Any note played on a piano will sound different to a note of the same pitch produced by another type of instrument, e.g. a tuning fork. The musical note produced by a tuning fork is called a pure tone because it consists of a tone of one frequency. A note played on a piano, or most other instruments, consists of several such tones all sounding together at different frequencies. The tone with the lowest frequency is called the fundamental . Therefore although the highest note of a piano has a fundamental frequency of just over 4kHz, equipment used to record music must be able to handle much higher frequencies to preserve the harmonics associated with each note.
Sounds produced by percussive effects are particularly rich in high harmonics.
These occur mainly at the start of a sound, e.g. when a stringed instrument is plucked or a cymbal is struck. These starting transients are also characteristic of the instrument producing them. Sound equipment must be able to cope with these high frequencies otherwise the tonal quality of the sounds will be altered. Cymbals, for example, can produce frequencies around 20kHz to 25kHz. Noise is an integral part of much music.