tuning
/ˈtjuːnɪŋ
/noun [mass noun]
1The action or process of tuning something: an electronic instrument requires no tuning...
- The team from Nicholas and Co, of Malvern, completed the final tuning of the organ's 1,000 pipes, with the ‘tonal finishing’.
- Bells, however, vibrate in different ways to stringed instruments and so require a different tuning treatment.
1.1The extent to which a musical instrument, performance, or ensemble is in tune: at times the tuning is uncertain, and the solos often lack conviction...
- In terms of tuning, the three sopranos have their work cut out for them - this is one of those works that is more difficult than it sounds.
- When he let himself go after the interval, his tuning became much more secure.
1.2A particular key or set of pitches to which an instrument, especially one with strings, is tuned: E-flat tuning...
- Part of its effect comes from Gubaidulina's unusual tuning of the string orchestra: half the players tune a quarter-tone lower.
- The two instruments are tuned a quarter-tone apart, and it's incredible how soon the ear becomes accustomed to the strangeness of this tuning.
1.3The facility on a radio allowing for the reception of different stations, frequencies, or wavelengths: he fiddled with the tuning
1.4 Electronics The variation of the resonant frequency of an oscillatory circuit.