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Subject:Identifying pitch of a wave form...
Posted by: Varada
Date:10/4/2002 10:10:12 PM

I have few recordings where it is obvious that the recording's pitch is lower than the original pitch. I have some good recordings of the same artist, and I know that the pitch of the messed up concerts should be the same as the good ones. Now I can use pitch shift functionality until it sounds correct - but can I do something better like using sound forge to identify the pitch of good recording vs the bad recording and using that data to make the bad recording a good one?

I do realize that pitch is not as much a physical entity as frequency is - but my understanding of sound fundamentals is not fundamentally sound to translate the frequency data available from the Spectrum analysis to actionable sequence.

Thanks,
Varada

Subject:RE: Identifying pitch of a wave form...
Reply by: Jacose
Date:10/7/2002 1:35:17 PM

hmmm..

I thought this was a dumb question at first, but it is actually REALLY dumb!!!

*jk*jk*jk*jk*jk*jk*jk*jk*

NO REALLY this is a REALLY GOOD question!!

I have like all of nirvana's concerts on CD, and my friends Like "you have to lower the pitch of this one, its just NOT the way they originally played it"

Im like, no, that sounds right...

we got into a big argument about it.

lol

but I wonder if there would be some way to do this, and to determine the original pitch..

the problem is

Spectrum Analysis is for frequecny only

and the waveform view is really just amplitude.

I dont see how you would be able to find the original pitch or a waveform unless maybe if you studied it and found aliasing, ..... but I dont even know if that would have anything to do with it!



BTW I was serious, this IS a good question.. I was just making a dumb joke in the beginnning..


Subject:RE: Identifying pitch of a wave form...
Reply by: Varada
Date:10/7/2002 6:53:33 PM

So anybody out there who can help me?
Thanks,
Varada

Subject:RE: Identifying pitch of a wave form...
Reply by: Geoff_Wood
Date:10/7/2002 9:46:07 PM

Sorry, but you didn't mention what the original recording is on. Presumably analogue tape, because anything digital is not going to be out of pitch that anybody could possibly notice.

.... unless you are recording something at 48K and playing back at 44K1....


Subject:RE: Identifying pitch of a wave form...
Reply by: vanblah
Date:10/8/2002 11:19:03 AM

Pitch (in musical terms) refers to a single frequency. "Key" however refers to the overall range of musical notes (frequencies) in a given piece of music, as in "What key are we in?" The problem is that music is (usually) made up of more than just the pitch of one note ... it's chord structure is what determines the key. To determine the key of a song it's easiest to grab a guitar or keyboard and play along until you get it. Usually you will know within the first couple of chords (unless the song is in some strange mode).

If you can't play by ear, you could try analyzing the overall song, and it may give you a fundamental frequency, ie. the dominant frequency for the entire song. This may or may not be the key the song is in though. Let's not even talk about key changes.

As far as one recording being in a different key than another (such as Nirvana live vs. studio recordings) I would say that's part of the live experience: maybe Kurt just couldn't scream those notes on pitch that night, so they lowered the key to accomodate.

If a recording was meant to be played at one speed but was not (33.3 rpm vs. 45 rpm) then you have more to worry about than just pitch.

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