A small controversy exists between the world wide accepted music tuning frequency where A = 440 Hz vs. the alternative frequency where A = 432 Hz.
There is no controversy, you can tune to whatever you want. The only controversy here is is the one created by articles like this about the various superstitious/numerological nonsense going around.
This controversy, though small, is said to have a profound impact on the music we listen to today, and for the last 60+ years. There are even stories about Nazis playing a part in this dispute. This debate also tends to involve conspiracies but I’ll keep it more factual based.
I shall prove how this article is anything but "factual based".
What is A = 440 Hz?
A = 440 Hz is the musical term for how the note A will be finely tuned, so that it vibrates at 440 cycles per second, or hertz. This accepted standard is consistent among all music instruments created and is designed to make it easier to match other instruments. The frequency A = 432 Hz is slightly lower pitch, but it, instead, is considered the “Universal Tuning”.
I'm going to assume "Universal Tuning" in this context means "tuning to the universe" mumbo jumbo because it certainly isn't universal in any other sense. Neither is 440 except in digital instruments and modern pop bands.
A Quick History
A = 440 Hz is the standard note frequency for middle A that the American Standards Association recommended in the mid 1930’s. It quickly was adopted in other countries and with all music instrument manufacturers. Before this time, the primary pitch used was A = 435 Hz.
Before the nineteenth century, there was NO standard. Everybody just tuned to whatever. Today, orchestras across the world tune to many different pitches. E.g. the NY Philharmonic tunes to 442, in Germany most modern orchestras tune to 443, in Russia they tune as high as 450, old music tends to tune to 415, etc. etc.
Why was A = 440 Hz chosen? This part seems to have a bit of lore behind it, but the popular theory is that a Nazi propaganda minister named Josef Goebbels pushed for it to cause our bodies to be out of harmony with nature. Nature, it seems mathematically, also resonates at 432 Hz, not at 440 Hz.
Nature resonates at 432Hz? I can't even begin to state how nonsensical such a statement is. Sure it does. It also resonates at every other conceivable frequency. Otherwise there wouldn't be any music, or light, or reality.
In any case, 440 Hz has been accepted and is the standard in use today.
Demonstrably false, see above.
A Little Bit of Tech
A = 440 Hz tuning is not perfect, matter of fact it’s far from perfect. When using 440 Hz as the reference pitch, the measured frequencies of the other notes start to fraction off. For example when A = 440 Hz, Middle C becomes 261.63 Hz. The E above = 659.26 Hz. The rest of the scale is fraction off in a similar manner.
A = 432 Hz tuning, on the other hand, is perfect. When using 432 Hz as the reference pitch, the measured frequencies of the other notes all become whole tones. Middle C = 256 Hz, E above = 648 Hz. This stays consistent throughout the entire note range.
Considering the demonstrated math, we're not talking about tempered tuning I suppose. I wonder if the proponents of this idea ever tried to play any music using natural or Pythagorean tuning and realized how awful it makes most music sound. Also, consider how the length of a second and the use of the decimal system are completely arbitrary.
Benefits
Listening to music in 432hz is said to have a much more natural feel and a smoother sound. Other said benefits are less irritation at louder volumes, so we can listen to the music at a much louder volume. The last said benefit is a better tighter mid and low frequencies. Unfortunately, this is hard to prove, since the test’s are solely on how the music feels and sounds to us as individuals. The general consensus is that 432hz tuning does improve the sound and feeling.
The general consensus is nothing of the sort, though I encourage everyone to enjoy music any way they see fit. "Tighter mid and low frequencies" are certainly quantifiable though, and I don't see any evidence for this claim. At face value, I must call BS. And I warn everyone not to play their music very loudly, no matter what tuning is used.
Negatives
The major problem with tuning to 432 Hz is that the standard is 440 Hz. Any acoustic piano would have to be retuned to play in 432 Hz which takes a professional. Digital keyboards will sometime have the ability to fine tune the pitch but not all. Lastly, the spacing of the frets on guitars are tuned for 440 Hz, so perfect 432hz becomes a bit more difficult to achieve.
Not a problem in most instruments at all. Piano is one example where it is relatively tricky although if you really cared it's easy enough to do. But you can tune a guitar to 432 just fine, it has nothing to do with the fret spacing as its their relation to the string length that affects the accuracy of the note pitch. Another insight into the lack of understanding the writer of this article has.
Experiments
To hear 432 Hz at it’s best, you will need a good set of stereo speakers or a nice set of headphones. A song recorded fully in 432 Hz will yield the best results. There are some that can be found on youtube where you can hear a song completely recorded in this alternative frequency.
This experiment can also be done with decent results any popular song recorded after the 1940’s. You’ll want to use a audio edi ting programs which will allow a user to pitch a file up or down (Pro Tools, Peak, Audacity, Logic, etc). You’ll want to fine tune pitch down the song 32 cents (-32 cents).
To hear any frequency at "it's" best you will need a good set of stereo speakers or a nice set of headphones. A song recorded in the intended frequency will surely give better results than anything you transpose digitally. Since the argument is that 432 works out so nicely without decimal points, it's worth noting that transposing a song at 440 down by 32 cents actually gets you an A of 431.942 Hz.
Most pro keyboards have the ability to adjust the pitch. For guitar players, use a chromatic tuner that will tune to that frequency. Most chromatic tuners, though, only go to 435 Hz.
I don't think I need to explain on this forum the drawbacks of transposing/tuning up or down any sample based instrument. I would venture that the artifacts or sound quality degradation produced by this are more detrimental than beneficial but beauty is in the ear of the beholder of course.
As for the video with the glass creating nice patterns from music tuned to 432 Hz against 440 Hz, this is just disingenuous. Use a glass that is slightly wider and the opposite will be true.
By the way, during Napoleonic times an effort was made to use a ten tone system because it "made more sense". It sounds horrible. The twelve tone tempered system is (with some distance) the best compromise between universality and capability for harmonic intervals that sound good. That said, our thirds and fifths aren't perfect, a fact that is completely ignored by the math of the 432 crew.
For me science simply doesn't answer any of the real interesting questions in life.
