Noise Canceling Tuning System

[Jurgen Goering]

On Sep 20, 2007, at 7:47, Michael Magness wrote:

> I've been using the 20db earplugs for quite a while now. They are 
> great for situations such as you described you were in yesterday and 
> they do protect the ears from a test blow. I find they actually 
> enhance what I NEED to hear, blocking some of the extraneous garbage 
> I've trained myself to ignore after 38 years of aural tuning. 
> Occasionaly I'll have a particularly quiet piano and I can pull them 
> out slightly so they are not quite as tight but still block the loud 
> stuff, making it easier to hear the quiet pianos. Just an alternative 
> thought.

I have been using  15 dB musicians attenuators (earplugs) for years, 
and I will continue to use them.  I would strongly recommend them to 
every technician for hearing protection.

However, they are NOT an alternative to the Noise Canceling Tuning 
System.  All ear plugs will decrease all the surrounding sound, the 
ambient noise and the piano, but the  difference in sound level between 
the two remains the same.  NoCATS isolates the piano sound from the 
ambient surrounding noise.  It will suppress the noise while allowing 
you to "dial" in the sound level of the piano you are trying to hear.

Case in point:  I tune a concert grand in a high school gym.  Apart 
from the very loud HVAC, there is an incredible echo in the room.  Even 
with earplugs, I always had to stick my head literally inside the piano 
and bang hard to "beat" the reverb.  At the end of every tuning, I was 
quite exhausted, mentally and physically.  Now with the NoCATS, the 
ambient noise is taken away to a very large degree.  I can sit  more 
relaxed, do a better tuning, and when I am finished I am fresh enough 
to stick around a bit, play some and enjoy the instrument and my work, 
instead of dragging myself to the car.

The applications of the Noise Canceling Tuning System are numerous: 
stage work, outdoor events, music schools (practice rooms), trade 
shows, halls, clubs/restaurants etc..  Heck, for the fun of it I used 
it at a quiet home to tune a Samick grand.  By experimenting with 
microphone placement on the soundboard, I found I could reduce the 
obnoxious wooden hammer knock in the top octave by 75%.  Probably for 
the first time in that piano's life, the top octave could be heard and 
tuned. Wow.

Jurgen Goering
Piano Forte Supply
(250) 754-2440
info at pianofortesupply.com
http://www.pianofortesupply.com
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