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Definition of Music Tones & Noise

Turn on the radio, what do you hear? Do you call it noise or music? Generally, we can call music a set of pitched tones, and noise is anything that's unpitched. Here is some more information about the differences between tone and noise.
  1. Music

    • Musical tones are pitched and tuned to a musical scale. They come from any number of musical instruments or the human voice, and can be combined to form harmonies.

    Noise

    • Noise is unpitched. The frequency might be extremely low or high. Noise might be natural, mechanical or electronic. The frequencies are disorganized and not harmonic.

    Harmonics

    • Harmonics are overtones that add character to a tone. The pitch is easily perceived, but it may be complex, like a piano tone or fuzz guitar. Harmonics preserve the pitch, and the tone remains musical.

    Non-Harmonics

    • Overtones can be non-harmonic. They have a complicated mathematical relation to the pitch, and confuse the pitch. Non-harmonic overtones tend to make a tone noisy. Gongs and cymbals are examples of non-harmonic overtones, and are noisier than the pure tone from a triangle, for example.

    White Noise

    • White noise sounds like radio static, a "hissy" collection of random signals. Thunder, wind and surf are all variations of white noise.

Music Basics

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