Timbre vs. Tonality

Would someone more knowledgeable than myself explain the difference between these (2) terms? Thank you very much.

Bill

 

The way I understand it. Tone is an aggregate term used to describe "sounds". For example, the traits of a note or series of notes played on a scale. This can be broken down into various sub traits, one of which includes timbre (others being, pitch, intensity, duration ect.)

Timbre describes the qualities of sound distinct from these other sub traits. For example, it describe why a C scale (pitch) played on a guitar with the same loudness (intensity), and at the same tempo (duration), will sound different than one played on a piano.

Though, I think in the context of describing audio gear, most people use the terms "tone" and "timbre" interchangeably.

 

Really useful answers! And I've been listening to music and hifi of one sort or another for decades. I could not have put it so well, and it was a great revision to read

 

I tend to think of timbre as a sort of the microdetail within tone, with both parts forming a natural, realistic sound of an instrument, if that makes sense.

 

In musical terms, "tone" just means "note" or "sound". But often you'll see "tone" used as a shorthand for "tone color", which in turn is just a synonym for "timbre".

Some people like to make an informal distinction between the intrinsic timbre of an instrument and the "tone color" produced either from the specific mechanical setup of that instrument or from the musical decisions made on the part of the performer. But at a technical level, they are the same thing.

"Tonality" basically means "key", as in a musical key. This is an oversimplification, but should be enough to get the idea across. It definitely isn't a synonym for "tone".

In audio, none of these words have formal definitions and people pretty much just make up whatever meanings they want. For that reason, I never assume vague words like "tone" have a strict meaning, but instead use context to infer the intent of the speaker.

 

Tone, in listening terms, is the spectrum of warm to cold. The terms may be non-precise, but the actuality can probably be seen on frequency charts. Somebody one said that engineers and audiophiles hear the same thing, but engineers use numbers to describe it, whereas we use this vague language.

 

I know this is fairly imprecise and it's just my humble opinion, but I've tended to equate timbre with resonances and harmonic content, mostly due to material choices and construction, i.e., subjectively described as flabby, fleshy, woody, brassy, steely, tinny, etc. So, when you're talking about the timbre of a specific instrument you should try compare the timbre to another instrument playing the same note, or tone. Tone is more about the fundamental frequency and it's relationship to the rest of the frequency response, i.e., warm/cool, wet/dry, dark/bright. Problems with uneven tonal response can (well, will) be exacerbated by poor timbre. I don't think you can't have good timbre without even tonality, but you can have even tonality that lacks realistic timbre.