Did Amir Change Your Mind About Anything?

So do you tune your musical instrument with an auto tuner or with a tuning fork/piano note?

My point was: do you trust your ears or do you trust a measuring device?  Not saying either is right or wrong.  I’m an engineer and a musician (although the only thing I have played the last few decades is my stereo).  So I do a mix of both myself.  But this guy seems to think he can measure everything with an analyzer.  Reminds me of someone with a hammer.  To that person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Back at the beginning of this thread I asked if the OP uses an auto tuner to tune their instrument or do they do it by ear?  The OP responded both ways.  That is the interesting point.  Many of us have the ears, the fine hearing to tune an instrument, or a stereo, but still need the assurance of measurements.  Being an engineer I also tend to want confirmation by measurement of what I am hearing- although less so these days as I have learned to trust what I hear more.  At some point the best learn to work without a net.

A remarkable memory from years ago:  I knew a musician with great hearing.  He came over to my house and with a single tuning fork he tuned our piano.  It sounded better than ever.  Even something as basic as tuning an instrument by a skilled musician can sound better than just adjusting the strings (or tube length) to a set and measured frequency.  Something about the feel of the instrument in a master’s hands that is superior to measurements.  A good example was some decades ago a renowned flautist was being interviewed after giving a concert.  The reporter, in jest handed the flautist a plastic recorder to see if he could play it.  The master played an amazing tune on that plastic toy.  Very impressive.  

Measurements go only so far.  The feel, the emotional response of the music and the memories make a human connection that no analyzer can quantify.

@ahofer 

It is obvious you are unable to connect the dots.  How a musical instrument sounds in a room is everything relative to stereophonic reproduction.  If equalization brings you sonic bliss, by all means enjoy.