#i wish i could tune my brain into literally ANY other frequency but they’re literally all i can think about 24/7 i’m sick of them !!!!!

[tevos]

it’s still getting to me so bad that Carla’s moment of realisation that her feelings for Lisa are not platonic came like ten minutes after Lisa confessed to her that she’s absolutely done with relationships and she never wants to open her heart to one again and when i say getting to me i mean it’s Attacking

[dontletthishappentoyou]

Me: The time I spend thinking about a thing should probably correspond at least somewhat to how important that thing is.  Also Me: I was listening to the ending credits to Hamtaro, and noticed something odd about the harmonies in the first section. For the majority of the song, it’s just in regular old F major. Lots of F major chords, a bunch of B flat and C chords (IV and V) as well, looking like the most standard thing you could find. However, the intro/outro is a little bit odd. First of all, it’s a little bit odd that it’s an intro and outro. The song follows a weirdly symmetrical ABCBA form, where the B theme only has lyrics the second time for some reason. It flows well and sounds natural, but it’s not a common form and I can’t think of any other examples.  In the middle section, the C and B, I remember interpreting the lyrics to be hinting at some interesting music-oriented magic system. “Sing this secret spell” and “Let’s make a wish // Make it come true // Singing along with us is all you do” just makes it sound like there’s some sort of incantation that requires a melody to be preperly performed. It felt like the writers had an idea for some much more interesting fantasy series, but then 9/11 happened and they decided to just make a thing about hamsters instead to keep things extra light for a few years, but the lyricist had already written some gold for that other series, so he threw it in the Hamtaro song so it wouldn’t go to waste. I did a bit of research and cannot confirm that that’s not what happened.  I did discover that the lyrics to one of the Hamtaro theme songs were adjusted recently in Thailand. They’re protesting their government, and the protestors are singing the Hamtaro intro theme, comparing the government to greedy hamsters, hungry for tax money. So if you hear a familiar melody in Thailand and there are people walking around with violently altered Hamtaro plushies, that’s why.  Anyway, the A section. That’s where the music gets interesting. The melody definitely establishes F minor. But! When the phrase is repeated, it’s harmonized, which is a super common thing, but the harmony has a quirk.  See here’s the melody, clearly in F minor:

And here is what I would say is the most natural harmony. Since the melody is in F minor, the harmony also stays in F minor. Right? That would make sense; that would sound normal. 

But no! We get this weird thing. I realize it’s just off by one note, but that note is the third of the scale, the thing that establishes whether it’s in major or minor, which shows up here going directly against what was just established. 

So yea, that bugged me a bit and I couldn’t figure out how to analyze it, or if there’s anything similar that follows the same pattern. You have things like the epic theme from Lord of the Rings. At first I was thinking that it was doing something similar, where the melody is in minor and the harmony is in major and the contrast makes a kind of epic heroic kind of feel that you also find a little bit of in the Zelda main theme. 

So I listened loudly with headphones and there’s just not enough harmony for that to be a valid interpretation. It’s literally just those two vocal lines, and the bass is playing a constant F drone in the background with the Latin American percussion that I never thought sounded out of place for some reason. The interpretation I ended up settling on was that it’s a good example of a kind of polytonality uncommon before the 1900s in classical music.  By that, I mean the melody is harmonized by an exact copy of the melody, moved upward. So instead of having a harmony that’s also in F minor but higher, we have a harmony that’s just in A minor, sung at the same time.  Here’s an example in Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, where the oboes are doing the same thing, playing the same melody transposed a minor third apart. 

The reason this works is because of a thing called Tonal Fusion. Every sound has one wave frequency that really stands out, called the fundamental, and then a ton of usually quieter ones above it. The sound of static will just have a ton of random noise at all frequencies, and noisy things like snare drums and the sound of the letter F will be similar, and every sound has a distinct pattern of pitches. A flute will be basically just that one tone with some quiet ones above it, a clarinet will have the fundamental and well known series of overtones that are closer to the same volume, but all pretty well in-tune.  The problem shows up when we realize that if the clarinet is playing tons of distinct notes, and someone shouting “Fffffff!!!” makes a ton of distinct notes, why does it sound like exactly two sources of sound, rather than just one weird object, or thousands of individual objects? Our brains do tonal fusion, assuming that things moving in the same way are coming from the same object. If all of the notes above the fundamental frequency of the clarinetty sound are all moving together in perfect unison, we’ll hear it as a single object.  So what Bartok is doing up there, is he’s making a new instrument. He’s taking the sound of an oboe, with it’s unique pattern of pitches above its fundamental, and he’s adding another oboe slightly above it, and when they move perfectly together, it messes with our brains and we don’t know whether to hear it as a single object or two. They tonally fuse.  That’s kind of what is going on in Hamtaro as well. The melody and the harmony sort of tonally fuse together. The theme was written around the year 2000, and especially if you listen to the intro theme song, they are really playing with music production techniques, because that was what was cool at the time. This is especially noticable if you listen to the French version of the Hamtaro intro.  The weird tonal fusion thing that’s happening here creates an effect very similar to things you can do as a music producer, messing with equalizers and vocoding. The fact that the vocals do this naturally is likely a result of the songwriters feeling that this is a natural way for the song to go because of the effects they’ve been experimenting with, since it seems pretty unlikely that they were inspired by Bartok, Ravel, or Holst to use this style of polytonality.  I always find it fascinating when an artform is influenced by technology that was used to replace some elements of that artform. Painters practicing photorealism, animators replicating CG motions by hand, and this is definitely a good example. It’s possible that the harmony is another take pitch shifted up a major third, but it doesn’t sound pitch shifted. Instead it sounds like someone’s ear has been trained in a style influenced by developments in music production technology, converging on techniques that composers worked on a hundred years before to try to make new and inventive sounds.  When we’re listening casually as kids it’s a completely different experience. I remember my synesthesia being way more intense before I shifted to whatever part of my brain listens analytically. This song was just fun, colors, and way too cheesy to admit that I enjoy as much as I do, and now it’s different. It’s a nerdy kind of fun, which I still really enjoy, and I never would have been able to have epiphanies about it years ago, but I could have learned to. I was capable of both ways of listening. Now I’m only capable of how I listen now, and it makes me feel like doors have closed forever, and I’m left with just the memory of what was behind some doors that I was very fond of. But honestly, I appreciate those memories immensely, and looking into this way more deeply just builds contrast that helps the happy joyful years of hearing that stand out better to me. It’s not a white on black where there was a purely happy experience superimposed against my dark, adult experience; it’s more blue on orange. It’s extremely different, but there aren’t many better ways to really bring out the blue than having the orange to contrast it. I hope that the overanalysis of fond memories can always just help me appreciate the pleasant tiny moments of the past.  Anyway, that’s about all I have to say about the A naturals in the Hamtaro outro theme. 

[movedyoakkemae]

ignore me, i’m archiving this thread bc... i love it. DO NOT REBLOG.

kid ( @kaivoleur ) & conan.

kid: 

    “ Have we talked about the moral implications and-or ramifications of putting infants in consistent, casual proximity with criminals and corpses yet? ”

conan: 

     conan tilts his head, almost birdlike, to the side upon that remark, briefly uncertain whether or not kid is making a joke about his stature and the rate of which he sees homicide cases or if he’s talking about the shōnentantei-dan and their current propensity to witness murders even WITHOUT conan in the direct vicinity.

     deciding to take it as the latter, he remarks with much self-recrimination, ‘ the kids are pretty good at bouncing back now – better than they did even a few months ago, but, yeah, i do wish they weren’t quite getting so used to it. dad used to take me to crime scenes when i was their age, but i definitely didn’t see the variety and intensity of crimes at the same frequency they did at their age. ’

     a wry grin touches his lips as he states, ‘ – y’know, they’ve even taken to talking about murder cases they’ve witnessed over lunch now ? nothing’s quite like hearing those three talk about the best ways they’ve seen a body being dumped – either through hydrochloric acid, chopping the body to pieces, or even just dumping a body into a river – while the other kids and our teacher are hanging onto their every word. those kids are going to be scary once they’re our age. ’

     ( he’s also continuously widely surprised that their parents would still let them go onto trips with him and agasa-hakase. conan’s pretty sure most parents would have IMMEDIATELY told the kids never to talk to conan again. he’s glad they didn’t because as much as the kids annoy him, he does genuinely like them, but… still. it probably would have been better for them to have been cut off from conan earlier on when witnessing one crime would have been in a once in a blue moon experience instead of literally every time they went on one of their weekly outings. )

kid: 

    KID hadn’t expected a serious reply, but that isn’t to say he’s not prepared for it. He quirks a brow at ‘ our age ’ and debates the merits of correcting the detective — on one hand, quipping about Conan’s current state is never not funny, but on the other, he’d really prefer to try and complete the night without getting a soccer ball power-kicked to his face, so.

“ Detectiveness must be infectious, ” he says instead, because he’s not in a particularly dodgy mood. First officers, then teens, and now children; he’s never going to be free of them, huh? The thought brings a smile to his face — he wouldn’t have it any other way, of course. The chase is pointless if it doesn’t attract attention, and ( even worse ) boring if some do-gooder isn’t trying to get in his way. “ I’m not going to have to deal with them on a regular basis, am I? I think even one tiny detective is grating enough on Nakamori-keibu’s nerves. ”

The thief doesn’t even want to think of what a group of five infuriatingly sharp children would do to the old man. ( Wait. Five? He pauses for a split instant, turning the detective’s words over in his head — he’d definitely said three, and three-plus-one… is one short. Hm. A thought for later, then. )

“ Hopefully, by the time they reach my age, we’ll both have everything… figured out, ” KID muses, a hint of a grin reaching his eyes. “ Not that I don’t enjoy all you young detectives making valiant attempts to slow me down, of course, but you know how it is. ” Probably not, but KID makes no further effort to explain.

conan: 

    ‘ a “regular” basis ? probably not. your heists usually run too late at night, and their parents tend to be pretty good at setting a bedtime for them. ’ he’s pretty sure ran’s given up on setting him a bedtime considering all of the cases he takes and how some of them may last into the middle of the night. ‘ and i think nakamori-keibu is getting used to me. ’

    he hadn’t been at first – in fact, nakamori-keibu had been downright hostile to the occasional addition of conan to the ranks, but, well, one can’t deny constant results. he’s pretty sure nakamori-keibu likes conan better than shinichi, at any rate, but, to be fair, shinichi only appeared once and immediately assumed control of the officers. conan’s only just come the closest to catching kid and getting jewels back as quickly as possible.

    conan rolls his eyes at kid’s unsubtle emphasis of separating their ages ( and, as such, picking fun of conan’s current predicament. if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s pretty sure kid doesn’t know the full story, he’d get a lot more pissed than he does ). ‘ just for that, i’m making sure the others get new watches, belts, and shoes, ’ he threatens.

    but, after a pause and the amused look crossing his face, it’s clear that conan has realised what an interesting and entertaining idea it would probably make. after all, the shōnentantei-dan were getting better at traps all the time, and, well, their soccer skills have also gotten better too just by playing with conan all of the time. hm… he might owe haibara a purse or something, but it might be worth it just to see kid having to dodge five high speed soccer balls.

kid: 

    “ I’m surprised you haven’t taught them your curfew-eschewing ways yet, ” KID remarks blandly, tucking his hands into his pockets. He’s been tempted multiple times to push the heist back further into the night — mostly because a sleepy Task Force is an easier to handle Task Force — but he really needs the crowds of an accessible hour to pull off some of his best tricks. ( Besides, much as he declines to admit it, he does need sleep too. Sometimes. When he doesn’t have anything else to do. So never, basically. )

Maybe if he got more sleep, he wouldn’t be accidentally inspiring his critics with awful, no-good, very bad ideas. One tantei-kun is enough, thank you very much, he doesn’t need an entire entourage of children power-kicking soccer balls at him. KID manages to suppress a shudder at the thought, merely letting his grin ice over a mere degree.

“ Don’t even think about it, ” he says with just a hint of dourness, although it’s obviously a little too late for that. “ Holding heists at reasonable hours is not worth getting pelted by a hail of weaponized sports equipment. Don’t make me push heists back to 3 AM and cheerfully let Nakamori-keibu know it’s your fault he’s not getting his much-needed beauty sleep. Hakuba would probably actively attempt to murder me, too, ” he adds as an afterthought. Especially if he did it during finals week — ooh, but now that thought’s tempting. Kaito doesn’t particularly need to excel, he just needs to pass, and he could do that in his sleep; Hakuba, however… Well. He can’t imagine the detective settling for anything less than his own best work. “ Hey, if I ever get murdered at my own heist, would you still investigate it? ”

It’s a question he voices with the light-hearted tone of a joke, but something in his expression — shifts, his gaze sharpening. As though halfway through the question, he’d realized what had actually come out of his mouth, and for an instant it’s not Hakuba on mind but Snake and a sniper’s scope. But the words weigh too heavily for his liking, so he pushes on with somewhat less-than-natural joviality, “ Or does being a criminal excuse me from your jurisdiction or whatever? I don’t know how you detectives work. ” ( A lie, for the most part. )

conan: 

   conan waves a hand as if to wipe the idea from both of their brains. ‘ you already know about it, so it wouldn’t make for such a good trap anymore anyway, and you’d be careful to look out for new watches, belts, and shoes for the kids. ’ now, the task force, on the other hand… that was definitely an idea to save for later.

   ( he also notes the slight familiarity of kid calling him “hakuba”. nakamori-keibu gets, well, “nakamori-keibu”, and conan gets “tantei-kun” and, on occasion, “meitantei”, so why does hakuba get called by his last name ? it may be nothing, but he notes it either way. ).

   “hey, if i ever get murdered at my own heist, would you still investigate it?” the question seems light-hearted, coming from kid’s lips, a laugh at his own morality perhaps, but there’s something in his expression that shifts. conan’s eyes immediately narrow at the clue – it’s genuine, that shift of expression, judging from how kid tries to falsely lighten the air with, “or does being a criminal excuse me from your jurisdiction or whatever? i don’t know how you detectives work.”

   he had heard rumours of unidentified criminals moving around at kid heists, but he hadn’t personally seen any sign of them, so he had just dismissed them as rumours. now, conan wonders if he shouldn’t have. something to look into, definitely. if someone was trying to kill kid, in a way that he apparently thinks is possible given the question, conan needs to put a stop to it yesterday.

    ‘ idiot, ’ he deadpans, affecting an annoyed appearance, as if insulted by the question. ‘ if someone – however unlikely – managed to kill you, i’d hunt them down and make sure they’d get arrested. it doesn’t matter to me if you’re a thief or not – murder takes precedence over thieves any day, and criminals don’t deserve to die, no matter what th – anyone – might think. ’

    the slip comes from remembering asō seiji… they had murdered so many people, and still… conan had tried so hard ( and failed ) to save them.

    ( he has to close his eyes against the sudden memory of heat, and the same haunting tune playing in his ears. it’s a failure that still tastes bitter in his mouth, ash and smoke from the fire choking his lungs. shinichi thinks, for however long he’ll be alive, he’d never listen to moonlight sonata in the same way ever again ).

kid: 

    A laugh bubbles up to KID’s lips but doesn’t quite make it out of his mouth ( he could not say why, himself; relief? exasperation? he doesn’t know from where the laughter rises but he refuses to let it breach the surface ), and he wonders for a moment what the detective had been about to say before ‘ anyone ’ — but he lets him have his secrets, in the end. The thief lets only an amused breath escape, rocking his weight slightly, as though to leave, because this is already too much exposed in a single confrontation and he should leave before he lets himself slip too far. Or farther; maybe this is already too much.

But when the little detective closes his eyes, the thief holds himself still, because all of the sudden it is not the hilarity of his own possible doom that lingers over his thoughts. Rather, abject horror sours his amusement because if Conan goes after the crows at his heists, if he tips the balance so carefully maintained in the heists and manages to corner them…

Snake may be incompetent, but he’s still got BITE, and wild things are always most vicious with their backs to a wall.

    ( Meitantei is brilliant.               But so was Toichi, before he burned. )

“ Mm, good to know. But don’t hold your breath, ” KID says breezily, tearing his mind away from the old, old memory. “ I don’t plan on dying anytime soon. Try not to jump at shadows too much in the meantime, tantei-kun ~ ” He waits and makes sure to meet the detective’s gaze as he speaks, trying to convey the unspoken warning; just because he’d nudged a bit of confirmation about the… dangers associated with his moonlighting, doesn’t mean he wants Conan diving headfirst into it.

This is KID’s territory, and he’s got first dibs, so to speak. His way is a bit of a balancing act, trying to slowly key his critics in on what’s going on without alarming them or alarming Them, but maybe with this step, he can get a little closer to that end goal.

With a flick of the wrist, he reveals a grey marble in the palm of his hand. He lets it slip from his fingers, and when it hits the ground, it erupts in a cloud of smoke — and by the time that clears, KID’s gone.