On 4/24/2017 3:34 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote:
> A quarter tone is very noticeable to musicians.
You betcha. And an overall error in speed can be very noticeable, though
sometimes in an un-obvious way.
I had a reminder of that not long ago. There's an LP on Vanguard called
"Mississippi John Hurt's Greatest Hits", which is actually a recording
of a live concert he gave at Oberlin. I had always thought this was a
pretty lackluster recording, lacking in energy and spirit. Came time to
digitize, and I checked some hum that was recorded during the runup to
one of the songs. Lo and behold, it was playing back at 97.533% of 60Hz.
When I sped the recording up a reciprocal amount in the DAW (using
resampling), lo and behold the recording was a top-notch MJH
performance. Amazing what difference getting pitch and tempo right can
make to the subjective impact of a recording.
How did Vanguard come to release an off-speed LP? My guess is that the
concert was recorded, probably by the campus radio station, using a tape
recorder that was running a little fast, then Vanguard cut the master
using a recorder running at the right speed.
Peace,
Paul
PS To the person who asked whether a 2 rpm difference in turntable speed
would make a constant pitch change, regardless of whether the speeds
were 78 and 80 rpm or 76 and 78 rpm...no. Our perception of pitch, like
most human senses, is logarithmic, meaning we perceive ratios. Since
80/78 isn't the same as 78/76, these errors would sound difference. We
sense things *multiplicatively*.
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