Faking Absolute Pitch by Karél Psota
Three years ago, Karél moved from France to Hollywood in order to pursue his passion for sound design and music composition. After working along side Grammy-nominated engineer Brad Haehnel, Karél started his own company, Dissona Musika. They specialize in music for media and their sounds can be heard in trailers such as Justice League, Pan and San Andreas. Karél has music in more than 20 award winning short-films, and has mixed songs with millions of views on YouTube.
You can find more information about Karél's work on his website or follow him on Facebook, SoundCloud and Instagram.
I've always been jealous of musicians born with perfect pitch. Able to effortlessly name any note or tone by ear seemed like the best tool you could get as a musician and engineer. Was there a way to learn perfect pitch if you weren't born with it? The answer appeared to be no, since it's a genetic mutation. However, I've discovered a technique that's helped me achieve the next best thing.The idea came when I was introduced to a violinist that could blindly name every note I was playing on my keyboard. When I asked her if she had perfect pitch, her answer was quite unusual:“Actually, I don't. I've just played my instrument for so long that I remember how each open string sounds. From there, I just use relative pitch to figure out the other notes.”That was it! Instead of trying to remember every single pitch, I simply had to lock my brain onto a few notes. And then use intervals to figure out the nearby pitches.Now this is all great if you're a musician transcribing pieces, but how can it help you as an audio engineer?The concept is the same. You will need to memorize a few frequencies, then try to identify if what you are hearing is above, below or equal to the memorized frequency boost. A good way to understand the exercises is by sharing my typical thought process:An instrument is ringing at 5K:“I know how 4K sounds, but this seems to be little bit higher, it must be around 5K”Assuming you have practiced with the basic TrainYourEars exercises, you will have a head start since this training is based around the octaves: 64, 125, 250, 500, 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K and 16K. From there, we will progressively add frequencies both above and below.I've separated the exercises into bands. This will help you memorize the frequencies of reference faster, as they will show up more often. If you're feeling confident you can skip directly to the full band section.This is not an easy exercise, but has the potential to be extremely rewarding. Start with pink noise and try to reach 95% before moving to the next exercise. Once you complete all the exercises with pink noise, take a break and try again with one song you know really well. After a month of doing just 100 quizzes a day, my accuracy jumped from 50% to 96% on 1/3 of all octaves. You can do it too!Best of luck!-Karél
Familiarize yourself with each frequency. A good tip is to use your mouth to simulate the resonance. With a bit of practice, the shape of your mouth can help you figure out the exact frequency that is boosted. The goal is to develop a memory of basic pitches to then use them as a reference for the next exercise.
This is the same as the previous exercise, but with frequencies added right below the ones you memorized. Try to think how they relate to each other - is it the same or below?
You guessed it! This time you have frequencies above and below the frequencies you memorized. Always try to remember the ones you know, and see how they relate to each other.
These frequencies can go quite low so make sure you have a sub or good headphones. The goal is to develop a memory of basic pitches so they can be used as reference for the next exercise. I try to think of how bass sounds in a night club - how does it vibrate bodies?
This is the same as the previous exercise, but with frequencies added right below the ones you memorized. Try to discern how they relate to each other - is it the same or below?
This time you have frequencies both above and below the pitches you've memorized. Try to recall the ones you've already learned, and listen to how they relate to each other.
The goal is to develop a memory of basic pitches and then use them as a reference for the next exercise. I always remember where the “Sss” and “Esh” sounds hit. A boost in the high end always seems to add a lot of presence to these sounds. (Note that I lowered the boost volume to 6dB, so you don't pierce your ears with these high frequencies).
This is the same as the previous exercise, but with frequencies added right below the ones you memorized. Try to think about how they relate to each other - is it the same or below?
This time you have frequencies both above and below the pitches you've memorized. Try to recall the ones you've already learned, and listen to how they relate to each other.
You should have perfectly memorized all these frequencies by now. If you achieve more than 95% move on to the next exercise.
This is the same as the previous exercise, but with frequencies added right below the ones you memorized. Try to think, how they relate to each other - is it the same or below?
This is the final and hardest exercise. Use the octave pitches you memorized as reference: 64, 125, 250, 500, 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, 16K. You should be able to evaluate how they relate to the newly introduced pitches between them. To make it less difficult practice with pink noise or a song you know really well.
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