hackertube.io

Which key is the saddest?

Adam Neely · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Music theory, synthesis & production

What it is

Musician Adam Neely examines whether certain keys sound sadder than others, looking at the history of tuning systems and temperaments and at how instrument timbre shapes the emotional character we hear. It draws on historical aesthetics writing and audio examples.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters recommend it for its historical context on tuning systems and for how instruments influence what music gets composed.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2020

What HN commenters said

  1. “Adam Neely discusses this very well here”

    Adam Neely on how instruments shape what we compose

    abakker, 2018-04 · Recommendation · in “Where I started might not be useful to you”

  2. “I recommend checking out Adam Neely's channel, where he touches on some similar concepts”

    Adam Neely channel on why music is pleasurable

    mafuyu, 2018-09 · Recommendation · in “We know music is pleasurable, the question is why?”

  3. “lots of historical context about tuning systems, but also raising the issue of timbre of specific instruments”

    Tuning systems history and instrument timbre

    viraptor, 2020-05 · Recommendation · in “Guitar Decomposed: 5. Mutating the Third”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: tuning systems, temperament, timbre, key colour, music history

Also recommended by the same people