From c_schonberger@yahoo.com Thu Apr 30 13:06:02 2009
Subject:Re: OT - Perfect Pitch

May I add that the tuning also depends on the musical style. I started playing keyboards in the early 1980s (jazz-fusion) in Frankfurt/Germany. The pro level horn section named 442Hz as their "sounding" A reference. My dad played the jazz clarinet and alto sax, they all sounded around 442Hz. The pianos and Fender Rhodes were tuned to 442 as well in the jazz big band of the Frankfurt radio/tv station. They had a broken bown B3, not sure how they handled the "can't tune a Hammond" issue when it was in working order.
 
It was hard in the 1990s to play wind instrument overdubs to a MIDI production,
which since always has been established by the US-Amerian standard (including classical/symphonic orchestras) as being A=440Hz. There are many 80s 90s synth based pop production with sax solos where the sax sounds awfully out of tune = way too high. I wonder why they didn't just speed up the analog tape a bit (at least in the 80s where everything was printed to tape).
 
You can pull out the segments of the sax, flute and clarine, but the equal temper gets lost when you try to go as low as A=440Hz with these instruments from Germany and France (the alto sax was a 1960 built Selmer).
 
Just my 2c.
 
Christian
 

--- On Thu, 4/30/09, Simon Beck wrote: