WTFraction - The Science Behind Mutations in Pipe Organs

This is a lecture presented at the American Institute of Organbuilders Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey in October of 2022. Carl Hersom, Shop Foreman of Boardwalk Hall describes how harmonics in music work and how mutation stops in pipe organs function and are utilized. He is assisted at the console of the Boardwalk Hall Organ by Nick Myers.
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[@HenrikBergpianorganist]

YES!!! Finally I got to hear some reed mutations! They're so rare, and hearing them like this is a very rare occasion. Too bad they don't all function yet. I might wish for a special episode of more crazy gap combinations of mutations, I loved the bell sound!

[@leowanenchak53]

This was wonderful. What an amazing inovator to take mutations to that depth.

[@ojotut]

This is a FANTASTIC presentation! If I were an organ builder or someone who understood tuning better, I'm sure I would have understood more, but I could follow pretty well, and felt that the first part where he talks about and demonstrates the harmonic series, is especially valuable to young organists who need to understand the basics of where mutations and mixtures come from. Thank you so much for sharing this video with your audience! I will be passing it along to others.

[@backtoschool1611]

I will need to watch this a few times! I never understood this stuff!!

[@charpnatl]

This talk was so well done, I’d have loved to have been there for it.

[@timothytikker3834]

Amazing to hear that eleventh harmonic being tuned! The one time I tuned an 8/9' ninth, I simply tuned it in pure fifths to a 1-1/3' Quint.

[@Raffael-Tausend]

Thats a good 'life-hack'

[@DavisMuramoto]

THIS was very informative!

[@timothytikker3834]

The synthetic reed effect with the mutation combination heard at the beginning is similar to one called for in Jean-Louis Florentz' organ piece "Débout sur le Soleil." He calls for Pedal foundations 32' and 16', to which he adds 10-2/3', 6-2/5', 4-4/7', 3-5/9', then additional pitches played in the manuals to approximate 2-10/11' and 2-6/13' and later also 2-2/15'.

[@brnmcc01]

Interesting that every mutation stops you list are all from 32, following that multiply denominator by the whole number for example 6-2/5 and 2-10/11 and 2-6/13 are all 32, 2x13+6 etc.

[@timothytikker3834]

@@brnmcc01 exactly: except for the 16' pitch, all these are odd-numbered 32' harmonics. The piece was first recorded by Michel Bourcier on the Van den Heuvel organ at Saint-Eustache in Paris, where the Pédale indeed has these harmonics up through 3-5/9'. But the harmonics above that could only be approximated by playing on the nearest pitches on a low mutation on the manuals. Florentz wrote an article for the French magazine _l'Orgue_ in which he outlined a dream plan for an organ with complete set of harmonics in 32', 16', 8' and 4' series; but this has yet to be realized. Atlantic City comes far closer than most in this regard, though lacks the 13th and 15th harmonics.

[@virginiaorganbuilder]

At 31:09, the phrase "...the result of one more cycle added" should be: "...the result of one more multiple added". Each harmonic is a multiple of the fundamental frequency. In the 16' series 8' is double the 16' frequency, 5 1/3' is triple, 4' is quadruple, 3 1/5' is 5x, 2 2/3' is 6x, etc. Adding one more cycle would just be a very slow celeste! This video is AWESOME!

[@andrewketchum960]

Hi Brent, I think you have the pipe count reversed. The Atlantic City organ has 33,113 pipes (estimated), but is not fully restored yet. The Wanamaker organ has fewer pipes, 28,750, but does have more ranks at 464.

[@samschaeffer8236]

So, each of these organs is the world's biggest in its own way. It seems like the Wanamaker organ is a more artistic organ, with more refinement. Thay's just my opinion.

[@charleslayton9463]

@@samschaeffer8236 Over the years, I've seen comments from the folks working on the ML that part of the reason why it is considered more "coarse" than the Wanamaker stems from the rush to complete it. When it was inaugurated, much of the winding was either inaccurately regulated or not at all. I think also some of the original voicing was rushed. This video reveals the amazing musical flexibility of the ML when it is in tune, well-winded and well regulated. (Also, that idea my stem in part from the understandable impulse to "blow the doors off". Listening to those organists especially who play the organ regularly, as well as some of the most accomplished "star" artists, we find more nuance in registration.) Richards was a genius, in using so many dedicated mutations (smaller, less expensive pipes) both to beef up the reeds and to extend the perceived sonic range down into the 32', 64' and even down into the 128' range, not to mention the myriad other effects and tones that can be created using the mutations. Of course, this only becomes clearly useful when the technician is as careful with the mutation tuning as Mr. Hersom has been. I would imagine that with some of the smaller mutation ranks the tuning can go out very easily, creating either "dead" spots or simple cacophony. Great work! I do have a question: when creating "resultant" 32' or 64' tones, does the effectiveness vary with where one is in the auditorium or from note to note as the placement of each of the pipes changes?

