

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 5
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Assumptions

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Acoustic Purity

• The Pythagorean concept of

Acoustic Purity: Intervals from
simple ratios
• Selecting notes and
constructing scales from the
Harmonic Series

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 The Pure 5th

1/1 3/2 2/1 3/1

Struck

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 The 3-Limit Scale

1/1 9/8 81/64 4/3 3/2 27/16 2/1

C D E F G A C’
Root Maj 2nd Maj 3rd 4th 5th Maj 6th 8ve

Just intonation
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 The Pure 3rd
From the 5th Harmonic (5-limit)

5/1: 2 octaves and a major 3rd

5/4: Major 3rd
81/64 8/5
E Ab
Maj 3rd Min 6th

1/1 5/4 25/16 2/1

C E G# C’
Root Maj 3rd Aug. 5th 8ve

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Shrutis of Hindustani
Classical Music

Sunday, 23 January 2011

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Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Raga Bhairav

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Monophonic vs.
Polyphonic

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Enough Physics, let’s
make 12 Notes.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 The Cycle Spiral of 5ths

(3/2)12=129.746

2 =128
7

Pythagorean
Comma
129.746/128

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Temper, temper

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Equal Temperament

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Equal Temperament
Makes Cents
Cents = 1200 * log(ratio)
log(2)

(Cents/1200)
Ratio = 2
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 The Third Issue

(5/4)3=
125/64

≠128/64

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 The Third Issue

Sunday, 23 January 2011

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 C Major Prelude
Equal Temperament

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 C Major Prelude
Well Tempered

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Another Solution

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Mozart’s Semitones

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Another Solution
1/9=11.1cents

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Clockwise from left:
Campagnoli’s fingerboard diagram (1797)
Woldermar’s Violin Method (1803) and
Split key harpsichord 1715
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Where Did It Go?

• Complexity of Instrument Design

• Challenges of pedagogy and wider interest in
performing music, owning a piano
• The drive through romantic harmony into 12-
tone serialism
• Filtered out of the system

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Leading Tones?

Consideration of the vertical and the horizontal.

A time for harmonic sonority,
and a time for expressive intonation.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Microtones & the Blues
The Neutral 3rd
The Neutral 7th
4-b5
b5-5

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Sunday, 23 January 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Blues Inflection

• Thelonius Monk
• Guitarists (Bends, Slide Guitar)
• Vocalists (Bessie Smith)

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Tuning Systems
Harry Partch (1901-1974)
American microtonal composer
and instrument maker
11-limit 43 tone system

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 11-limit (43 tone)

• 11th harmonic chosen as the boundary of our

tolerance - falling between 2 equal tempered
pitches (F#- 49cents).
• 43 divisions of the scale are constructed within
this boundary.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Sunday, 23 January 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Microtonal adjustment of
pre-existing instruments

Tolgahan Cogalu
Sunday, 23 January 2011
 Technology and
Microtones

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Sunday, 23 January 2011
 • Busoni (1866-1924) In response to Cahillʼs Telharmonium
"Let us take thought," he exulted, "how music may be
restored to its primitive, natural essence; [...] let it follow the
line of the rainbow and vie with the clouds in breaking
sunbeams.”

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Autotune
• Correction, quantisation and effect

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Autotune (Ab)use

Dixie Chicks – The Long Way Around – Noticeable on “parents” and “but I.”

T-Pain – I’m Sprung – Especially obvious on “homies” and “lady.”

Avril Lavigne – Complicated – Listen to “way,” “when,” “driving,” “you’re.”

Uncle Kracker – Follow Me

The whole vocal sounds strained, but especially the word “goodbye.”

Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved – Listen for “rain” and “smile.”

Natasha Bedingfield – Love Like This – “Apart” and “life.”

Sean Kingston – Beautiful girls – “OoooOver” doesn’t sound human.

JoJo – Too Little Too Late – Appropriately, “problem” stands out.

Rascal Flatts – Life is a Highway

Every vocal, foreground and background, is treated, but “drive” in particular.

New Found Glory – Hit or Miss – “Thriller”, and every time Jordan sings “I.”

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Autotune Aware

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Autotune Aware

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Hiding vs. Hearing

• Corrective technology (Pristine vs. sterile)

• Expressive technology
• Non equal-tempered auto-tuning?

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Practical
Democratic tuning

Sunday, 23 January 2011

 Milton Mermikides
miltonmermikides.com
miltonline@me.com

All Material ©2010 Milton Mermikides

Sunday, 23 January 2011