hi given that there's no other instrument interfering

whats the lowest piano note you would choose to write

and why is that the lowest you would choose?

Thanks!

 

Lowest note of the instrument, of course, whatever instrument it is. Why? Because it's there.

 

hm i guess so yes! are there any playback issues on mobile/laptop speakers? thats what i was trying to figure out

given the standard 88 key piano

 

C sub-zero

...because Bach something, organ something ...Bösendorfer something something ..ehh.. what he is saying:

 

Personally the lowest I've gone (not counting synth subsonics or undertones) is B-0, which is the lowest note on a 5 string bass, around 30Hz. Most of the other stuff around that range I'd consider just a soup of mud rumblings which just begs to be hipassed out not to mess up the whole mix.

Those notes would be audible though since they've contain plenty of harmonics, esp. when some grit is added.

 

Infrasonics
Maybe it wasn't your chord sequence that caused those bowel spasms after all.
If you're trying to conjure up ghosts, build sonic weapons, or just put your audience in hospital, have fun with infrasonics

Extracts... from links below - (some interesting facts - plus some sensationalising)

• Below 20 hz, it’s called “infrasound.” Those sounds are imperceptible to the human ear, but the body hears it, although one may not be aware of the bombardment. (we all know bass hits you in the gut - it 'feels' good to play in a band!)
• Acoustic scientists investigating the result of noise pollution on workers determine that every organ within the human body has a resonant frequency and it’s own ‘acoustic properties’
• Walt Disney and his team of cartoonists slowed down a 60-cycle tone in a short cartoon to 12 hz, they became sick for days afterward.
• Sounds around 19 hz match the resonant frequency of the human eyeball, with reports of spooky apparitions.
• The most dangerous frequency is at the median alpha-rhythm frequencies of the brain: 7 hz. This is also the resonant frequency of the body’s organs. At high volumes, infrasound can directly affect the human central nervous system, causing disorientation, anxiety, panic, bowel spasms, nausea, vomiting and eventually organ rupture or even death from prolonged exposure.

interesting for music...

• British physiology researchers O’Keeffe & Angliss conducted an experiment to test the effects of infrasonic frequencies on the human brain in 2003. The method was conducted by playing 4 musical pieces to 700 participants two of which had 17hertz frequencies played unknowingly to the participants during the piece. Results found that 22% of the participants experienced a feeling of anxiety and fear.
• A good example of extreme low frequencies that might be encountered is the church pipe organ. It can cause sensations of sorrow, coldness, anxiety and even shivers down the spine.

Refs:

• https://littlefield.co/the-psychoac...ithin-non-lethal-cf05e1fd8673?gi=629f5e656c6d

• https://fredericksburg.com/opinion/...cle_dbe57e07-8d66-5af6-aad3-ab21fbeff58a.html

Spoiler: Brainwave Entrainment

Brainwave Entrainment (fascinating possibilities)
The effect of sound on our brain often leads back to a common theme of resonance. Brainwave entrainment (or often referred to as neural entrainment) defines itself as the use of certain frequencies to activate bands of electrical wave resonance within our brain, to induce neurological states within our body. The preliminary proof of concept and main body of contextual research in this field stems from German professor of Physics, Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, who made discoveries in brainwave entrainment (BWE) through infrasonic frequencies entitled “Binaural beats” in 1841 (Kliempt, Ruta, Ogston, Landeck, & Martay, 1999). This method of entrainment occurs when two coherent frequencies within our audible range, are made present in both the left and right ear. Each frequency enters the auditory canal of the ear through to the cochlea; in turn the basilar membrane resonates at the frequency heard, this passes to the brain allowing us to recognise the frequency (Cook, 1999). The effect of this allows the brain to detect the phase difference between the two frequencies, rather than the brain responding to each frequency, the effect comprises of the difference between the two. This instils the ‘third’ frequency to resonate at an infrasonic range below 20–30Hz. The stimulus frequency reverberated by this induces a specific cerebral wave corresponding to characterised states of mind. (Caterina Filimon, n.d). Goodman states “…resonating with alpha and theta rhythms in the brain known to produce moods of fear, anxiety or anger”

 

Last edited: Mar 28, 2021

OT, but subsonics were used to an effective purpose in the film Irréversible, as explained here.

It's a brutal film and the rumble at points really adds to the experience. Not necessarily something I'd want to see ever again because, well, it's a very nasty movie.

 

Potato

 

thank you for the information this is the answer I've been looking for years
here they use these techniques to torture people

 

if there any standards, which i doubt, then it is these three:

- 5 octaves from C to C. thats what many electronic keyboards have. then you can work i.e. play without transposing on such a keyboard.

- 88 keys, like many upright or grand pianos use. then it is like the real thing.

- all MIDI notes from 0 to 127. simply because they are there. and if you transpose 0-127 up for 1 octave, that will cover almost exactly the whole human listening spectrum from 16 - 25,000Hz.

 

guilty of spamming passwords.