6 ms·

Just put a record on yesterday and my wife said it was playing too fast. I thought she was wrong, then I see this post today! I grabbed the app and gave it a go

Just put a record on yesterday and my wife said it was playing too fast. I thought she was wrong, then I see this post today! I grabbed the app and gave it a go, 3.5% too fast according to your app. Now I have to figure out how to adjust the damn thing. Really appreciate a free nonsense free app. update: youtube to the rescue. pretty common affordable turntable( Audio-Technica LP60), so I figure I would put the vid link here for others who might want to know - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3PdS2V8Jz0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3PdS2V8Jz0

okatbest 2y ago
Hey that's awesome to hear, thanks for trying it out! This is exactly what I hoped for when building this app. Making a dead simple tool for people who want their records to sound better, but may not have the equipment or knowledge necessary to adjust it.
kazinator 2y ago
3.5% is a lot! One semitone is a bit shy of 6 percent.s It's between 59 and 60 cents: more than a quarter semitone. Exact value: 1> (* 1200 (log2 1.035)) 59.5569212695205 So 59.6 to 3 sig figs. Someone with a good pitch memory of a tune (hearing in their head how it should sound) would spot such a difference. Especially if they heard the tune recently.
- criddell 2y ago
  So many recordings (especially before 2000) seem to be sped up a little. I can’t tell by listening to the song but when you try to play along with a guitar, it sounds terrible. Sometimes it helps to find a live version on YouTube.
  - taylodl 2y ago
    Correct. That was often done when mastering with tape. Record at one speed, playback at another to make it sound more "lively." There are songs that were sped up that way anywhere from 25 to 40 cents. It's another reason why live music so often doesn't sound like the recording. When using digital mastering, you can also adjust the playback speed, but you can correct the shift. You get more "liveliness" without the shift change. That's why you're not hearing the pitch shift so much in more recent music.
    - criddell 2y ago
      Do you happen to know of any tools for fixing pitch issues in music files?
      - tharmas 2y ago
        Anatares Auto-tune.
      - 4gotunameagain 2y ago
        Audacity. Free and open-source.
      - kazinator 2y ago
        I used Audacity recently to fix some youtuber's backing track for guitar improv, by tuning down 7 cents. I reuploaded it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE3pgOkfYu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE3pgOkfYu0 In that case, it's a pure stretch: i.e. the tempo is slowed down by a factor of 0.996 to achieve the pitch change. I also have an unpublished version of that track transposed from the key of Em to Dm; that was a pitch change preserving tempo.
        criddell 2y ago
        How did you determine 7 cents was the correct amount?
        kazinator 2y ago
        Trial and error. Guitar meticulously tuned to concert pitch, with attention to the 12-15 fret area, then compare against versions of the track slowed down by all available factors in audacity from around 0.993 to 0.998. (The stretch tool doesn't take more digits, stupidly.)
        lightedman 2y ago
        "Guitar meticulously tuned to concert pitch, with attention to the 12-15 fret area" When you need to pay attention to anything outside of open string, fretted 12th, open harmonic 12th fret (and fretted 24th if you have a 24+ fret guitar) for intonation, it's time to get the guitar to a luthier for setup maintenance. Something else is drastically wrong in the setup.
FelipeCortez 2y ago
hey, I have the same one and didn't know about these controls! I'll definitely try this out now
tiborsaas 2y ago
> Now I have to figure out I'm glad it didn't continue with where you'll sleep tonight :)
Severian 2y ago
Wow, I'm feeling lucky. I have the exact same turntable. Using a different app (since I use Android) I was able to gyroscopicly measure just 1.3% average difference. I have a sense of tone and it's always seemed fine to me.
BuildTheRobots 2y ago
I'd be curious to know _why_ your wife felt it was playing too fast. Was it out of tune, out of tempo or something else?
- TylerE 2y ago
  If it’s a song you know well it’s certainly possible. It just sounds wrong. I once pegged a friends turntable as well sharp (and it was) in just a few seconds.
- jiayo 2y ago
  When US (NTSC) shows are aired in Europe (PAL), the framerate difference necessitates a small speed-up. It's barely noticeable, except when music is playing, at which point it is very, very noticeable. Yes, it's a little higher pitched, but it just feels wrong and is immediately noticeable. I think it's about 3% speed up, which is exactly what's being described here.
  - bitnasty 2y ago
    NTSC is 29.97 fps and PAL is 25. That’s almost 20%!
    - sgarland 2y ago
      They may have been referring to film (24 FPS) or its broadcast equivalent (23.976 FPS) being shifted to PAL, which is quite a bit smaller of a jump. NTSC —> PAL can either be annoying, or difficult to manage without artifacts. If the NTSC source is telecined from a 23.976 source, you can invert that process to get the original back, and then deal with the minor time shift to PAL. If it’s pure NTSC, there’s a lot of filtering to be done to get an acceptable result. At least, last I played with it.
- nickthegreek 2y ago
  She is musically inclined and she popped on a record I had recently gifted her of one of her favorite bands. She was in marching band her entire high school experience as well. She always finds stuff like this. She recognizes when it’s a different recording or not the “proper version” from her childhood. It all sounds fine to me! As a visual person, the finer understandings of music might as well be magic to me.
RRWagner 2y ago
good to know about the adjustment screws. I would have tried having the turntable straddle two piles of books or some such arrangement so that I could adjust the setting in real-time from below the turntable while getting the speed display from the phone.
PobedaRossia 2y ago
[flagged]
raverbashing 2y ago
Curious. Does this turntable have the flashing lights that sync to the edge of the plate to indicate speed?

okatbest 2y ago

Hey that's awesome to hear, thanks for trying it out! This is exactly what I hoped for when building this app. Making a dead simple tool for people who want their records to sound better, but may not have the equipment or knowledge necessary to adjust it.

kazinator 2y ago

3.5% is a lot! One semitone is a bit shy of 6 percent.s It's between 59 and 60 cents: more than a quarter semitone. Exact value: 1> (* 1200 (log2 1.035)) 59.5569212695205 So 59.6 to 3 sig figs. Someone with a good pitch memory of a tune (hearing in their head how it should sound) would spot such a difference. Especially if they heard the tune recently.

criddell 2y ago
So many recordings (especially before 2000) seem to be sped up a little. I can’t tell by listening to the song but when you try to play along with a guitar, it sounds terrible. Sometimes it helps to find a live version on YouTube.
- taylodl 2y ago
  Correct. That was often done when mastering with tape. Record at one speed, playback at another to make it sound more "lively." There are songs that were sped up that way anywhere from 25 to 40 cents. It's another reason why live music so often doesn't sound like the recording. When using digital mastering, you can also adjust the playback speed, but you can correct the shift. You get more "liveliness" without the shift change. That's why you're not hearing the pitch shift so much in more recent music.
  - criddell 2y ago
    Do you happen to know of any tools for fixing pitch issues in music files?
    - tharmas 2y ago
      Anatares Auto-tune.
    - 4gotunameagain 2y ago
      Audacity. Free and open-source.
    - kazinator 2y ago
      I used Audacity recently to fix some youtuber's backing track for guitar improv, by tuning down 7 cents. I reuploaded it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE3pgOkfYu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE3pgOkfYu0 In that case, it's a pure stretch: i.e. the tempo is slowed down by a factor of 0.996 to achieve the pitch change. I also have an unpublished version of that track transposed from the key of Em to Dm; that was a pitch change preserving tempo.
      - criddell 2y ago
        How did you determine 7 cents was the correct amount?
        kazinator 2y ago
        Trial and error. Guitar meticulously tuned to concert pitch, with attention to the 12-15 fret area, then compare against versions of the track slowed down by all available factors in audacity from around 0.993 to 0.998. (The stretch tool doesn't take more digits, stupidly.)
        lightedman 2y ago
        "Guitar meticulously tuned to concert pitch, with attention to the 12-15 fret area" When you need to pay attention to anything outside of open string, fretted 12th, open harmonic 12th fret (and fretted 24th if you have a 24+ fret guitar) for intonation, it's time to get the guitar to a luthier for setup maintenance. Something else is drastically wrong in the setup.

FelipeCortez 2y ago

hey, I have the same one and didn't know about these controls! I'll definitely try this out now

tiborsaas 2y ago

> Now I have to figure out I'm glad it didn't continue with where you'll sleep tonight :)

Severian 2y ago

Wow, I'm feeling lucky. I have the exact same turntable. Using a different app (since I use Android) I was able to gyroscopicly measure just 1.3% average difference. I have a sense of tone and it's always seemed fine to me.

BuildTheRobots 2y ago

I'd be curious to know _why_ your wife felt it was playing too fast. Was it out of tune, out of tempo or something else?

TylerE 2y ago
If it’s a song you know well it’s certainly possible. It just sounds wrong. I once pegged a friends turntable as well sharp (and it was) in just a few seconds.
jiayo 2y ago
When US (NTSC) shows are aired in Europe (PAL), the framerate difference necessitates a small speed-up. It's barely noticeable, except when music is playing, at which point it is very, very noticeable. Yes, it's a little higher pitched, but it just feels wrong and is immediately noticeable. I think it's about 3% speed up, which is exactly what's being described here.
- bitnasty 2y ago
  NTSC is 29.97 fps and PAL is 25. That’s almost 20%!
  - sgarland 2y ago
    They may have been referring to film (24 FPS) or its broadcast equivalent (23.976 FPS) being shifted to PAL, which is quite a bit smaller of a jump. NTSC —> PAL can either be annoying, or difficult to manage without artifacts. If the NTSC source is telecined from a 23.976 source, you can invert that process to get the original back, and then deal with the minor time shift to PAL. If it’s pure NTSC, there’s a lot of filtering to be done to get an acceptable result. At least, last I played with it.
nickthegreek 2y ago
She is musically inclined and she popped on a record I had recently gifted her of one of her favorite bands. She was in marching band her entire high school experience as well. She always finds stuff like this. She recognizes when it’s a different recording or not the “proper version” from her childhood. It all sounds fine to me! As a visual person, the finer understandings of music might as well be magic to me.

RRWagner 2y ago

good to know about the adjustment screws. I would have tried having the turntable straddle two piles of books or some such arrangement so that I could adjust the setting in real-time from below the turntable while getting the speed display from the phone.

PobedaRossia 2y ago

[flagged]

raverbashing 2y ago

Curious. Does this turntable have the flashing lights that sync to the edge of the plate to indicate speed?