[@JonasClark]

@@samschaeffer8236 Regarding "more artistic with more refinement," they were built to serve very different purposes in very different spaces. The Grand Court really requires a lot of lush, orchestral ranks that can fill the space without overpowering. Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall is a few orders of magnitude larger, and the organ has to be a classical organ, a concert organ, a theatre organ, and be able to accompany a baseball game as easily as a fancy pageant. It has a lot more brashness because it needs that-- though we also shouldn't forget that the Senator did want it to be bigger (and louder) than Wanamaker's.

[@timbo389]

Thanks Brent for putting this up. I managed to learn a thing or two.

[@NateDulcimer]

Great to see a new upload on this channel! Any word on when the next organ tour video will be posted? I’ve been living on the back catalog as well as other channels’ organ tours

[@cornwalldragon4617]

The Midmer Losh is bigger by pipes while the Wanamaker is bigger in ranks. The Midmer Losh has more pipes due to the extended keyboard range of the choir, great, and swell manuals.

[@HobbyOrganist]

That was interesting and informative Brent!

[@tubamaxima187]

Hello Brent: It's a minor point, but you said the Wannamaker is bigger because it has more pipes. I am one of the former directors of the Atlantic City Convetion Hall Organ Society and am very familiar with the Midmer-Losh. The claim that Atlantic City is bigger is based on the number of pipes, 33,112 vs the Wanamaker has 28,750 pipes. Both organs are immense by any measure. The Wanamaker has more pipes that are playable at this time. When Atlantic City is restored, it will have more playable pipes. It's a silly argument because both organs are incredibly large. The Atlantic City organ has pipes of much larger scale (to suit the large Convention Hall into which it speaks). It is much much louder.

[@thomaswalters4365]

I tried the 64' and 42 2/3' together and low C sounded like turbines at a power station.😁

[@miltronix]

One correction- you said some say the Wanamaker Organ is bigger because it has more pipes. Wanamaker Organ has more ranks, but the AC organ has more pipes, about 4000 more.

[@Sathrandur]

More (larger) organs could make use of a quint reed. While not greatly in tune in the demonstration, it gives the reed chorus a bright sharp edge like some sort of Spanish trumpet en chamade.

[@trippmediamolle]

Will you ever come to Houston TX? St. John Vianney Catholic Church has an amazing organ!! The organist would be more than happy to show you around.(I also play on the organ in my free time

[@rexoliver7780]

Also the Boardwalk Hall organ has a larger compressor system to provide wind for the pipes. What is going on with the Ballroom Organ? Still under restoration?

[@scronx]

Fantastic -- thank you! Obviously the ideal is to be able to tune by hearing, would it be quicker or easier for you to use an electronic tuner? I see some commercial models can be calibrated.

[@garygreen7552]

What a great lesson. As a tuba player I know about the harmonic series and the fact that certain partials are "out of tune" in a an equal temperament world. The only element that would have made this more satisfying is if a microphone had been placed so that the organ sounded louder. It was a bit too soft to hear what was being demonstrated, at least to me.

[@HobbyOrganist]

Agreed, it was rather soft for the most part

[@principals16842]

As a recovering brass player (trumpet), Carl's use of the horn made a lot of sense to me. Another thing that can make the concept of harmonics or partials suddenly click for people is the Sunrise section of Also sprach Zarathustra, which follows the first five partials: Low C in the pedal, then C, G, C and E before switching to E flat. How strange the change from major to minor with that half step alteration! It's absolutely shattering I think because of the deviation from the fundamental "rightness" of the sound of the harmonic series. Gosh, I hope Carl does an updated version of this when the restoration of the silent divisions is complete and all those amazing flues, reeds, and mutations are fully operational!

[@JIMD6370]

@justin, have you heard Space odyssey done last year on the CD on this organ?

[@principals16842]

@@JIMD6370 I haven't, but I will be sure to pick up a copy. Thanks for the heads up!

[@JIMD6370]

@@principals16842 recorded in floating 32 bit, mastered down to standard 16 bit with 8 mics. Oh, and it's the first time in almost 60 odd years the trumpet marablis(?), In the right/lower chamber, on a crazy 100" of wind was used in a recording. It's wicked powerful, use really good headphones. Enjoy🤗

[@principals16842]

@@JIMD6370 Ooh, I can't wait!

[@JIMD6370]

@@principals16842 the work on this organ has been beyond first class, and it's Really starting to show what the senator wanted, but never got in 1932.

[@bigprovola]

Who heard the Doppler effect when he ran back to the stand?

[@timothytikker3834]

Actually, while the Bb soprano clarinet and Bb soprano saxophone have exactly the same transposition -- sounding a major second below written pitch -- their range is actually not similar. The saxophone's written range is normally two and a half octaves, bb°-f''', while the clarinet's is three and 3/4 octaves, e°-c"". The two instruments are roughly similar in length, but since the clarinet has a cylindrical bore, its pitch is much lower than the saxophone's. Also, the clarinet's range extending higher is facilitated by its cylindrical bore overblowing the twelfth and seventeenth, instead of the octave.

[@analog_mind]

I was wondering when you're gonna make a video regarding the boardwalk hall's organ hahahah

[@SuperLQQK]

Wow...I might have to watch this more than once. What is a unit stop?

[@gammafoxlore2981]

Unified refers to multiple stops being derived from a single rank of pipes.

