Timbre for Dummies

Timbre is a simple concept in music but it is something that many musicians and music listeners overlook. Sometimes, it isn’t that songs are super unique or intricate, but instead, it is the creative sounds or instrumentation that make the piece sound so interesting.

For starters, the definition of timbre, as defined by Google, is “the character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity.” Essentially, every instrument makes a different sound, and the sound that you hear is the timbre of that instrument. This is also something that happens with voices. Even though singing itself has a certain sound, every vocalist has a different timbre. If a trumpet player and an organ player both play the note C, you will hear two very different sounds. The same comparison can be made between any number of instruments or voices, but ultimately, what the listener is hearing is different timbres.

There are many ways to manipulate timbre though. For example, if someone plays an electric guitar and someone plays an acoustic guitar, even though the two instruments are both guitars, the timbres will sound drastically different. If an artist was looking to write a heavy metal songs, chances are, they will choose the electric guitar because it emits a heavier feeling timbre than an acoustic. And now that we live in an age of technology, timbres can be adjusted or created simply through computer processing. Guitarists can use pedals that alter their sound, keyboards now come standard with various timbre options, and trumpet players can even stick a mute in the bell of their horn to change the sound.

---

---

When it comes to song writing, timbres play a very important role. Covers are a good example of the role timbre plays in music. There is a series of albums called Punk Goes Pop where rock artists cover pop songs in the rock style. Most of the covers use the same chord progressions and the same lyrics, but by simply changing the instrumentation, the piece might as well become a completely different song. Perfecting the timbre of a song can make or break its success and that is why it is good to experiment with different sounds before deciding on a final piece.

Genres are defined by different timbres and your musical choices could appeal your song to a whole different artists simply based on the timbre you choose. There are a lot of tools available for those who want to explore different timbres. muse score.org is a song-writing website that has a free download and here, you can investigate the sounds of a plethora of instruments. Simple youtube searches or even just playing an instrument of your own can also introduce you to sounds you have not heard before. If you are trying to understand the typical sound of one genre, you can also pick up on timbre through listening to music. Music listening offers so much to musicians and learning the timbre of styles is simply one outcome of plugging in your headphones.

Experiment with different timbres and let me know what interesting sounds you discover! And if you have never heard a didgeridoo, that is a good place to start. For more musical fun, subscribe to Hum in the Drum for post notifications.