Skeptics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [music]

Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses."

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Are there any perceptible differences between the sound quality of 192 versus 320 kbps MP3 files?

I have friends that are very picky when it comes to MP3 bitrate, and will always look for the 320 kbps version of a file. However, I have never noticed any differences, they sound the same to me. I remember reading somewhere, can't remember where,…
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Was the music used in the "You wouldn't steal a car" advertisements pirated?

I was browsing Reddit and I saw this post that garnered 51 thousand votes claiming that the music used in the "You wouldn't steal a car" advertisements was, itself, stolen. According to the source in the post, the Piracy - It's a Crime ad campaign…
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Is the sound from records (vinyl) superior to digital formats (CDs, music files, etc.)?

Quasi-related Are there any perceptible differences between the sound quality of 192 versus 320 kbps MP3 files? Do expensive, “premium” speaker cables actually make a difference? I've heard this here and there in various casual conversations…
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Can I get high using binaural beats?

Some sites claim that you can get high using binaural beats: All I-Doser doses are tested by a panel of users who consider themselves experienced in binaural beat modification. A dose is not passed on to the I-Doser Store until it is proven working…
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Is listening to lossy audio more tiring than lossless audio?

Multiple posts on Reddit (Ear fatigue and Audio quality, another comment) claim that it is more tiring to listen to music in a lossy format. The same claim is even repeated on the Wikipedia page for Listener Fatigue, but without any references there…
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Does music affect the growth of plants?

According to a very old study plants that “listen” to music have a better growth than other plants. For her next experiment, Mrs. Retallack used two chambers (and fresh plants). She placed radios in each chamber. In one chamber, the radio was tuned…
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Do old master musical instruments sound better than their modern equivalents in blind trials?

Musicians who play string instruments often believe that some of the early examples of the modern form of their instruments produce better sound than recently-made examples with similar designs. This is one contributing reason why a typical…
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Are programmers likely to be musicians?

It's a common belief in the coder world: many programmers are also (talented) musicians. It was certainly true in the places I've worked as a programmer, and I have been a professional musician and a professional coder for many years. I've met…
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Do new loudspeakers require a “break-in” period?

Foreword I've lifted this from audio.stackexchange.com where it hasn't seen a lot of discussion. It's a question that interests me though so I thought I'd post it here, verbatim, and see what comes of it. Some speaker manufacturers† claim that one…
user2466
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Is 432Hz sound frequency more "natural" or beneficial to human body than 440Hz?

I have been reading about tuning musical instruments to A=432 frequency instead of recently (meaning in the last century) arbitrarily defined standard of tuning to A=440Hz. Supposedly the 432Hz frequency and its derivative tones have been…
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Does the Suzuki method outperform other music teaching methods?

The Suzuki method is influenced by the violinist Suzuki's observations of how children learn to speak their mother tongue. Some of the characteristics of the method are learning music by ear is emphasized over reading musical notation increasing…
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Did the ballet/orchestral work 'The Rite of Spring' provoke a riot?

I took this from a newspaper article in the telegraph. It is often said that The Rite of Spring are what caused the outrage, but pulsating rhythms at least have an appeal at a visceral level (an appeal certainly felt at the Rite’s premiere, where…
I like Cake
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Does listening to music while working improve mental ability?

I'm a high school student and when I'm studying / working on homework, I often listen to music, but its very hard for me to tell whether or not this is helping me or hindering me from an objective stance. What I've heard from teachers and lecturers…
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Are heavy metal music listeners more likely to commit crimes?

It has been suggested (particularly in the 1980s) that individuals that listen to heavy metal are more likely to be commit a crime, as shown here and here. Have any studies statistically shown so?
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What study showed that using headphones to drown out office noise is detrimental?

I was watching an interview with Spolsky and he mentioned some study that showed listening to music with headphones caused a drop in having "deep thoughts" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF8ZVB-v3IM#t=23m17s I can't find this anywhere; what was the…
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