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I don’t pretend to know everything about tuning unisons.

What I do know is that beginners should strive for the cleanest unisons possible. I also know that we do this by tuning the highest partials as still as possible. Because of the doubling effect of Hertz every octave, beating partials beat faster the higher they are.

For this reason, we are always focusing our ear to the higher partials of a unison while tuning it.

There has been some discussion among advanced level tuners regarding building unison tone. I know that two identical frequencies, while mathematically pure unisons, can actually add up to cancel each other out. I’ve had this happen before; tuned a unison so pure, it was quieter.

Anyway, some people refer to tuning unisons slightly out of tune in order to create more sustain and avoid the cancelling out phenomenon described in the previous paragraph. There are some websites that claim this technique works, but I don’t tune pianos, or for situations, where this is called for. I’m still working on getting clean unisons. 😉

So, while I don’t claim to know everything about tuning unisons, I do know there are some weird things happening with this unison I tuned. I was recording it and trying to produce a “blooming” or “opening” unison; one that grows and seems to sustain more than a beatless unison.

While this unison does not have a complete beat in it, there is a roll at each of the partials. What’s more, I seem to have been able to control which partial blooms or opens, and when.

Listen to this recording of me tuning a unison. As I tune it differently, different partials seem to open at different times. I am focusing on the 4th, 5th, and 6th partials, the major triad.

As I hear different partial melodies forming, I play the melody, and then the unison again. See if you can hear it.

My question is, what the heck is this? Why is it happening and is this what some call “building unison tone”?

Leave your comments below.

 

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