Of all, bass is the hardest to get it right. Today's high end is 成也唄士， 敗也唄士, lame bass has no place in high fidelity. Like it or not, bass is still the measure of greatness liken your car to your success. Me? Still driving a soon to be ten years old car, that's not something I am particularly proud of.
"Hey! Been there last night, X got really good vocal. You should go and listen".
"Sad thing no bass".
Great mids, nobody care anymore?
The above conversations shouldn't be unheard of. Probably you have said it hundreds time too. For all the wrong reasons, having great mids get you nowhere. I'm sorry for some that do not have a dedicated room for audio. I feel your pain, don't bite me. Your option is to move to suburb for a more spacious living or make more money or rent a sizable room for audio. You know what people say, there is a will and there is a way. When there is no way, go headphone. Please be warned, using headphone is also the start of gradual hearing loss for inresistible to the temptation of banging away. Your delicate eardrums are vulnerable to those constant beating.
Moving forward, when bass starts attracting your attention that is when you start counting the beat. Because beat is the metering, everything revolves around it. Beat is the sun, the earth is orbiting the sun not the other way around. This is how trained musicians listen, they listen to the beat when to come in and when not, you know what I am saying. Timing is big, inconsistent beat is a turn off, it throw music off, it throw you off as well. This, my friend, does not take educated ears to know.
Bass ranges from 0 - 250Hz. A quick run on bass, upper bass covers 150 - 250Hz, mid bass 80 - 150Hz and low bass 0 - 80Hz. Upper and mid bass are the architecture to Jazz which is predominantly drum. Weak upper bass get you effeminateness, your female vocals get the premature vocality, does not reflect truth. The upper bass gives male vocal the guttural characteristics, full and with body. I suggest you listen first to internet radio via your mobile, you will be amazed how natural the female vocals are.
Pipe organ, piano, bass viola, contra bassoon, bass tuba and tympani step into lower bass region, the foundation classical music. A linear bass down to 30Hz is desirable for most classical fans. Big boys with deep pocket stretch to 20Hz. That extra 10Hz will cost a bomb and when they do, it is not the same playing field where 1 + 1 = 2. Their 30Hz differs in quantity, quality and effortlessness than those lesser capable cousins made out to be.
Pipe organ, piano, bass viola, contra bassoon, bass tuba and tympani step into lower bass region, the foundation classical music. A linear bass down to 30Hz is desirable for most classical fans. Big boys with deep pocket stretch to 20Hz. That extra 10Hz will cost a bomb and when they do, it is not the same playing field where 1 + 1 = 2. Their 30Hz differs in quantity, quality and effortlessness than those lesser capable cousins made out to be.
In dollar sense, you can get decent highs and mids with a pair bookshelf speaker. Cheap bookshelf speakers get you a fun mirror reflection, fun but ain't real. Quality bookshelf speakers get you a passport photo with nothing below. Entry level floorstand speakers get you a portrait with ill-defined images by an amateur photographer. You need to spend quite a bit to have convincing images.
What is your bass preference? Little bass, puny bass, fat bass, smooth bass, hard bass, bulldozing bass, rumbling bass etc, I like my mid bass to be dry as vodka dry. Think fast, attack, tenacity and forward. How do you relate wetness to bass?
For illustration purpose, durian. Craved by the locals, durian is the king of local fruits. It is a matter of love and hate, white people would not dare to come close, neither black people. People in between love them. A good durian is 黃肉乾包, literally means yellow hue with dry texture. A premium durian experience is the fleshy durian pasted on your air way, pack with flavor, the aroma lingers for hours, slowly melts away when each swallow of saliva. Good durian gives fulfilling satisfactions, two seeds are all it takes. On the contrary, overnight durian is poor quality durian, soggy and slurry in nature. Taking these durian give an unfulfilling feeling, you are motivated to hunt good durians.
The dry bass has many resemblances to premium durian, dry and somewhat "dense" texture. Not messy but weighty, solidly defined, consistent and with plenty of grunt. On the other hand, the overnight durian is unassuring, no feedback, poor tenacity and ill-defined. Incidentally, KF can't hide his excitement with his new found "dry bass", climax ever since. He is being blown away, somebody call fire squad. I can see the poor chef weeping tear-lessly for he is far left behind. KF triumphs again.
So KF is getting cute with his dry bass, but I learned a new terminology, "numb bass". When the bass gets big and low enough, they become omnipresent and collide against each others, creating an indescribable intervening numbness sensation. This requires a system that able to go down to 20Hz cleanly in a fairly big room, not those small subs with ridiculous claims going down to 20Hz. They do not cut it and there aren't many systems with such bass caliber, mine included. KF is seeing stars above his head with me now.
For illustration purpose, durian. Craved by the locals, durian is the king of local fruits. It is a matter of love and hate, white people would not dare to come close, neither black people. People in between love them. A good durian is 黃肉乾包, literally means yellow hue with dry texture. A premium durian experience is the fleshy durian pasted on your air way, pack with flavor, the aroma lingers for hours, slowly melts away when each swallow of saliva. Good durian gives fulfilling satisfactions, two seeds are all it takes. On the contrary, overnight durian is poor quality durian, soggy and slurry in nature. Taking these durian give an unfulfilling feeling, you are motivated to hunt good durians.
The dry bass has many resemblances to premium durian, dry and somewhat "dense" texture. Not messy but weighty, solidly defined, consistent and with plenty of grunt. On the other hand, the overnight durian is unassuring, no feedback, poor tenacity and ill-defined. Incidentally, KF can't hide his excitement with his new found "dry bass", climax ever since. He is being blown away, somebody call fire squad. I can see the poor chef weeping tear-lessly for he is far left behind. KF triumphs again.
So KF is getting cute with his dry bass, but I learned a new terminology, "numb bass". When the bass gets big and low enough, they become omnipresent and collide against each others, creating an indescribable intervening numbness sensation. This requires a system that able to go down to 20Hz cleanly in a fairly big room, not those small subs with ridiculous claims going down to 20Hz. They do not cut it and there aren't many systems with such bass caliber, mine included. KF is seeing stars above his head with me now.
Now, speaker makers are out crafting its niche by their voicing to appeal to their consumers. The bass has a profound impact to the sound as long as it does not intrude into mids. When you relate wetness to bass, you are compromising speed, specificity and definition. One acid test, play Michael Jackson's Billie Jeans or The way you make me feel, see if they move you. Count the meter, you'll find what I found. Each stroke of bass should be clean and rhythmic, the timing must be spot on. The bass dryness will creep into the bread and butter mids, as such, somewhat drier vocals. I do not mind that because the instruments deemed to sound more rightly that way. Listen to piano, listen to trumpet, listen to violin, listen to saxophone, listen listen listen. That's the best I can discern bass. Unless proven otherwise, work on your bass. The reward is there for you to claim.
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