Re: [Harp-L] tuning harps for the studio

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

What does you guitar player tune to? 

I'd match him (her?) but make sure to match at standard harmonica playing volume, i'e', breath pressure.

Let's say your guitar player tunes to A440. If you do the same, and your breath depresses pitch when you play at full volume, it can put you flat. So check your tuning at full playing volume. (Lee Oskar tunes most of his notes to 10 cents sharp of A440, but tempers a couple of the notes down two cents, i.e, only 8 cents sharp).

Five cents tolerance at playing volume may be too rough and on some notes could make a critical difference, especially if you're five cents off in the sharp direction. Does your tuner let you at least see the area between 0 and 5 cents so that you can make an eyeball estimate of how many cents you're off? If you're tuning to equal temperament, just chose your pitch level (A440, A442, whatever), then tune everything to dead zero. However, if you're tuning to some other temperament, you need to figure out the deviation for each note. 

To get accurately in tune, I'd recommend you read pat Missin's procedures at http://www.patmissin.com.

Winslow

--- On Fri, 5/9/08, pdxharpdog@xxxxxxxxxxx <pdxharpdog@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: pdxharpdog@xxxxxxxxxxx <pdxharpdog@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] tuning harps for the studio
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Friday, May 9, 2008, 12:49 PM
> I'm fairly new to the studio recording scene and
> tomorrow I'll be overdubbing harp for my band's
> second album.  I've been listening to the roughs of the
> drums/guitar/bass& vocals to fine tune my parts. 
> I've noticed that on some notes on some of the tracks
> there is a noticeable (to my ear) tuning problem when the
> guitar and I hit have to hit the same notes - he may be a
> bit flat and I may be a bit sharp etc or visa/versa and it
> bugs me - Our last album had a flat harp note on my
> favorite track and everytime I listen to it the song is
> somewhat ruined for me -  so I'm wondering... when you
> guys tune your harps for recording, what do you set the
> tuner to 440?  442?  and to what level of tolerance +/- a
> few cents?  
> 
> I have heard that the recording engineer can fix an out of
> tune note in mixing?  I'm not talking about having him
> the Charlie Musselwhite button, just one or two notes that
> seem a bit sour between the guitar and harp. I am using a
> Korg CA-30 chromatic tuner, not a strobe.  I'm usually
> between +/- 5 cents either way of 440.  
> 
> Thanks for your help - 
> 
> Ross Macdonald
> www.myspace.com/sassparillajugband
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