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Topic: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song? (Read 74419 times) previous topic - next topic
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How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Would anyone be kind enough to help me?

I'm trying to figure out the frequency/hz of this particular song for my brother, but I just don't know how. I followed a tutorial on another website about how to do it using audacity, but when I tried it, the frequency seemed to be 108 hz, so I think I must have been doing it wrong.

I'm sorry to post this again, because I saw some other topics about it on here, but I just couldn't understand them. I'm really sorry, I know absolutely nothing about music, but it's really important to my brother and I'd really like to help him.

This is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju-WZtqEC-g

Can anyone explain to me, as simply as possible, how I can find out what frequency it is?

Thank you so much for reading.

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #1
I wonder if you are talking about BPM or Hz?

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #2
If it's the Beats Per Minute, then 108 sounds like a pretty accurate number.

Hz is things per second, so 108/60 would make that 1.8Hz  :D

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #3
Thank you both for the replies.
I wonder if you are talking about BPM or Hz?
I'm not totally sure what I'm talking about. My brother heard this song and was hugely affected by it, and is now obsessed by the song and the film it comes from. Someone mentioned to him that the song could have been at 432 hz – they said most popular songs were at 440 hz, but some songs are at 432 hz, and that 432 hz supposedly has a big emotional effect on people. I think it has much more to do with the fact that my brother is autistic, and finds things like this really intense – where another person might hear a song and think, "Oh, that resonates with me", he just gets completely overwhelmed by it. However, my brother was fascinated by this hz idea and asked me how you can tell what hz a song is – but I just haven't been able to find out! When I followed the audacity tutorial, I was expecting the result to be either 432 or 440, which is why I thought I must have done it wrong...so, as you can see, I really don't know what I'm talking about, and whether I mean BPM or hz or what.
If it's the Beats Per Minute, then 108 sounds like a pretty accurate number.

Hz is things per second, so 108/60 would make that 1.8Hz  :D
So then I can tell my brother it's neither 432 hz nor 440 hz, but a different hz altogether?

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #4
Regardless of what's been said and the fact you're still clueless about it, you'd  be much better off by learning a bit on:

Audio frequencies:

https://www.teachmeaudio.com/mixing/techniques/audio-spectrum/ 
+
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_frequency

and, as other members have already tipped you off, BPS (tempo):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo






Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #5
He talks about one of the latest esotheric happenings in audio.
432-hz-doesnt-improve-music

Edit: don't know to much about people in the audio business marketing it but did read about a special 432Hz Jazz recording lately.
Is troll-adiposity coming from feederism?
With 24bit music you can listen to silence much louder!

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #6
So he's talking about tuning. Tuning instruments to A = 440Hz versus A = 432Hz.
This comes down to just intonation, wolf harmonies and well-tempered stuff doesn't it? Perhaps Debbie Harry was messing with our minds?

Quote
The Bottomline on the A=432 Hz and a “just intonation” tuning method (scientific tuning) vs. A=440 Hz and “equal temperament” tuning (concert tuning) Debate

In general:

- Single notes produced by the combination of the starting pitch of A=432 Hz and scientific tuning have a “nice” harmonic quality (as can be seen using “cymatics experiments” that convert sound waves into visuals), but as a trade-off some chords and scales produce disharmony (“wolf harmonies“).

- Meanwhile, the combination of A=440 Hz and concert tuning results in a more disharmonic quality for single notes, but as a trade-off all chords and scales sound rather harmonic (which is useful for concerts, composers, and consistency).

Try this link: http://factmyth.com/factoids/432-hz-is-better-than-440-hz/

Reference:
Just Intonation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_intonation
Wolf Interval: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_interval
Well Tempered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_temperament
Cymatics experiment tonoscope 432-440Hz:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zw0uWCNsyw

There are ideas around about "natural" and "universal frequencies" and the like for 432HZ,  I'm sure it's a cosmic rabbit hole for anyone to jump down. 

C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #7
...You can use Audacity to generate 432Hz or 440Hz tones. 

There are also a couple of ways to pitch-down in Audacity.     The "cleanest" way to do it is by reducing the speed/tempo, which will also reduce the pitch.    

Quote
So then I can tell my brother it's neither 432 hz nor 440 hz, but a different hz altogether?
Virtually all recorded music is tuned to the normal A=440Hz standard.      A musician could tell you because they wouldn't be able to play in-tune with it (without re-tuning their instrument, if it's a tunable instrument).    Someone with perfect pitch* might be able to tell you.    Most of us won't hear a difference if we listen to the normal version of a song on Monday, and the pitch-shifted version on Tuesday.

Note that just because a song is standard-tuned to A=440,, that doesn't mean there are any A's, in the song.    Or, there may be A's in higher or lower octaves but no 440Hz A's (which is A4).

Certain instruments (trumpets, saxophones, etc.) can't be re-tuned.   A piano is a pain to re-tune and it has to be done by a piano tuner.    A rock-band with just guitars, bass, and drums can be tuned "differently" or the whole band can be mis-tuned , although mis-tuning is unlikely to happen because someone usually has a guitar tuner...   It could happen if the piano is mis-tuned because everybody else would have to re-tune to match the piano.    But, a piano doesn't accidentally go out-of tune that way with the whole scale shifting up or down...   A few strings go out-of-tune and the piano becomes out-of-tune with itself...

