Sped-Up Sydney Town Hall 64' Contra Trombone Reveals Low C Problem (Audio only)

To skip the spoken intro, start at 0:16. To skip to the first sped-up version, start at 0:44.

The Sydney Town Hall has one of only two full-size 64' ranks in the world, besides the 64' Dulzian at the Atlantic City (New Jersey, USA) Boardwalk Hall Auditorium.

I have found two audio samples of a scale being played, both presumably ending on low C. However, that note is not only very badly out of tune, but is also drifting! As in the case with the Atlantic City Boardwalk Auditorium, the fact of this one being very badly out of tune also isn't readily apparent to human ears, the fundamental frequency of the low note being again around 8-10 Hz.

There are two audio source files, linked below. The first is a full two-octave scale and is of good audio quality. The second plays the full 32' C-major scale, but then, unfortunately, only plays two notes from the 64' register - although the last note is presumably low C. (For some reason, I think he plays F and C, but I think most others would have played G and C if they had to pick only two notes.) Additionally, the second recording sounds as if some audio distortion has set in, like the camcorder microphone is starting to saturate. Nevertheless, the fact of the severe mistuning and poor voicing still come through despite the distortion.

Like in my other 64' video, again, I speed it up by factors of 2, 4 and 8, resulting in it sounding 1, 2 and 3 octaves higher than it actually is, i.e. as if it were a 32, 16, and then an 8 foot rank. (Unfortunately I have a typo in the captions, at 1:07, 8x speed is as if an 8' rank, not as if a 16' rank. Thank you Arianna for catching that!)

With the sped-up versions, those with musical training can hear for themselves the fact that low C is very badly out of tune. Also, it is drifting, as one can hear in an artificially-generated trill between the two versions of the same note taken from the two different source audio files - the frequency is slightly different, as is the tone quality, and the latter in a way that can't be blamed on just the audio distortion.

To my knowledge, this is the first identification of serious mis-tuning and drifting behavior on low C of this rank.

The two audio source files were taken from:
http://www.sydneyorgan.com/STH64.mp3 (full two-octave C-major scale)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1rjIRkQWC8 (one full octave scale at 32' pitch and then two notes only from 64' register)

I used Mathematica to generate the sped-up versions, Playing a Table of samples, but, skipping all but every other, every fourth, and every eighth element for the different speeds.

The thumbnail is a photograph of the organ. Please forgive me for not having a more interesting video, but, the purpose of this video is primarily audio, after all.

Видео Sped-Up Sydney Town Hall 64' Contra Trombone Reveals Low C Problem (Audio only) канала Bruce Tiemann