OT: An observation and question about frequencies.
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  1. #1

    Default OT: An observation and question about frequencies.

    So, as a producer I have used a frequency analyzer more than once. But I really haven't used it too much since I last recorded my industrial/metal album 2 years ago. Recently I have been observing frequencies on my music. And like a good producer I looked at songs with 10 times better production than mine. What I've noticed is a huge cut in anything over 20,000 hz.

    So why is this? I think it may be cutting off the supersonics, but I'm not sure. Is it more for the clubs, super loud PAs?
    SyblingQ - Electro House for dark alleys.

  2. #2
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    Maybe it is because 20khz is the most common upper bound and some club systems might exhibit the annoying supersonics that are hidden in a track normally due to the range of most speaker systems maxing there.

    You sound like you have far more experience than me so I am basically guessing.
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  3. #3
    Jack Bastard
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    20hz-20khz is the dynamic range of a cd. I'd wager that most of us on here can't hear above 15khz.

    There's no point in going any higher.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Bastard View Post
    I'd wager that most of us on here can't hear above 15khz.

    There's no point in going any higher.
    +1

  5. #5

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    I figure its what both of you said. I tried looking it up and can't find anything on it. I'll try looking at other genres and see if they all show the same traits. I'm wondering if I should start doing this just in case what mpetersen said is true.
    SyblingQ - Electro House for dark alleys.

  6. #6
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
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    These frequencies still exist in the music however because they even though you can hear them their change the way that you percieve the music. This is why the mimimum sample rate you usally see is 44.1kHz and not 20khz.
    Last edited by BentoSan; 05-28-2009 at 01:43 PM.

  7. #7

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    So why is it that almost every electronic song has the 20khz turn to something like -30 db? Just weird.
    SyblingQ - Electro House for dark alleys.

  8. #8
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    These frequencies still exist in the music however because they even though you can hear them their change the way that you percieve the music. This is why the minimum sample rate you usually see is 44.1kHz and not 20khz.
    This is not totally true. The maximum frequency you can reconstruct from a digital signal is HALF of the sample rate.

    That means that for 44.1kHz you will be able to hear up to 22.05 kHz. For 48 kHz you will hear sounds up to 24 kHz. If the sample rate would be 20 kHz you will only be able to reproduce sounds up to 10 kHz.

    More info here:
    http://www.fact-archive.com/encyclop...yquist_theorem
    and here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist...mpling_theorem

    And like a good producer I looked at songs with 10 times better production than mine. What I've noticed is a huge cut in anything over 20,000 hz.
    Are you sure that this happens only to the good tracks? Because any track that had been sampled to 44.1 kHz (CD and mp3 standard) would have any frequency higher than 22 kHz significantly reduced.

    It is true that even if you cannot hear the frequencies higher than 15 kHz (this varies from person to person and with age), they significantly affect the way you perceive the track.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by istrateo View Post
    It is true that even if you cannot hear the frequencies higher than 15 kHz (this varies from person to person and with age), they significantly affect the way you perceive the track.
    This is partly due to the harmonics produced from/and inserted by the higher frequencies affecting the lower frequencies that you can hear. Similar to playing a 2 octave chord on a piano, your ears/brain will insert the next 2 notes because of the harmonics, just in reverse in this case.

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  10. #10
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    Leaving the higher freq in tracks can set off certain emotions without you knowing, im studying psycho acoustics at university and we cover this alot, same with low freq u cant hear, but they are ther doing ther bit.

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