If there are horns, woodwinds, piano, etc., the song is probably normally-tuned, unless it was artificially altered after recording, or if there was a speed problem during recording/production (which will also throw pitch off).




* Perfect pitch (AKA absolute pitch) is the ability to identify a note.    So an A tuned to 432Hz would still probably be identified as a normal A (the closest note), although it might be misidentified as normally-tuned A-flat (which is actually 415.3Hz)












Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #8
@ Amethyst

This short video should help you see the various issues with the various tuning systems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBkbrvCmGA

Hope that helps simplify a reasonably complex issue.

C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #9
At 2.4 secs there's a chord being played the dominant note is A2. My software measures the Hz at 112.7 Hz.



Frequencies for equal-tempered scale, A4:
A4=440Hz - A2 should be 110 Hz.
A4=432Hz - A2 should be 108 Hz.
See: https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreq446.html

This song appears more tuned to around A=450 Hz. But this could simply be due to tape speed from the source video, or recording, it also sounds like there are pops and clicks from vinyl (!!!) so turntable speed, or due to phaser / synth effects on the keyboards --- all sorts of things. Perhaps also your brother likes Debbie Harry when she sings around the notes at around the 3:30 mark.

Who knows - but that's the best I can do.

C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)


Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #11
Certain instruments (trumpets, saxophones, etc.) can't be re-tuned.   A piano is a pain to re-tune and it has to be done by a piano tuner.    A rock-band with just guitars, bass, and drums can be tuned "differently" or the whole band can be mis-tuned , although mis-tuning is unlikely to happen because someone usually has a guitar tuner...   It could happen if the piano is mis-tuned because everybody else would have to re-tune to match the piano.    But, a piano doesn't accidentally go out-of tune that way with the whole scale shifting up or down...   A few strings go out-of-tune and the piano becomes out-of-tune with itself...

When I played in marching band, our director insisted that we all tune our instruments prior to the performance.  I played a clarinet, and several of my friends played sax, trumpet, baritone...  You don't have very much tuning range, but the device which holds the mouthpiece on all these instruments can be pushed in or out, lengthening or shortening the acoustic path and shifting the tuning.  True, it's not like tuning a stringed instrument in that embouchure has a significant effect, but it was apparent when one of the trumpets or flutes was out of tune, and correctable.  I used to hate doing this because then I'd have to remember the position of the little adapter after putting my instrument away and re-assembling it for the show.

Oh, and about reading the comments on that blog post: Don't, just don't.  I cry for humanity.

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #12
My guess is that it was recorded normally at 440Hz tuning and the YouTube version which you linked to (and your brother likes) is a vinyl recording which was recorded by someone whose turntable is running a little fast and thus the recording is sharpened enough to make A2 a couple of Hz higher.  That's the problem with having non-digital media as the source.

C.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #13
How about something completely different? I think it's cool 8)
https://youtu.be/3Ku9iH2pU9g

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #14
Thanks so much for the replies everyone – so sorry I haven't replied, I've been away for the last few days and haven’t had a chance to check the thread. I read out to my brother everything that you'd all said, and I understand a little better about tuning and hz now, so thank you all very much.

Also, thank you carpman particularly for looking at the song on your own software, that was really kind of you.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it.  :)

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #15
I just registered to come here reply your question, I checked the frequency of this song, it is  480 hz instead of 432, again ,it's 480 hz ,it's not 432. if you have more question you could either reply here, or send me a PM

Would anyone be kind enough to help me?

I'm trying to figure out the frequency/hz of this particular song for my brother, but I just don't know how. I followed a tutorial on another website about how to do it using audacity, but when I tried it, the frequency seemed to be 108 hz, so I think I must have been doing it wrong.

I'm sorry to post this again, because I saw some other topics about it on here, but I just couldn't understand them. I'm really sorry, I know absolutely nothing about music, but it's really important to my brother and I'd really like to help him.

This is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju-WZtqEC-g

Can anyone explain to me, as simply as possible, how I can find out what frequency it is?

Thank you so much for reading.

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #16
Quote
I checked the frequency of this song, it is  480 hz instead of 432, again ,it's 480 hz ,it's not 432. i
Songs (obviously) contain many frequencies.    If there is actually a note defined at 480Hz there are also notes defined at 427.6 and 453.1Hz (assuming "normal" instruments and a "normal" 12-note scale).

 

Re: How can I find out the frequency/hz of this song?

Reply #17
We’re down a rabbit hole here for no reason. The OP wants to know the tuning used in a particular piece of music.

OP, this is almost always A= 440Hz. It is not possible for a casual listener to hear the difference between A= 440Hz and A= 432Hz. If you can hear the difference this is called “perfect pitch” which is not a common skill.

There’s a plethora of reason your friend could like this piece, but the specific tuning is not one of them 👍