Guest neil ex Posted February 15, 2004 Report Share Posted February 15, 2004 what is 'tone' (in musical terms)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouse Posted February 15, 2004 Report Share Posted February 15, 2004 Generally the overall sound and all the factors (i.e effects, tone controls) that affect it....distortion, treble, bass, precense, reverb...etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leckie Gilman Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 i wouldn't say reverb comes into play concerning tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tav Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 No tone would just be the frequency something produces and what those frequencies sound like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Originally posted by Tav:No tone would just be the frequency something produces and what those frequencies sound like. I think what he's talking about is nearer 'timbre'. Tone, when talking about guitar, seems more about how the instrument sounds rather than a pitch-specific definition. A lot of it's in the harmonics. Or two semi-tones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Neubeatz Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Tone; tonality, intonation, whole tone, tone poem, tone loc, microtone,anymo tones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig deadenstereo Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Originally posted by Leckie Gilman:i wouldn't say reverb comes into play concerning tone. Dunno, would the guitars on the first Van Halen album sound the same without it? (See "You Really Got Me")I think tone (in reference to electric guitar) is what people hear, including effects, distortion, notes, the guitar, the amp, whether you play it with an electric drill or allen key or whatever.Tone is very subjective. Although I've got it!Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Tone. mmmm, could it be the variation of the thickness of the sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Savant Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 I think tone is something special that you can't 'get' just by twisting a few knobs on an amp or some effects pedals. Some guitars have it - some don't. It's what emote's real feeling in music, even when there's no singing. You dont get it in dance music either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tav Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Originally posted by soundian:I think what he's talking about is nearer 'timbre'. Tone, when talking about guitar, seems more about how the instrument sounds rather than a pitch-specific definition. A lot of it's in the harmonics. Or two semi-tones. I was trying to describe who the isntrument sounded rather than pitch specific. For example a certain mape neck may promote certain frequenices and when combined with other woods and parts who promote the same or different freuquenices it can produced a nice tone or a crap tone. Wood and the materials a guitar is made from are very important in defining the tone be it bright, dark, well rounded, brittle etc etc. Those words describe certains tones? And those tones are create by certain frequenices being pronounced or dulled. A guitar with a bright sound would have alot of high frequenices being produced and a brittle sounding guitar might be the same but with less bottom to the sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by Tav:I was trying to describe who the isntrument sounded rather than pitch specific. For example a certain mape neck may promote certain frequenices and when combined with other woods and parts who promote the same or different freuquenices it can produced a nice tone or a crap tone. Wood and the materials a guitar is made from are very important in defining the tone be it bright, dark, well rounded, brittle etc etc. Those words describe certains tones? And those tones are create by certain frequenices being pronounced or dulled. A guitar with a bright sound would have alot of high frequenices being produced and a brittle sounding guitar might be the same but with less bottom to the sound? I see what you were getting at now. Maybe because I think of frequency more in terms of sine waves, and tone in terms of the complicated way all the harmonics work together. some of this comes from the guitar, some from the amp. I disagree with reverb being used as a definiton of tone. A guitars tone doesn't change when you keep it in the same room but change the acoustical properties of the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tav Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by soundian: I disagree with reverb being used as a definiton of tone. A guitars tone doesn't change when you keep it in the same room but change the acoustical properties of the room. Yeah I agree too...though other effects do cause changes in tone. Wah basically being a giant tone knob with a wider sweep than the one on your guitar. Distortion adds harmonics so that should change your tone too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by Tav:Yeah I agree too...though other effects do cause changes in tone. Wah basically being a giant tone knob with a wider sweep than the one on your guitar. Distortion adds harmonics so that should change your tone too? The basic sound of a guitar is tone, the sound of a guitar with effects is sound. It is a tricky definition (try looking it up in the dictionary) but after years of reading/listening to guitar players talk about it that's the conclusion I've come to. Getting back to an earlier point you made, there's no such thing as 'crap' tone. Something thay might sound shit on it's own may sound just right when mixed in with other sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tav Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Well you got me there I think. Though some acoustic guitars I have played come across as having a crap tone in the fact that they seem to be unresponsive in most areas, rather than just say bass or high end. However in the correct context I guess that sound would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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