Anyone else notice a ceiling fan kinda messes with the sound of an acoustic?

[Rambozo96]

I don’t think I am the first to notice this phenomenon. I was playing my D-35 in my living room and for whatever reason there was a weird artifact in the tonality where the sound was like a watered down Leslie effect. A weird detuning effect that drove me and the tuner nuts until I was able to identify the ceiling fan as a cause to this abnormalities in the acoustics tone. Anyone else have this happen?

 

[GAD]

Absolutely. Ever sing into a room fan?

 

[donnylang]

Yep.

Another thing that freaks me out sometimes is the tuning seems to change when standing vs sitting on some guitars (seems to be the B string that’s the most apparent culprit). Obviously it’s more a perception thing but sounds quite obvious in some cases (I’ve even recorded this on my phone to prove to myself I’m not crazy).

One thing I heard somewhere is playing an acoustic guitar is as much “playing the room” as the guitar- was a bit of a (disturbing in some ways) revelation. Just walk around your house (especially small places like bathrooms or closets) playing, and the sound can change to almost sound like different guitars.

 

[walrus]

'Yes' to the ceiling fan giving a little weird effect. No pedal necessary!

And even a young Paul McCartney played guitar in the bathroom. Absolutely great sound in there!

walrus

 

[dreadnut]

Yup. You'd have to pay extra for a pedal that does this!

 

[Rambozo96]

Yup. You'd have to pay extra for a pedal that does this!

Well I stole a rotary speaker assembly from a trashed Lowrey organ but not all of us are so lucky I suppose. I seriously need to make that thing into an extension cab.

 

[lungimsam]

Ceiling fans mess with electrics, too.

 

[matsickma]

The sound reflection off of the fan is modulating the acoustic tone. Essentially another form of Doppler effect where the fan blades moving toward you increases the tone pitch and reflection of the fan paddles away from you reduces the pitch. The fan reflection effect is actually pretty complicated and is more complicated than a Leslie because of the number of blades of the fan. Multiple moving toward and multiple moving away from the sound source.

In Radar speak at GHz frequencies it is known as JEM or Jet Engine Modulation of the radar pulse. Each aircraft has a specific engine and the JEM signature can tell you the kind of aircraft that is approaching.

The fan effect on an acoustic guitar can be reduced if you try alternate location in the room to play. It could even be used to accentuate the sound at low rotation speeds.

M

 

[GGJaguar]

Each aircraft has a specific engine and the JEM signature can tell you the kind of aircraft that is approaching.

I wonder if it could tell what brand guitar is being played?

 

[fronobulax]

In Radar speak at GHz frequencies it is known as JEM or Jet Engine Modulation of the radar pulse. Each aircraft has a specific engine and the JEM signature can tell you the kind of aircraft that is approaching.

Somewhere in some dusty archive there is a research paper with my name as co-author. "Helicopter Identification from Rotor-Body Interference" circa 1992. Basically we had a helicopter transiting the radar beam in a roughly perpendicular fashion, we could tell whether the main rotor was going clockwise or counter-clockwise, whether the tail rotor was facing us, or not, and which direction it was rotating in. If you added the knowledge that the helicopter was transiting the beam left to right or right to left you had a description of the helicopter that often identified a specific model. This was of interest because in those days if you assumed a military helicopter, that information was enough to separate US equipment from (former) Warsaw Pact equipment. At some level similar to JEM.

 

[Guildedagain]

Doppler effect is really strong when big quiet cruiser bike like a Gold Wing with stereo goes by, much stronger than a car.

 

[dreadnut]

When I used to put my little girls to bed with a story, I did a great monster voice by talking low into the box fan, LOL

 

[matsickma]

Hey Frono,
I can see that as another application of the Doppler effect. Many different applications of that phenemonom.
Interesting tidbit of info about the rotation of NATO vs Warsaw Pack helo's. Now I'm curious if jet turbines rotations follow that same pattern.

My focus was antennas but picked up a few things like JEM along the way from System engineers and end users. Having a radar course in college didn't cover the interesting tidbits picked up in the working world.

Based on your homestead location, I can only imagine where those dusty archives are located. I've been hanging around the BWI area these last few years.

M

 

[matsickma]

Dreadnut...that would definitely be a very freaky and scary voice effect!
M

 

[dreadnut]

Dreadnut...that would definitely be a very freaky and scary voice effect!
M

Yeah, until they figured out that they could do it too, then everbody was shreiking into the fan! Simple pleasures make for good memories.

 

[Rebosbro]

It also really messes up the head stock on a Les Paul when you take it off and you stick the neck into the fan. I refuse to fix the fan(destroyed a blade) so I will never do that again
Paul

 

[Rayk]

Yup talking into a desk or window fan is fun to !

 

[walrus]

Yup talking into a desk or window fan is fun to !

Ray, you really have to get out more!

walrus

 

[Rayk]

Ray, you really have to get out more!

walrus

Lol