Psychology of Bass

[ketansethi1987]

Very nice thread!

Have been experimenting with bass for a long time but never thought of this question.

I think guys love bass because it symbolizes power and money as usually we have to shell out a lot of money to get high power bass.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I haven't been too africa ,so unable to comment.But they would respond very less compared to men as per opinion

Neither have I . The closest I have come is having a number of friends that play music from different parts of that continent. On one occasion, I was with some of my friends who were getting ready for a gig in the hall of a London community centre. There was nobody else there yet, except those involved in setting up. I was just dancing, doing my own thing, to their beat. Until some other function in the centre finished, some sort of black African women's meeting, and about a dozen of them came into the hall, big black ladies, wearing that [Nigerian?] sari-like dress with matching headdress ...and started dancing with me.

It was, ermmm... interesting. Oh yes, those ladies have got rhythm: treble, mid-range and bass, in copious supply :clapping:

Basically mirdangam is ment for classic,so its properly designed not to trouble the raga and vocal, so we cannot expect mirdangam to sound in low freq.

Oh, but it does!

...Thad E GinaTHOM hyeah:

But, sure, there are drums that go lower. Much lower.

 

[Audio_Freek]

:

...Thad E GinaTHOM hyeah:

But, sure, there are drums that go lower. Much lower.

Oh Sorry Guru, i think you should be specialist in Classic

Just now i got your Name "Tha The Ge Na Thom", ( 1..2....3..4.... counting for classical dance)Are you classic dancer or classic dance lover(Its not Classical dancer's Lover),

Mirdangam- i heard only in Folk, marriage hall and in classical live concert(Katcheri), was really good bass which comes out after hitting hall wall, But haven't experienced or in other words didn't get chance to go lower like "Dum Dum Mathalam" or Parai

will try anyways

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Actually, my name takes seven beats to say:

Tha , Dhi , Ghi Na Thom.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

I'm a carnatic music lover. Yes, I sat in mridangam class for quite a few years, and played morsing a bit, but I lack memory and discipline, and I useless at numbers. To play mridangam, you need ...what was I saying? :lol:

Chennai December Music Season is on. I've been to nine concerts in the past seven days, including two on one day and three on another. However, that would be considered slacking by the real Season Rasikas!

I'm not at all an expert on those amazing Kerala drums (although I have a madalam in the cupboard) but, although they are big, the skins are drawn very tight, so I don't think one gets a real deep boom from them. Feel free to correct me! Also, although it might be called "folk," some of that stuff is so complex that it is very hard to actually follow the beat in it.

Lots of percussion, and those wonderful deep kettle drums, in Western orchestral music, is a relatively recent thing. Before that, other instruments were giving rhythm.

The rest of the world seems to think that beat had its birth in Africa, but I tend to think that wherever there were people, they must have been hitting stones or logs (or each other!) with sticks and dancing to the sound.

 

[captrajesh]

Oh yes, those ladies have got rhythm: treble, mid-range and bass, in copious supply :clapping:

Hmm, interesting.

 

[joyous]

Can effect of deep bass compare to effect of head massage? Where the masseur hit the head deeply to rejuvenate the cluttered areas inside? I think bass has this kind of effect or feel...

 

[avidyarthy]

Its plain phenomena of resonance.

The low frequencies generated when hit objects like glass windows etc, make the glass vibrate. To me, this kind of bass is ... could be the boomy variety ... the loose bass, should I say.

Tight ...... to-the-point bass that most audiophiles seek do not create these vibrations mentioned above. Though, this tightness cannot be observed across the full bass spectrum from the speakers. On some portions, little object vibrations do come in. But, this is way too less in comparison to the boomy variety wherein, the moment the low frequencies come in most susceptible objects start vibrating giving an undesirable humming noise in the music-room.

 

[Audio_Freek]

Its plain phenomena of resonance.

The low frequencies generated when hit objects like glass windows etc, make the glass vibrate. To me, this kind of bass is ... could be the boomy variety ... the loose bass, should I say.

Tight ...... to-the-point bass that most audiophiles seek does not create these vibrations mentioned above. Though, this tightness cannot be observed across the full bass spectrum from the speakers. On some portions, little object vibrations do come in. But, this is way too less in comparison to the boomy variety wherein, the moment the low frequencies come in most suseptible objects start vibrating giving an undesirable humming noise in the music-room.

avidyarthy,

As you said Tight bass is what we like in Music ,Just a "punch", just a short part of bass like Electronic Pad,Drums.etc

But Helicopter chasing , car chasing scenes which comes with terrible Cello and violin BG, we wont much bother the vibrating doors.

But for Music Flavour the Low freq or the vibration to the windows surely will down the whole quality of music.


