Double Bass Perceived volume against distance

[gil_evans]

Hello to everyone; this is my first post.

In this thread I'd like to discuss opinions about which factors make a bass sound project well into the room and which in contrast make the sound loud close by the instrument.

I guess all of you experienced to some extent that some basses are loud nearby but cannot fill a larger hall and others, while beeing not that loud in a radius of say 10 ft, can.

Of course, some generalization will be involved, but let's try to describe a statistical average and extract some factors.

My obsevations so far (to be verified or falsified by people with more experience):
- Small intruments project better.
- Roundbacks are loud nearby, flatbacks project better.
- Heavily arched tops help to projet the sound (contrary to t the back).
- High tension strings make the sound fat to the players ear, but gut strings or perhaps velvets get to te audience's ear with more ease.

Thanks
gil_evans

 

[drurb]

I will wander into this at this point only to say that, while there likely to be many opinions out there regarding projection, the bases of the ability of instruments to project is a matter of objective physical acoustics. To be sure, many of the relevant measures have not been made (but could be) and it is probably difficult to make a meaningful set of measures given the great variance across instruments. So, yes, it would be useful, instructive, and interesting to hear folks' opinions and subjective reports.

That aside, it's important to recognize that the physical interaction between a particular room and a particular bass is likely to substantially affect what is perceived as projection.

On with the show...