[@joshuag.4873]

Like when you see a 16’ Lieblich Gedeckt, 8’ Bourdon, and 4’ Flute, and they’re all coming from the same rank at different octaves.

[@neimrxcharix574]

Lats I knew, I thought the Wanamaker organ has more sounds, but less pipes. You can have more pipes but less different sounds because of repeating ranks/stops for the difference keyboards. And I think the Wanamaker has more sounds than BoardWalk hall but less pipes (Wanamaker takes up less space)

[@JonasClark]

Is the bit at 37:28 from a known piece? I want more of that!

[@HobbyOrganist]

I like the part with the solo reed mutation @45:17 5-1/3 example, if that was part of some piece it sounded interesting!

[@markaustin4370]

So many good things about this Love the new honesty about lgbtq. Thanksgiving!!!!

[@djcfrompt]

Did I hear a little of Concerto de Orange Juice there? 😆

[@samschaeffer8236]

One thing that bothers me is that many pipe organs have digital 32's. I know there are limitations on space and funding, but I think there could be more use of harmonics to produce various 32' effects. Surely, there could be space and money savings if an organ were provided with one or more stoppered ranks, the tallest at 10 2/3' pitch would be about 6' tall. Then, for more definition and reed like effect, we could have 6 2/5', 4 4/7', and even a 3 5/9'. These might not be "real" 32's, (neither are digital ones) but they are real pipes, and these can be very convincing. We can even have certain ranks in a "Grand Cornet" be made available to draw separately if the full effect is not desired.

[@joshuag.4873]

I’ve always though there should be both options when there is a lack of space - resultants/harmonics, and digital.

[@samschaeffer8236]

@@joshuag.4873 I understand, but I guess I'm a purist (not for Baroque organs only), but for organs that are composed of all pipes, only.

[@timothytikker3834]

Your point is very well-taken. The Walcker/Aeolian-Skinner organ at Memorial Music Hall in Methuen, MA has a "Grand Bourdon" IV, surviving from the Walcker. Its pitches are 10-2/3' (stopped), 8' (open, inverted upper lips), 6-2/5' (stopped bass, open treble) and 4-4/7' (stopped, originally 4', two low pipes added and the rest re-racked by A-S), all pipes wood, of flute scales. I was struck by how effective its resultant is, sounding like a very smooth, dark, blending and ultra-prompt Posaune. On hearing it in my Bach pleno, my console assistant remarked "that adds clarity to the Pedal line."

[@accousticdecay]

Wanamaker has more ranks but fewer pipes.

[@jefferyrowley8873]

The Boardwalk Organ has 2 manuals with a much larger keybed - 85 keys for The Choir (Manual I) and Great (Manual II), 73 Keys on the Swell (Manual III) I do not think that any stops have an automatic octave boost with the use of the 4' Intra-manual Coupler. There is, however, some unification. The Wanamaker Organ has The Echo, Ethereal, The Entire Orchestral and String Organs with 61 keys and 73 pipes which come into play with the 4' intra-0manual coupler and/or any octave unit stops

[@jefferyrowley8873]

@@frispo73 The Grand Ophicleide in the Pedal Right speaks upon 100" of Wind Pressure and is an ear-splitting 130 Decibels at one Meter distance. This Stop is in the Guinness Book of Records as the loudest Organ Stop in existence. As far as wind pressure ~ Parts of the Fanfare, Pedal Left, Solo, Gallery I and Pedal Right are 50" - 100" of Wind Pressure - Judging by the Stop list of stops effected it is mostly Reeds and some Diaphones. The remainder of the organ has a general wind pressure of 15" and the Choir is on 10" and the Unenclosed Choir is on 3.75". There are some other stops such as the Diapason X on 4". There still is a lot of work to be done on the restoration and there are parts of the organ that have not spoken for a very long time. There will be possibly a new placement of some of these divisions and they will have their own blower and wind pressure.

[@WilliamMitchell-sc3fe]

Narrator says: That damn 11 partial 😁😂

[@pilotusa]

So far over my head it might as well be presented in Martian.

[@markaustin4370]

No, the partials are not tempered they are pure intervals

[@pipingpepsi6665]

It’s nice to see some LGBT representation in the organ world! I often feel alienated by the fact that there seem to be so few of us, so I appreciate it a lot!

[@JB-td4ei]

You’re joking right? The organ is considered a “gay” instrument, organist is a gay profession just like a hairdresser.

[@MegaMobass]

Carl and His husband are wonderful people. I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am for their existence and efforts for the Midmer Losh. Carl is a wonderful person and I cannot wait to meet him and his husband.

[@pipingpepsi6665]

@@JB-td4ei I could very well be mistaken, but I just haven’t personally encountered many gay organists…

[@n4gix]

@@pipingpepsi6665 - Oddly enough, I don't recall encountering many straight organists... (jk)😉

[@Velostigmat]

There are a many of us, you're among friends.

[@william.j.rivera5324]

JESUS love you ❤️❤️🔥

[@johnbrewer9833]

There are even straight people here as well but never felt the need to make an issue of it.