Moreover if we properly set-up the music listening room with exact measurement and some calculation while buying audio components surely can reduce the vibration and control the same for best listening.

 

[Hiten]

Girls/Women,
Mostly love or like music on soft nature and and at low volume.
Someone in the Forum please share if you have different experience in Woman+Bass combo.

This Lady and these girls. More power to them. :thumbsup:

Regards

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

those ladies have got rhythm: treble, mid-range and bass

Hmm, interesting.

Some of them had lots of base too

 

[arj]

Its plain phenomena of resonance.

The low frequencies generated when hit objects like glass windows etc, make the glass vibrate. To me, this kind of bass is ... could be the boomy variety ... the loose bass, should I say.

Tight ...... to-the-point bass that most audiophiles seek do not create these vibrations mentioned above. Though, this tightness cannot be observed across the full bass spectrum from the speakers. On some portions, little object vibrations do come in. But, this is way too less in comparison to the boomy variety wherein, the moment the low frequencies come in most susceptible objects start vibrating giving an undesirable humming noise in the music-room.

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

 

[avidyarthy]

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

A concert without amplification and a one with amplification .... is there a major difference between the two? Do believe there would be quite a bit! The thing is, moment artificials creep in, here, artificials stand for amplification, a lot of the naturals take a beating. The SQ, the bass ... is the one which stands out ... possibly, it sounds unnatural.

Now, coming back to HT usage, does gunfire, helicopter sound, even revving of automobile engine sound the way ... the way it actually sounds? Again, I guess not. Too much of special effects SQ-wise is deliberately added to make it sound more involving. Can't complain if it is for HT, but a big 'no' if it is purely for music.

 

[reubensm]

to hell with the ladies and to hell with theory, I just love bass because it makes my music rock!!

 

[arj]

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

A concert without amplification and a one with amplification .... is there a major difference between the two? Do believe there would be quite a bit! The thing is, moment artificials creep in, here, artificials stand for amplification, a lot of the naturals take a beating. The SQ, the bass ... is the one which stands out ... possibly, it sounds unnatural.

Now, coming back to HT usage, does gunfire, helicopter sound, even revving of automobile engine sound the way ... the way it actually sounds? Again, I guess not. Too much of special effects SQ-wise is deliberately added to make it sound more involving. Can't complain if it is for HT, but a big 'no' if it is purely for music.

you are correct about cooked sounds but I guess i did not really articulate my post well enough.. real sound is real sound ie not amplified or cooked. and there are many un-amplified recordings available for calibrating ones system.
eg the hit of a Snare drum has several frequencies..not just the tight thwack and if you do not hear them all the system is not reproducing them all. Similarly the twang of a double Bass..it has a impact and an enveloping tactile bass a many frequencies..having heard it Live so many times at a 3-5 ft distance to gt some measure of that tactile feeling

HT sounds is not at all what i was alluding to..they are the wrong reference at least in my context since i really am not on that path and neither do i have a system which can make that sound realistic/impactful enough (actually i have a bose )

 

[avidyarthy]

'(actually i have a bose )' ...... :spam:

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

to hell with the ladies and to hell with theory, I just love bass because it makes my music rock!!

God forbid, but if I have to chose, I'll chose the ladies hyeah:

Surprise visit by my mridangam guruji, from London. Listening to mridangam at his brother's house yesterday... heaps of bass. Yes, you can feel it!

 

[anuragn]

God forbid, but if I have to chose, I'll chose the ladies hyeah:

I like your comment Thad :thumbsup:

Now the case is set for having a "Like" button on the forum
(I was looking to press the Like button but did not find one here)

 

[alpha1]

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.


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.

So what makes bass popular today?
Electronic music, today's hip hop, music channels, discotheques.
(and general tendency of human beings to say "yes" to anything considered "in" or "hep" - like all of the above)

 

[arj]

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.


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.

So what makes bass popular today?
Electronic music, today's hip hop, music channels, discotheques.
(and general tendency of human beings to say "yes" to anything considered "in" or "hep" - like all of the above)

HI Alpha to some extent you are right..but again i would like to go back to the statement of Quality Vs Quantity. Bass is any freq from 100 Hz and below and that is an integeral part of music. you can actually live without Treble but not without bass as that is what sets the rhythm
But you are right on the Quantity..most of the Mastering today just boosts it up as the majority of the consumers use cheap earbuds or 2 in ones which do not resolve. hence when you hear in a resolving system, it does not work out,

More qty than quality

 

[arj]

'(actually i have a bose )' ...... :spam:

not sure i understand the Spam part..my HT is a bose since i dont care for an HT ! but it sounds good and sits small and the visitors Love it . but that still does not change what I was trying to say.

While my real system sits in another room for me to enjoy :yahoo: