🔒 The microphone is analysed live on your device — nothing is recorded or uploaded. Every sound here is made in your browser and works offline.
Pitch over time: the middle line is in tune, the green band is ±5 cents. A steady line means a steady note.
Press a beat: strong ▸ accent ▸ normal ▸ silent.
The last minute. The dashed line is your warning level.
🎙️ Recording level CLIP
For recording, keep the loudest parts in the green (around −18 to −6 dBFS). Red means clipping, which distorts.
🎯 Calibrate (make the numbers match a real meter)
Phone and computer microphones differ, so the reading is an estimate that can be several decibels off. Hold your device next to a real sound level meter (or a calibrator at 94 dB), and type what it shows while the sound plays.
Browsers can still change the microphone volume on some phones. For the steadiest reading, use the same device each time and keep it about an arm’s length from the instrument, where your ears are.
Play a reference note to tune by ear, or hold a steady drone to practise scales and intonation against it.
How to tune your instrument
🎸 Guitar, bass and ukulele
- Pick your instrument and tuning, then press Start microphone.
- Pluck one string firmly and let it ring. The tuner shows which string it hears.
- Needle on the left (flat): tighten the string. On the right (sharp): loosen it.
- Stop when the needle is in the green middle and it says In tune. Then do the next string.
- Go through all strings twice: tuning one string slightly changes the tension on the others.
⬆️ Always tune up to the note
If a string is sharp, go a little below the note and come back up. That way the string settles against the peg and stays in tune longer. New strings stretch for a few days, so they need tuning often.
🎻 Violin, viola, cello and double bass
Tune the A string first, usually with the peg, then the others with the fine tuners. Bow gently in the middle of the string — a steady, quiet sound gives the steadiest reading. Many orchestras tune to A = 442 Hz; set it above.
🎺 Wind instruments and voice
Choose Chromatic. Play a long, steady note at a normal volume. Trumpet, clarinet and tenor sax players can switch the note names to B♭, alto sax to E♭ and horn to F, so the tuner shows the note on your sheet music. Warm up first: a cold instrument plays flat.
🎚️ Alternate tunings
Drop D lowers the lowest guitar string to D for heavy riffs. DADGAD and the open tunings make a chord when you strum the open strings — great for slide and folk. “Half step down” matches many rock records. The tuner’s target notes change with the tuning you pick.
🔢 What are cents?
A cent is a hundredth of a semitone (the step between two piano keys). Most people cannot hear a difference below about 5 cents, which is why the green zone is ±5 cents. A4 = 440 Hz is the international standard; baroque groups often use 415 Hz.
How loud is too loud?
Hearing damage depends on how loud and how long. Following the US NIOSH recommendation, 85 dB(A) is safe for 8 hours a day, and every 3 dB more halves the safe time. Damage is permanent and builds up silently — ringing ears or muffled hearing after playing are warning signs.
| Level | Sounds like | Safe time per day |
|---|---|---|
| 60 dB | Normal conversation, a quiet acoustic guitar | No limit |
| 75 dB | Vacuum cleaner, a piano played softly | No limit |
| 85 dB | Busy traffic, a piano played loudly, an acoustic guitar close up | 8 hours |
| 88 dB | A violin or flute at the player’s ear | 4 hours |
| 91 dB | Band rehearsal in a small room, a clarinet or sax up close | 2 hours |
| 94 dB | A loud piano or cello section, a motorbike | 1 hour |
| 97 dB | Trumpet or trombone, an orchestra at full volume | 30 minutes |
| 100 dB | A drum kit, a loud electric guitar amp | 15 minutes |
| 106 dB | A rock band, a piccolo up close | 4 minutes |
| 110 dB+ | The front of a rock concert, a drummer’s cymbals | About 1 minute |
- Musicians’ earplugs lower every pitch evenly (by 9, 15 or 25 dB), so music still sounds clear. Foam plugs work too but make it sound muffled.
- Take breaks in a quiet place, turn amps down and point them at you rather than at your ears from behind.
- The noise dose on this page adds up your exposure like NIOSH does: 100% is a full safe day.
- This page helps you notice loud sound; it is not a certified meter or medical advice. If you have ringing or hearing loss, see an audiologist.
Practising with a metronome
🐢 Slow first
Play the hard part slowly enough to get it right every time, then add a few BPM. The speed trainer does this for you: for example +5 BPM every 4 bars up to 140.
🤫 Keep time without help
The gap trainer plays a few bars, then goes silent. If you are still on the beat when it comes back, your inner clock is good. Start with 2 on, 2 off.
🎶 Subdivide
Clicking eighths, triplets or sixteenths makes fast passages even. Swing eighths give the long-short feel of jazz and blues.
🥁 Odd time signatures
7/8 is grouped 2+2+3 and 5/8 as 3+2 here — press the beats to move the accents to the grouping your piece uses.