At 06:22 PM 2/12/02 +1000, you wrote:
>But Marty, "tone" in English can also refer to the quality of the sound: the
>difference in sound say between a clarinet and a fiddle playing the same
>note, which results from the presence (or not) and the strength of the upper
>partials (harmonics).
>
>"Tone" is also used in connection with the (Western) musical scale, where,
>following the lead of old Johann Sebastian and his well-tempered clavichord,
>we divide the octave (doubling of frequency) into twelve equal parts
>(semitones), two of which make a tone.
>
>So one needs to consider the context in which the word is used.
>
>Syd Curtis
Absolutely right, Syd, but among us nature recordists we mostly use pitch,
tone and frequency interchangeably. (I knew Fernando was about to give a
seminar on tropical nature sound recording).
I like timbre to denote harmonic content, rather than tone. Human voice
tones are a real spectral problem. Try singing an octave below Middle "C",
record it and look at the spectrogram. Try to find a main line at 261
Hz. Where did the pitch (tone) go? It is all harmonics!
my very best,
Marty Michener
MIST Software Associates
75 Hannah Drive, Hollis, NH 03049
coming soon : EnjoyBirds bird identification software.
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