Out of tune(probably an argument, here)

[Isaac OLEG]

Hello all,

The way we blend the attack tone in the unison gives the way the
unison is lively powered or not.

If we tune the attack to have the warmer tone, (usually a vowel like
"oh") the energy given in the sustain is very lively. That is why I
say you (almost) can tune unisons without hearing them (indeed,
assuming the voicing is giving any power) ... because you actually
experience also in your body the way the tone is powerful or not.

It is also an old story, but tuning with earplugs help to focus on the
energy of the fundamental, while , particularly if the tone is strong,
the ear close too easily if not protected , sometime a little  Zen is
necessary but if we can hear /feel the elements of a good tone we can
provide one.

I for now try to use the strong ness of the attack to "drive" the
unison, so I am listening to energy efficiency first, not much to
beats. (one of the reasons why I voice before tuning sometime)

Another way of listening is to catch the tone a little outside of the
piano, as all the defects you can always try to hear are absolutely
not audible if you stand near the piano. The lack of power is heard,
as power is what allows the timbre to be heard farther. Those days I
recognize immediately in the tone the kind of voicing conducted, as
the kind of hammers used (I also recognize when the rollers are
towards front or back but that is another story !)

The 3 strings are producing phase effects that can't be perfectly in
phase for the 3, so if we try to suppress them totally to "clean" the
unison, my idea is that 2 left or right strings are perfectly in
phase, while the other one is perfectly in phase opposition, and the 3
are not very lively. While on a nice pleasing tone the system is very
certainly in a different equilibrium . As I tune for phase the right
string on the center string, then again the left to center string, I
then blend these 2 phase effects together (if well done I don't have
to come back to the first string) , I presume I never finish with 2
following strings in the same phase, but may be the 2 external ones
are , with the center string going from one to the other and adding
that lively quality(????).
Another interesting thing is that Roslau string seem to show a clear
rebound in its extinction curve , as seen by time spectral analysis.

Nowadays it is amazing the difference in power and sustain that one
can get simply in unison tuning , you can transform the tone a lot
only because of that.

With time I tend to believe that there is "one" unison tuning that is
good, and that the differences in style are smaller than one think,
but day after day I see different tones given by different tuners,
sometime with a very good use of the available power, sometime more on
the leaning side.

As power mean more expressiveness and dynamics, I'll stay with power
from now on.

Best regards.
7
Isaac OLEG