Who can read notes? – (an afternoon to waste)

[killdozzer]

I’m looking for a note in an instrumental song, if anyone can help. This won’t save the world, but it’s bugging me for days. Honestly, it is because I couldn’t believe I could hear it. I’ve known this song for decades and never new this sound was in it.


I’ll link to note sheets and to the song on youtube (you can download a .pdf of the notes or read them on this site). WARNING; the sound is not audible in poorer rips. Anyway, in good rips you have to crank it up a bit as well.


I first hear it somewhere around 55th or 56th second of play time, but I don’t know how to convert notes in linear time, so I don’t know where to look for it. It is without doubt the lowest note in this song if this helps to locate it.


If you’re up for it, please help.

killdozzer

 

[rojo]

Let's see if I can simplify this. Not sure what instrument you're interested in, so

The treble clef measure illustrates the "Melodic Drum" line. The first note is the note in question. The second note is one octave above. The third is one octave up from that. And the fourth one is 3 octaves up from the note you're wondering about -- a much more legible "E".

The bass clef measure illustrates the Taiko in a similar way. Walking up octave-by-octave, you can see it's a D. And actually, the D is only one whole step lower than the "Melodic Drum Line" E. These notes would've been much easier to read if the transcriber had avoided relying on so many ledger lines. He could've used 8vb / 15vb / etc, and maybe moved the "Melodic Drum" notation to the bass clef -- but I'm unfamiliar with percussion notation, so I can't say whether such notation would've been allowed.

I saw no lower notes in the score. The lowest note notated is D1, around 37Hz according to this table. I haven't had a chance to listen critically to determine whether the performance is different from the score around 0:55 - 0:56, but I didn't hear anything obvious through my headphones.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

 

[Alex2507]

It's probably cone break up you're hearing. I cranked that up loud enough and got a weird vibration every few seconds through the floor but couldn't really hear it above everything else at that volume. It was way louder than I was comfortable with. No idea what that could be though.

 

[killdozzer]

Let's see if I can simplify this. Not sure what instrument you're interested in, so

The treble clef measure illustrates the "Melodic Drum" line. The first note is the note in question. The second note is one octave above. The third is one octave up from that. And the fourth one is 3 octaves up from the note you're wondering about -- a much more legible "E".

The bass clef measure illustrates the Taiko in a similar way. Walking up octave-by-octave, you can see it's a D. And actually, the D is only one whole step lower than the "Melodic Drum Line" E. These notes would've been much easier to read if the transcriber had avoided relying on so many ledger lines. He could've used 8vb / 15vb / etc, and maybe moved the "Melodic Drum" notation to the bass clef -- but I'm unfamiliar with percussion notation, so I can't say whether such notation would've been allowed.

I saw no lower notes in the score. The lowest note notated is D1, around 37Hz according to this table. I haven't had a chance to listen critically to determine whether the performance is different from the score around 0:55 - 0:56, but I didn't hear anything obvious through my headphones.

Jesus, rojo! You are an audioholic general. I think I can understand some of what you're saying. Only two more little things I need to ask to see whether I'm on the track; from your post it would appear that Taiko is lower /...the D is only one whole step lower than the "Melodic Drum Line" E.../ is this right? Because it seems to be a bit higher marked on the lines, I guess it is because of the difference between melodic and bass lines?

The other little thing; where did you take this sample from the notes? Is it from the beginning or cca. one third of the song? In other words is this D1 something that repeats throughout the song? Because I don't hear it that low until the aforementioned 55th/56th second and after that it does repeat for several times.

Anyway, even if it's the same D1/37Hz, am I right to assume that I shouldn't be hearing that note with "frequency range: -6dB 47Hz..."?

If it's possible to hear it, why, then, are speakers specified in this way?

@Alex2507 : what is "cone breaking up"?

further on the subject, it wasn't vibration from the room or furniture or ground, it is as if a very large percussion, like traditional Chinese drums or very large timpani/kettledrums are producing it and rhythmically it makes sense to hear it right then, it follows the main theme nicely.

killdozer

 

[Alex2507]

Cone break up is ... when a driver can no longer reproduce a a linear frequency response.

Copied and pasted from Mr. Evil at diyaudio:

"At low frequencies a cone moves as a whole. This is the 'pistonic' area of operation. At higher frequencies the cone starts to flex, leading to resonances. This is what is referred to as 'breakup'.

These resonances are at fixed frequencies and are thus not harmonically related to the input signal. Non-harmonic distortions like this sound bad, and so should be avoided like the plague.

Breakup behaviour depends on cone material and geometry. Paper has very well damped breakup modes, which is one reason why it's such a commonly used material. More rigid materials, like metal, have very bad breakup modes, but fortunately they tend to be higher in frequency and so can be avoided with care.

There are ways to control breakup modes by treating the cone with various coatings."

So it only happens at higher frequencies. I guessed wrong then. I'm still wondering what db spl you have it playing at when you hear it. So far I'm the only on to try it that loud. What we need is YAA to try this out. His gear goes low and loud and his neighbors already want him dead.

 

[killdozzer]

Thanks!

What we need is YAA to try this out. His gear goes low and loud and his neighbors already want him dead.

No, let's not do this I'll bear guilt.

I never listen to my music over 90dB according to this.

But, even I didn't hear the sound when I turned the volume down.

Anyway it's not cone brake up for one more reason; it is very soothing, it is a very nice tone. I don't feel it in my chest (unrelated) but this is perhaps because it is short, which is why I thought it would be a percussion instrument. As oppose to, for example James Blake's take on Feist's song "The Limit to Your Love", which even played from YouTube produces an earthquake during the refrain.

That's the one you feel physically inside your chest and head. You have a feeling of "brain massage".

Not the "Etude", that one shows the lowest tone 4 times and it's right on the spot corresponding to main theme.