ETD Unisons was something else

Richard Brekne Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
Wed, 21 Mar 2001 17:20:06 +0100



Don wrote:

> Hi Richard,
>
> We were talking about unisons, not octave width. If the Octave is "where"
> you want it then I doubt that doing a "cleaner" unison will affect that.
>

Yes I know Don,, but not every piano has all these nice sounding bass strings.
And often as not the bass unisons are going to sound false in some way or
another no matter what you do. I find that these same unisons can sound even
falser when played with an octave note. We can talk about a unison within that
perspective I believe as well. Unisons present some of the same problems that
Octaves do...albiet not quite the same but still you have to often enough
match one set of partials and let others zing a bit. We find this often enough
in the bass. And sometimes you can accept the sound of say... matching the
unisons 5th partials and also the 4th partials... even tho choosing one leaves
the other false. So if choosing the 5th sounds better when the octave below is
sounded...then thats what I do....grin... sometimes.



>
> Find a piano with hammers that give a "very" glassy hard sound. I believe
> you will discover that for the unison on such an instrument to sound well
> it will rest on a "knife" edge. I.E. the least change and the unison is no
> longer satisfactory.
>
> Now voice that hammer and the "tolerance" for the "width" of the unison
> will be much more forgiving.
>

Yes, I am aware of this... perhaps we are talking past each other a bit...

I would still like to know what you meant by lower partials sounding
"inside"...ahhh.. come to think of it thats where we got off track on each
other... my mistake... I mixed the decks on that point... forget that.. I know
what you meant then..

>
> Regards,
> Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.
>
> Tuner for the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts
>
> mailto:drose@dlcwest.com
> http://donrose.xoasis.com/
>
> 3004 Grant Rd.
> REGINA, SK
> S4S 5G7
> 306-352-3620 or 1-888-29t-uner

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no




This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC