Cd gripe

[mandoplyr70]

On at least 3 separate occasions I have ran across instrumental CDs that i bought just to play along with. Then I find out the whole CD was recorded either sharp or flat & if I want to play I have to retune my mandolin just for this CD ! Just venting http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[Gutbucket]

I feel your pain brother #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[JeffD]

one word: capo

[Walter Newton]

If you have the tracks ripped to your computer you can use audio editing software like Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to adjust the pitch.

[Bill Snyder]

one word: #capo
How would this help? It would have to be a 1/2step # or flat for a capo to work.

[TeleMark]

Amazing Slow Downer. You can shift pitch by whole or half steps, or by cents until it sounds right.

[mandolirius]

I have a Sony CD player with pitch control...very handy. It's probably vintage equipment now, but the model number is: CDP-K1

I think it was made for DJ's, because it also has two mic inputs and a vocal reduction button, which mutes the vocal track.

[JeffD]

one word: #capo
How would this help? It would have to be a 1/2step # or flat for a capo to work.
Isn't that what the poster meant - that the CD was recorded sharp or flat, oh I see, I assumed by a regular interval.

The handful of times I have seen this it has been exactly a half step.


Jeff

[Ivan Kelsall]

Going back more years than i care to remember,i bought 2 Lp's by 'The Dillards',one of which was ''Back Porch Bluegrass''. I was teaching myself Banjo back then & i used it to 'play along with'. It's a good job that my record player had a variable speed control so that i could 'tune the record up' to my Banjo. There were no 2 tunes/songs on it that were in the same pitch !!.
# #I bought the CD of the same records a couple of years ago,hoping that they might have re-mastered them to bring them up to correct pitch - NO WAY !!! - still all over the place,
# # #Saska http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[earthsave]

He meant below or above standard by a fraction that the frets would not cover. Probably caused by the speed of the recording being too fast or too slow, or intentionally sped up?

[TNFrank]

I've noticed this more on older recordings of songs. Newer recordings are more in tune and are easier to play along with. I've got to check out that link for the pitch shifter software. Hopefully it'll work on a Mac.

P.S.
Just checked, it'll work on a Mac.

P.S.S.
Downloaded it and tried to open the .dmg file, got a "check sum" error. Bummer. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[Keith Erickson]

I agree it can be annoying if you are "ever so slightly" sharp or flat, but if you are a ½ or a whole step off, then it can be understandable or bearable.

[Avi Ziv]

In traditional Irish music, it's not uncommon for some musicians to play and record a half step up. There even sessions that are known as Eb sessions. Some years back I attended a double bill concert of Lunasa and Dervish. At the end of the concert they wanted to get together on stage for one common last set but...had to discuss which band was going to re-tune. That was fun to watch http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I do agree that small pitch variations are rather annoying though.

Avi

[woodwizard]

Electronic tuners are a wonderful thing. Can you remember going to festivals a long time ago when every jam was pitched differently? and you had to get with someone to tune too. It seems now everyone is on the same track and you can just walk up and start pickin' I really like that. Sorry to get off thread.

[Paul Kotapish]

In the days before electronic tuners it was pretty common for bands to be all over the map in terms of home pitch. Sometimes it was intentional--to get a little edgier (#) or mellower (b) sound, but usually it was just natural drift. When I first started playing sessions it was pretty typical to ask "who are we going to tune to" rather than "who has an accurate A?" Usually the mandolin player would win out, and if the mando was sharp, so went the band.

Early recordings of bluegrass, old-time, blues, and early guitar-based rock are rarely dead-on in terms of modern concert pitch, and pitch could vary a lot--as in the case with the Dillards record--if the recording sessions stretched over a few days or weeks.

As mentioned above, it's not unusual for traditional Irish bands to retune--either sharp or flat--to match a fixed-pitch instrument such as a button accordion or the pipes, which are only slightly adjustable. De Danann used to tune sharp, but they played so dang fast that when you slowed it down to pitch it was still lickety split in tempo. The sound of a fiddle tuned a half-step or full step down in combination with a "flat set" of pipes is gorgeous.

Frustrating when it comes to learning tunes, though. I love the Amazing Slow Downer for lots of reasons, but the pitch-adjustment feature is really great.

[TNFrank]

One nice thing about converting my electric bass to fretless was that I could just move a bit to compensate for sharps or flats since I played by positions and ear. Guess that's where a fiddle player has a bit more flexability then us mando players.

[Lee]

Quit complaining and re-tune. Be glad you don't play piano.
A=440Hz is a convention, not the rule. The New York Philharmonic symphony orchestra just adopted A=442Hz as their standard pitch.

[Pete Martin]

Older Bluegrass bands sometimes would tune higher than standard pitch. Flatt and Scruggs did this a LOT. I always wondered if Lesters best singing key was Ab (G#). While not good for instruments, the extra tension on the instruments added a cool part to the high lonesone sound of some recordings.

[hoffmannia2k7]

I used to hate retuning to recordings, but now after moaning about it a few times it happens pretty quickly and feels great to find a pitch, tune to it, and learn a tune.

I know it is frustrating at first, but you will feel good when done.

Re-tuning is like jogging and much nicer than dekoening!

[TNFrank]

Kind of in the same vein, even Rock songs can be sharp or flat. VanHalen's "Panama" is tuned to E flat. So it's not just a Bluegrass deal.

[Jim Broyles]

Yeah, but the whole band is tuned down 1/2 a step. Hendrix did it. The Smithereens did it. Social Distortion did it. Stevie Ray Vaughan did it. A lot of bands do it. I guess because it makes #it easier to sing. And 1/2 step is not a problem. The OP was complaining about a pitch which is less than a 1/2 step up or down from a real key.

[old9600]

Quit complaining and re-tune. #Be glad you don't play piano.
A=440Hz is a convention, not the rule. #The New York Philharmonic symphony orchestra just adopted A=442Hz as their standard pitch.
I think you're on the right track. The song might be recorded at a 439,441,442.. so you need to get a tuner that will help you tune to something other than an A=440.

A good friend of mine always tunes to a 441 and swears that is the new A. I've never heard that rule anywhere else but he swears by it. Sounds like the new A might really be a 442, but I'll stick to the 440.

[howbahmando]

.... because the electronic tuner knows better than the musicians .....

[earthsave]

Otis Redding... Eb.

I think Stevie had his guitar tuned way down.

[Michael H Geimer]

I've started using different terms to help my brain keep track. I picked up the jargon from a piano tuner who said my spinet might be in tune, but it was way off pitch.

Exp:
My instrument is in tune with yours.

My instrument is at pitch with A-440.

442, eh? Is that anything like "Grey ... it's the new Black"? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif