Psychology of Bass

[Audio_Freek]

Most people's personal music systems are unable to reproduce the bass frequencies properly, hence they love it when they are able to hear real bass clearly.

Before the advent of electronic music and discotheques, no one actually "preferred" bassy music, or only the bass part of the music. It used to just sit along with all the other frequencies ... and had its own role.
)

I would say most of the people's personal music system should lack not only in producing the Bass also Mid and High too.

I dont think my Panasonic Tape's speakers(Made in 90's,with dome tweeter) was good in high or mid freq comparing to my Present "JBL TITANUM" tweeter.


If you just browse through the previous post's in this thread myself and "thateginatom"were discussing about the bass since "Stone age". Bass based music instrument was the first to be invented by man, so he has relation since the day till today.

The fact is, The sound reproducing instruments were invented just before "150+"Years, and just after 100 years of research we got the answer "Woofer+ and Subwoofer" which are attached to for Joy

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

If you, by any chance, try to insinuate the human beings love bass frequencies - then you are dead wrong. Before the advent of electronic music and discotheques, no one actually "preferred" bassy music, or only the bass part of the music. It used to just sit along with all the other frequencies ... and had its own role.

Check out any classical music, R&B, blues, jazz, even rock music.

If you mean boomboombass it has been popular with a certain kind of car driver for a long time. Balanced bass, on the other hand, is where one is most likely to find the rhythmic content of a polyphonic (Whoa, is tha the right word? I'll have to watch those Prof Wright lectures again!) composition, even going back hundreds of years.

 

[alpha1]

Quite frankly the Rhythm aspect has nothing to do with Bass.

If you take any drums or percussion, there is only one aspect to it: at the very basic level there are two percussive sounds, one is slightly lower frequency, and the other one is slightly higher frequency.

Even in rock music or pop music the rhythm is emphasized by the snare drum, not the bass drum or tom-toms.

Listen to ANY folk music, Indian or abroad - tabla, dhol, marching snare, bongo, congo - Where is the bass? Nowhere.
These are at best the low mid range instruments, but definitely not strong bass producers.

Bass drums, double bass, bass saxophone, tuba etc might be more worthy contenders of earning Bass instruments title. But their presence was limited mostly to the Western classical music. And in this situation it was balanced, not emphasized.

 

[Hari Iyer]

not sure if this is correct..or may be I have not really understood what you wer trying to say.. in fact bass (like every frequency ) is not about one note but about the Harmonics of the Sub and Super kind and it is the combination of all of these that give Timbre to the sound which in effect defines the Quality of that tone.

Eg a Bass note at 60Hz has a both 30Hz Sub harmonic along with a 15 Hz and lower and also a 120Hz, 240 hz etc superharmonic. and the better all of these are reproduced, the more the sound gets Truer , real and palpable.

a 35Hz wave will have both the sound and the tactile for us on the other hand the 15Hz will be purely Tactile to us and you will not hear it, but it might rattle a few windows

BUT the true tone is produced only when all of these are rendered well

i would think an audiophile will try to create a Bass which is true to the real sound.

this is one reason I felt the Bass from Vinyl, SACDs and HD is so much better (almost Bottomless ) defined than the cd which gets cut off at 20Hz.

Tight bass could be very artificial..it means cutting out the sub harmonics to make the sound Sharp..a vibrating skin of a table is anything but sharp and tight..it has a loose quality and any system which is not showing you that is not really being true

The fundamental frequency and its harmonics needs to be preserved in the wave envelope so that the correct balance of the timber is heard. If there is a rapid roll-off of the frequency at its lower end then the bass will be loose. A gradual roll-off of around -6dB/octave will help preserve the timber in its bass frequency. Its actually the harmonics in the lower notes that gives the kick. Imagine if the fundamental note decays immediately after its played, the bass will sound dull without any impact. The Attack, Sustain, Release and Decay of the sound waves should be perfect for the bass to have its correct timber and harmonic balance.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Quite frankly the Rhythm aspect has nothing to do with Bass.

If you take any drums or percussion, there is only one aspect to it: at the very basic level there are two percussive sounds, one is slightly lower frequency, and the other one is slightly higher frequency.

Some percussion is at surprisingly high frequencies. Since I've been finding out what my ears don't hear properly unaided, I've found several of those things that I didn't realise I had been missing.

However, it is not all about drums and percussion. The validity of the sweeping statement is in the fact that, in polyphonic music, the rhythm tends to be kept in the lower notes, eg the left hand of the pianist, the bass guitar in the rock band, the double bass in jazz, the low brass in an orchestra. But, of course, it doesn't have to be.

 

[alpha1]

Some percussion is at surprisingly high frequencies. Since I've been finding out what my ears don't hear properly unaided, I've found several of those things that I didn't realise I had been missing.

However, it is not all about drums and percussion. The validity of the sweeping statement is in the fact that, in polyphonic music, the rhythm tends to be kept in the lower notes, eg the left hand of the pianist, the bass guitar in the rock band, the double bass in jazz, the low brass in an orchestra. But, of course, it doesn't have to be.

By all means.
But not emphasized like <80 Hz boom-boom chest thumping, nausea inducing stuff that we come across in cars and home systems ...
Seriously, I can feel air being squeezed out of my lungs and acid and bile rising up the esophagus in such cases.

 

[manu george]

Salt make every food delicious.this really happens on music and movies.bass is like salt.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

And too much of it makes us vomit!

So that is quite a good analogy.

But not emphasized like <80 Hz boom-boom chest thumping, nausea inducing stuff that we come across in cars and home systems ...

Indeed not, although a big orchestra or an African percussion group can be pretty moving.

I just remembered those huge Japanese drums: I don't know that there is even a subwoofer that can do them credit? :lol:

 

[arj]

By all means.
But not emphasized like <80 Hz boom-boom chest thumping, nausea inducing stuff that we come across in cars and home systems ...
Seriously, I can feel air being squeezed out of my lungs and acid and bile rising up the esophagus in such cases.

There are 2 aspects here, SPL and low level articulation.you get the abovebecause the SPL is unnaturally high and distorted..not because it is going low..I anyway doubt if those are going below 40 hz!

I have heard recordings on church organs which go down to 16 jz..although the sub go down only to 18, they do bring out the sound well..without the SPL. They sound good as they don't just do the 18 hz main tone but also brings out the 36,72,144 Ethan al harmonics which add richness

The confusion between low freq sound and high SPL is very common. Most HTs actually don't go below 35 hz..but they do loud distorted single tone SPLs which we find irritating





Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk