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Hi

Could anyone help me with following.

I am a Bassist and I currently have a 4 string Bass (Fender JBass). I am getting into little bit of recording some of my originals and also recording instruments. WIth regarded to studio monitors, I check the Yamaha HS80s. But their low end support is 51Hz. But in a 4 string bass the open E string (lowest) produces 31Hz. So how can one mix any low frequencies lower than of the studio monitors?. Why even HS 80s don't come with atleast 41 Hz to support a typical 4 String bass?. A 5 string bass open B goes down to about 31Hz. so what kind of monitors I should use?

thanks in advance.

Isuru

Comments

Boswell Sun, 12/14/2014 - 11:46

You are not (usually) making a CD of a solo bass guitar - it's how it sits in a mix with everything else that counts.

Most of what you hear on a bass guitar track is harmonics. It's the pattern of odd harmonics that tells the ear to reconstruct the fundamental at a frequency that you haven't actually heard. I quite often high-pass a bass guitar at around 80Hz to let the kick drum in underneath and it still sounds like a bass guitar.

anonymous Sun, 12/14/2014 - 13:09

You are mistaking flat bandwidth specs with actual bandwidth. The Yamaha HS80s are capable of reproducing frequencies lower than 41 Hz... it's just that those frequencies below 40hz aren't "flat" at a relative measurement of 0db.
They might be attenuated, and roll-off (slope) below 0 db.... but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

HS80's are capable of reproducing frequencies as low as 25hz... just not at a relative 0db measure.

And, there are multi-harmonics involved as well. Your fundamental frequency on a bass low E string might be 31hz, but that doesn't mean that there aren't also other frequencies ( harmonics) in there as well at 60, 80, 150, etc., that also make up the sound and perception of the bass guitar.

But, don't just take my word for it ... do your own research:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics

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