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Bass Frequency Myth!

#121
If we look at music as coded amplitude and frequency information...your ear/brain needs a couple of cycles to percieve frequency information, so as long as the note persists for you to hear a few waveforms, it doesn't matter where you are (barring phase cancellations due to reflections or the attenuation because of long distance). Super fast bass notes get hard to percieve by the ear/brain. This is why basslines usually "modulate" their tones at a "slower" rate than lead instruments. Kick drums convey mostly timing information, however the frequency is generally not that important, since the kick notes are so short. Slapping generates higher frequencies...that helps with the understanding. if you are near a very "loud" speaker, your ear will "saturate" and the information (music) will be unintelligable anyways. The phone company uses a "uLaw" compression algortithm takes advantage of this fact..higher volume signals get less resolution (in bits). Sloppy bands love to play loud.. It's harder to tell !!!
 
#122
warnergt said:
OK. I stand corrected. You said he was acquitted.
What was he acquitted of?
Click to expand...
ACQUIT
Definition of ACQUIT
transitive verb
1 : archaic : to pay off (as a claim or debt) b obsolete : repay, requite
2: to discharge completely (as from an obligation or accusation) <the court acquitted the prisoner>
3 : to conduct (oneself) usually satisfactorily especially under stress <the recruits acquitted themselves like veterans>

From Merriam Webster.
 
#123
Zoa said:
ACQUIT
Definition of ACQUIT
transitive verb
1 : archaic : to pay off (as a claim or debt) b obsolete : repay, requite
2: to discharge completely (as from an obligation or accusation) <the court acquitted the prisoner>
3 : to conduct (oneself) usually satisfactorily especially under stress <the recruits acquitted themselves like veterans>

From Merriam Webster.
Click to expand...

Nice.

Vocab Nazi fail.
 
#124
gaffster787 said:
If we look at music as coded amplitude and frequency information...your ear/brain needs a couple of cycles to percieve frequency information, so as long as the note persists for you to hear a few waveforms, it doesn't matter where you are (barring phase cancellations due to reflections or the attenuation because of long distance). Super fast bass notes get hard to percieve by the ear/brain. This is why basslines usually "modulate" their tones at a "slower" rate than lead instruments. Kick drums convey mostly timing information, however the frequency is generally not that important, since the kick notes are so short. Slapping generates higher frequencies...that helps with the understanding. if you are near a very "loud" speaker, your ear will "saturate" and the information (music) will be unintelligable anyways. The phone company uses a "uLaw" compression algortithm takes advantage of this fact..higher volume signals get less resolution (in bits). Sloppy bands love to play loud.. It's harder to tell !!!
Click to expand...

Then too, a lot of relatively percussive instruments - plucked/struck strings for instance - generate a lot of upper overtones during an attack. The harder played the more of this content appears during the attack portion of the signal. Due to the closer and non-chordal spacing of these upper harmonics, they are confusing. And since the string is unusually stretched and also vibrating roughly on several planes, it gets pretty inharmonic on top of that. Bass guitar with its lower register, higher string tensions and lesser string flexibility, and wider-bandwidth enclosures can be a pretty good generator of inharmonicity during transients.

Here's some related info from Ralph Novak, developer of fanned, multiscale string instruments, complete with spectral snapshots and such: http://www.novaxguitars.com/info/technical.html ...One thing he mentions is that the first few overtones - the ones more associated with a chord built upon a fundamental (ones with simpler ratios) are what we thrive on for pitch recognition. I'd add that they are the cues for the ear when complete audio bandwidth/fidelity is compromised.
 
#125
mids are our friend.. it's that simple.. I agree with what the teacher says a bit.. when guys/gals turn DOWN their mids, I can hear the bass from afar more easily.. this is where mid range is most necessary (besides the other reasons which I don't care to list).
 
#126
Your teacher is sort of right... Low frequency wavelengths are big, and take a longer distance to reach the same amplitude ( volume) as higher frequencies at a shorter distance. Basically: The further from the speaker you are, the higher the amplitude of the low frequency wavelength. Its only a matter of metres though. Try it, step 3 metres away from your bass rig at the next gig you play and see how much clearer your bass sounds.
 
#127
Bassman18 said:
Your teacher is sort of right... Low frequency wavelengths are big, and take a longer distance to reach the same amplitude ( volume) as higher frequencies at a shorter distance. Basically: The further from the speaker you are, the higher the amplitude of the low frequency wavelength. Its only a matter of metres though. Try it, step 3 metres away from your bass rig at the next gig you play and see how much clearer your bass sounds.
Click to expand...
All but the last sentence are complete and utter hogwash.

The last sentence is somewhat true, but for a different reason. The desired effect can also be achieved by tilting your speaker cabinet up such that your ears are on axis at your normal playing position (which in a small venue cannot be 3 meters in front of the cabinet).
 
#132
One night I was driving past a stadium on the freeway, and the bass part I heard coming from over there was hurting my ears. So I sped up to get away from the discomfort zone. But as the stadium receded in my rear-view, I felt moisture rolling down the sides of my neck. And when I rubbed it onto my hand IT WAS BLOOD!!!! Then, as my ears pulsed with the louder and louder bass, the windshield and all the windows exploded just as if a giant Memorex tape had been activated!!!

Later, I woke up in the pandemonium in an emergency ward, where hundreds of other similar victims from the outlying regions surrounding the stadium were also awaiting treatment. The screams! The blood! Thank god that was the last song of the night or more people in southern Cal and even those Mexico would have died ... before the sound of that bass reached escape velocity and killed the people in Skylab!

This just underlines the great physics lesson about the so maligned Reverse Inverse Square Law my teachers tried to drill into me so long ago. If only I had listened then!
 
#133
BigOldHarry said:
I sure do know the science on this...

But man - it does seem that I need to stand a good 10 feet from my amp to get the full effect. Dispersion, I know... but it is a strange phenomenon...
Click to expand...

wouldnt that come down to what your personal preference in your bass sound is? and to me that makes perfect sense everyone will prefer to hear there bass from a different spot, tastes differ from person to person

I would also assume that every amp set up has a "tonal sweetspot" if you will, maybe you've found yours?
 

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