dwa79
Verified buyer
10/07/23
Pitch and Harmonics
I looked forward to this course as I’m on an endless quest to increase my ear training and the course gave me a better understanding of Pitches.
Science of Sound: Pitch (FaderPro)
Everything Music Producers Need To Know About Pitch
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About this course
Learn everything you need to know and more about pitch in music production with Jono Buchanan, and discover the variety of ways you can affect it to create inspiring sounds and hone your mixes. Whether you’re looking to detune a synth oscillator to create subtle stereo width, tune a drum sound to make it work in your mix, or use pitch-shifting plugins on a vocal; you’ll find everything you need to know in this course.
Over the course of two hours, you’ll receive a full grounding in the fundamentals of pitch, learning ways in which they work and how they can be applied in the context of a mix. These are all techniques that have been used by audio engineers for decades, and in this course Jono will familiarise you with the modern software tools you can use to harness them yourself today.
At the end of this course you’ll understand the relationship between pitch, frequency and harmonics; how to work with parameters like detune, vibrato and glide in a synth; how to work with industry staple pitch-shifting and pitch-correction plugins and much more. As well as this, you’ll get plenty of tips on workflow organisation within a DAW environment, and creative techniques to kickstart inspiration.
In total, there are fifteen chapters of content in Science of Sound - Pitch, delivered by Apple-certified trainer Jono Buchanan. All of the production techniques that are covered in this course are explored through a Logic Pro session, making it easy to understand their context in a mix, but they’re also applicable in most DAWs.
This course is part of the Science of Sound series, which goes deeper into important music production topics that you'll use again and again in your own projects. Understanding the fundamentals behind concepts like pitch, delay, reverb, equalisation, compression, and the way in which we as music producers and listeners perceive sound will allow you to approach your projects with a greater confidence, purpose and know-how.
No PhD needed, the science-y parts are explained by our awesome educators in a way that anyone can understand!
Over the course of two hours, you’ll receive a full grounding in the fundamentals of pitch, learning ways in which they work and how they can be applied in the context of a mix. These are all techniques that have been used by audio engineers for decades, and in this course Jono will familiarise you with the modern software tools you can use to harness them yourself today.
At the end of this course you’ll understand the relationship between pitch, frequency and harmonics; how to work with parameters like detune, vibrato and glide in a synth; how to work with industry staple pitch-shifting and pitch-correction plugins and much more. As well as this, you’ll get plenty of tips on workflow organisation within a DAW environment, and creative techniques to kickstart inspiration.
In total, there are fifteen chapters of content in Science of Sound - Pitch, delivered by Apple-certified trainer Jono Buchanan. All of the production techniques that are covered in this course are explored through a Logic Pro session, making it easy to understand their context in a mix, but they’re also applicable in most DAWs.
This course is part of the Science of Sound series, which goes deeper into important music production topics that you'll use again and again in your own projects. Understanding the fundamentals behind concepts like pitch, delay, reverb, equalisation, compression, and the way in which we as music producers and listeners perceive sound will allow you to approach your projects with a greater confidence, purpose and know-how.
No PhD needed, the science-y parts are explained by our awesome educators in a way that anyone can understand!
What you'll learn
- Comprehend the relationship between fundamental frequency and harmonics
- Grasp why certain note combinations sound consonant or dissonant
- Recognize why different instruments sound different playing the same note
- Learn how octaves relate mathematically (doubling/halving frequencies)
- Recognize that the fundamental frequency is the actual pitch being played
Release date: 08/22/2023 • 2h 15m runtime
Sample lessons
Synths: Pitch Bend
Demonstration
Pitch Correction: Autotune and Melodyne
Demonstration
Vocoding
Demonstration
What's included
15 lessons
Science of Sound: Pitch
Imagine a single musical note, just one, and then envision an instrument playing that note. Think about all the ways that note might differ from another that the same instrument can play. Volume is one difference. Almost all instruments can vary the volume of the notes they produce, and most instruments can also alter the tone, allowing you to produce bright, open sounds or darker, more closed ones.
I expect that the first variable you imagined was pitch. A musical instrument's ability to produce different pitches is nearly always its greatest strength. Pitch lets us sing melodies, strum chords, and create four-part barbershop-style harmony if that's what we want to do. But what exactly is pitch, and what are the ways it can be used, manipulated, and honed in any musical production to make each piece of music unique?
We tend to think about music as an arts subject, but when it comes to pitch, it helps to think in terms of science. You might have heard the term "A440," and you may even know that this is a specific pitch used by orchestras when tuning up before a concert or produced by a tuning fork. If you strike it against a surface to get it resonating, A440 refers to the note A and its fundamental frequency, which is 440 Hz. Hertz, abbreviated as Hz, means cycles per second and refers to how many times in one second a waveform shape is produced, or how many times it oscillates through a full cycle, equating to its pitch.
It doesn't matter whether the note is produced by a violin, a trumpet, a sawtooth wave, an electric drill, or even a tuned analog snare drum. If the fundamental frequency of a pitch oscillates 440 times per second, the note you'll hear is an A. So let's explore the term fundamental frequency.
This is the loudest, most recognizable pitch within any sound. If you can sing back a note that someone sings to you, that is the product of your brain latching onto a fundamental frequency, hearing it as the loudest portion of the note, and then your vocal cords reproducing it. When I say the loudest portion, I mean that pitch is complicated. In addition to hearing the fundamental frequency, whenever we hear a note being played, we also hear a multitude of harmonics or overtones triggered on top of that fundamental frequency.
Imagine a piano, a violin, and a trumpet all playing the same note, which we might call A clearly. The pitch of those notes is the same in all three instruments, yet violins, trumpets, and pianos sound very different. That's because the harmonics, triggered by those instruments, are different. One instrument might have more harmonics, for example, or the volume of those harmonics might differ from the harmonics of another instrument.
I expect that the first variable you imagined was pitch. A musical instrument's ability to produce different pitches is nearly always its greatest strength. Pitch lets us sing melodies, strum chords, and create four-part barbershop-style harmony if that's what we want to do. But what exactly is pitch, and what are the ways it can be used, manipulated, and honed in any musical production to make each piece of music unique?
We tend to think about music as an arts subject, but when it comes to pitch, it helps to think in terms of science. You might have heard the term "A440," and you may even know that this is a specific pitch used by orchestras when tuning up before a concert or produced by a tuning fork. If you strike it against a surface to get it resonating, A440 refers to the note A and its fundamental frequency, which is 440 Hz. Hertz, abbreviated as Hz, means cycles per second and refers to how many times in one second a waveform shape is produced, or how many times it oscillates through a full cycle, equating to its pitch.
It doesn't matter whether the note is produced by a violin, a trumpet, a sawtooth wave, an electric drill, or even a tuned analog snare drum. If the fundamental frequency of a pitch oscillates 440 times per second, the note you'll hear is an A. So let's explore the term fundamental frequency.
This is the loudest, most recognizable pitch within any sound. If you can sing back a note that someone sings to you, that is the product of your brain latching onto a fundamental frequency, hearing it as the loudest portion of the note, and then your vocal cords reproducing it. When I say the loudest portion, I mean that pitch is complicated. In addition to hearing the fundamental frequency, whenever we hear a note being played, we also hear a multitude of harmonics or overtones triggered on top of that fundamental frequency.
Imagine a piano, a violin, and a trumpet all playing the same note, which we might call A clearly. The pitch of those notes is the same in all three instruments, yet violins, trumpets, and pianos sound very different. That's because the harmonics, triggered by those instruments, are different. One instrument might have more harmonics, for example, or the volume of those harmonics might differ from the harmonics of another instrument.
Pitch Breakdown
In this lesson, you will learn about the phenomenon that occurs when playing a single note on an acoustic instrument, specifically focusing on harmonics. Using a piano plugin, this lesson illustrates how a note and its harmonics can be visually and audibly observed. This demonstration will include creating an EQ point, isolating and listening to the fundamental frequency, and exploring the difference between the sound with and without its harmonics. This exercise provides insight into the relationship between a fundamental frequency and its associated harmonics, offering a detailed understanding of the complexities of sound.
Synths with Detune
The lesson explores the intricate relationship between pitch, fundamental frequency, harmonics, and electronic sound. Using a synthesizer, the instructor demonstrates how pitch is controlled by notes and configured in the oscillator stage. The video guides you through wave shape selection, the blending of oscillators, and the effects of detuning. Through hands-on examples, you will learn to manipulate the pitch stage of a synthesizer, fostering a rich understanding of electronic sound production.
Synths: Vibrato and Pitch Envelopes
In this lesson, we will explore the complexities of pitch modulation within a synthesizer, delving into the concepts of semitone offsets and detune offsets of a core pitch. We will introduce vibrato, demonstrating how this technique can widen the pitch base of a sound, giving it a unique, tremulous effect. By employing synthesizers such as Retro Synth and Massive 10, we will illustrate how to achieve vibrato by routing a low-frequency oscillator into the pitch section of a sound. Together we will gain hands-on knowledge on how to incorporate and manipulate vibrato in synthesized music, enriching our understanding of electronic sound production.
Synths: Vibrato and Detune
In this lesson, we will delve deeper into pitch modulation techniques, specifically focusing on widening the pitch of the oscillator section of a synth. Through a musical example, we will explore the use of pitch detune and vibrato, applying these techniques to both a synth hook and baseline using Massive 10. We will learn how to introduce vibrato, set the range and shape, and lock it to the tempo if needed. Together, we will gain a hands-on understanding of how to manipulate pitch in a musical context, enhancing our ability to give a track more edge and complexity.
Synths: Pitch Bend
In this lesson, we will explore the nuanced techniques of manipulating pitch with the pitch bend wheel and modulation stick, a secret weapon among synth players. The lesson demonstrates how to control pitch bend not just for soloing or bending individual notes, but also to achieve fascinating and unique sound effects. By utilizing specific tools within synthesizers like Spectrasonics Trillian, you will learn to set different pitch bend ranges for both upward and downward movement, offering extended control over sound. The lesson also guides you through recording MIDI Automation and adjusting pitch bend within post-production, ensuring a precise manipulation of pitch, and inspiring new musical ideas and hooks. By the end of this lesson, you will have a broader understanding of pitch manipulation, allowing you to create a richer sound in your musical projects.
Synths: Fluid Pitch Bend Chords
In this lesson, we will explore the complexities of managing Pitch Bend within a specific key, emphasizing the challenges and limitations of traditional Pitch Bend techniques. This includes the dilemma of maintaining a pitch bend range that stays within the key of a track, especially when playing chords or working with varying steps and semitones within a scale. We'll also examine how moving within a specific key, such as C Major, can lead to harmonic challenges with upward or downward pitch bends. To address these challenges, we will introduce Pitch Innovation's Fluid Pitch, the first plugin to offer a polyphonic pitch bend solution. With features like the ability to set a root note, choose a scale, and intelligently adjust pitch bend ranges, Fluid Pitch allows for more precise and musically relevant pitch control, even when working with chords. By demonstrating real-time pitch adjustments within the boundaries of a chosen scale, this lesson reveals a new horizon in pitch manipulation, evolving the concept from a rigid semitone-based system to a more musically intelligent approach.
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