How would one determine what frequency a song is in?

[Jabberwocky]

For those who don’t know XXX and a lot of others have talked about frequency of music. IE... 432, 446 shit like that. I was just wondering if anyone had knowledge on how to determine that. I make music myself but I have no clue what frequency I’m putting out. Is there some sort of tool that can’t register it or does GarageBand on Mac have a wait to measure it

 

[dalpat077]

Here's a fine explanation from one of the most reputable developers of some of the finest software in the world (arguably but in my opinion of course);

Tuning Standards Explained: Differences between 432 Hz vs 440 Hz

440 Hz is widely used as the tuning standard for western music, but 432 Hz is on the rise. Why is this? And which standard should you choose?

www.izotope.com

GarageBand I have no experience with (looked at it once and that was that). I'd hazard a guess though and say that it'd based at the standard of 440Hz.

 

[Cheshire_Kat]

Short answer:

If you want to be able to play with others and those instruments include analogue orchestral instruments, choose 440hz for practicality.
If you play alone, choose whatever suits you or your purpose. There are esoteric reasons to choose 432hz , including the belief that it sounds more pleasing; but one has to decide whether it is worth it in the practical sense. Re-tuning an analog piano is not a trivial task, for concrete example. There was a practical reason long ago, but modern musical instrument manufacturing has largely overcome the shift to 440hz.

Dealer choice, LOL !

YYMV of course ...

 

[dalpat077]

Off topic but if you're are REALLY into music and mixing and mastering then watch this video below. It's a lecture given by Andrew Scheps (famous for his work on Metallica's "Death Magnetic" album as well as Black Sabbath's "13" album) at Oxford University. It's a difficult watch unless you're REALLY into this stuff. But in summary: it's basically the most practical advice on the topic and from somebody who for sure knows what they're talking about. You can have the most fantastic equipment and software and plugs-ins etc. and spend your life tweaking away. But at the end of the day: it's "what comes out of the speakers" that counts and nothing more.

 

[Gormur]

I use 442hz on violin but that's how I was taught and a lot of orchestras use that. I think all pianos are tuned to 440hz. You could use a tuner or I thought FL Studio had something like this but it's been a while since I've worked with it

 

[Cheshire_Kat]

Gormus since the only notes that are fixed on a violin are the open strings, tuning is inconsequential. Lucky violinists

Not so much with a guitar, or a piano. Much pain on those instruments.

Be happy