In this tutorial, I will show you how to convert your music library to 432 hz utilizing Audacity batch processing capabilities. UPDATE: Convert Music from 440 hz to 432 hz Using Audacity. Ancient Egyptian and Greek instruments have reportedly been found to be tuned to 432 Hz. Note: The version of the app in the Apple Mac App Store has already been updated with all the fixes a while ago. However 432 Hz is in tune and resonates in a natural way.
Here are couple tutorials that I created that show how to convert your music from the 440 Hz tuning to 432 Hz tuning.
This tutorial shows both a low quality and high quality conversion method in Audacity.
The tutorial below shows shows how to convert in Audacity and also in Adobe Audition. I personally use Adobe Audition for conversions and this is the best program that I've been able to find that does the best quality conversions. It is not free; however, I'd recommend it to anyone that is more serious about this and of course to those that have the budget for it. The cost of this program is about $180.
Here's a list of questions that I've been asked and I feel that some of you may have the same questions.
What if the original musical track is not in 440 Hz?
If the musical track you're trying to convert is in another tuning other than 440 Hz, then I suggest to use the following formula: 100 x (new frequency - original frequency)/original frequency
Let's first do an example with 440 hz tuned track to see whether this formula works:
100 x (432 - 440) / 440 = -1.818
Ok, so now let's try to convert from another frequency that I've come upon in the past. The A=444 hz tuning (aka 528 hz 'love frequency').
100 x (432-444) / 444 = -2.703
Or even simpler, you can get these numbers automatically without having to do any math by opening Audition's 'Change Pitch...' module by going to 'Effect' > 'Change Pitch...'. The type in your initial frequency in the 'from' section and '432' in the 'to' section and right after that you will automatically get the needed semitones change and percent change.
Once you get the percentage, you can:
(1) Input the percent change in Audacity's 'Change Pitch' module if you want to use this lower quality module. Go to 'Effect' > 'Change Pitch...'
(2) You can input this in the '(%) [-50 to 100]:' fields in 'Initial...' and 'Final...' fields in the higher quality 'Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift' module. To get to this module go to 'Effect' > 'Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift...'
(3) You can input the number in the change speed module in Audacity. To get to this module, go to 'Effect' > 'Change Speed...'. This is the highest quality module Audacity has because it doesn't create any artifact when converting but simply slows down a track by a certain percentage in order to achieve a chance in tuning. HOWEVER, and there is a reason why I wrote that in all caps. When using this module you are slowing down your track by that percentage. Thus, the converting track will be by that percentage longer and slower. In other words, you will notice that the track will sound slower and also you may notice several seconds adding to the length of your track. For example, if your track was 5 minutes before, it will be 5:05 after where these extra five seconds will be added as a result of your tracking taking a longer time to play. This is the reason why I don't use this module since I don't like hearing my music slowed down, but the big plus to it is that it keeps the audio quality of the track.
(4) And finally, for my favorite and highest quality conversion, you can input the semitones in Adobe Audition by going to 'Effects' > 'Time and Pitch' > 'Stretch and Pitch (process)...'. Please make sure that your settings are identical to what's in the screenshot below. Specifically, make sure that 'Algorithms' is set to 'iZotope Radius'. Precision should be set to 'High'. Make sure that the 'New Duration' has the same exact time as the 'Current Adjuration'.
Are there any other alternatives to purchasing a tuner?
There are actually free tuner apps available for Android phones. The ones that I like the most are DaTuner (Lite!) and gStrings. I tested both of these apps. You can change the tuning to various frequencies and test it. Both of them work great. I slightly prefer DaTuner (Lite!) more because of its great interface.
There are also various apps available for iPhone. I have not worked with any of them because I don't have an iPhone; however, I've seen others download them. When downloading the app make sure that it gives you the ability to change the tuning frequency from 440 Hz to your desired frequency.
Please check out our YouTube channel for music in the 432 Hz tuning.
How do I know in which tuning my track is in? My tuner jumps all over the place.
Since about 99% of tracks that I've seen are in the 440 Hz tuning, there is a pretty good change that your track is as well; however, I still make sure to test each track out. If your tuner is jumping all over the place, this tells me that, most likely, the track that you're listening to is fast paced and has percussion mixed with music. So what I would suggest to do is to find a section of a track where there is only singing or music playing (without the drums) and check the frequency there. There will be a higher change that your tuner will be able to pick up the tone where there is not much other interference going on.
Where can I get more information about this 432 Hz tuning?
Audacity 432 Hz Software
I suggest starting out with my article here.
Are there any program that do this conversion without me having to get a sound editing program?
Yes, there is currently one program out there that I know of. It's called Returnto432. It can convert music in batch mode and export it into 432 Hz tuning. The module that it uses for conversion is similar to Audacity's 'Change Speed' module; however, at this point it has some issues as it ads some static artifacts to the converted tracks. I know the creator of this program, Leticia and she's been doing a great job with it. She has an amazing story about how she came up on the topic of 432 Hz and I feel very much in tune with what she's doing to help expose this information to the people and also a way to convert music to 432 Hz. She's working on the next version of this program that will fix the issue with static. So stay tuned!