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Let me begin by stating that I'm not a bass-head, I don't like thumping bass, I don't like disco bass, and I can live without deep bass if the mids/treble are done right, as with the AKG K501.

 

So why is bass important?

It gives music the sense of pace and rhythm. This should be quite simple to understand. If you can follow the beat of the music, then the bass has done its job.

 

It gives the music foundation. When listening to different types of music genres, bass generally gives the music a sense of scale. The bass reverberation gives you a sense of the instrument's size, like the kick drum, tympani, double bass/cello.

 

More bass allows you to have more treble. The folks at REL mention in the installation manual that whenever their sub was added, it allowed more detail to be heard in the upper registers. Why? I surmise it is due to balance. When addition bass and treble are added to the mix, the one does not sound out of proportion(stand out) for whatever reason. Eg. if you have too much bass, it becomes bass boom. Too much treble, and it becomes bright and fatiguing. So it is the balance of both frequency extremes that allows you to have both at the same time.

 

What is good bass?

What is bad bass?

Please share your own personal experiences...

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Correct. Usually when mastering an audio for moving visuals, we would fine tune the mid and the highs to get the correct effect we want, do some reverbaration and add some fake sense of space for the viewer when mixing different sources of live recordings and follies. this is done without monitoring the lower frequncies too much. Following up will be the adjustment or addition of lower frequency tones/follies to the track to give that sense of pace and rhythm.. it seems that bass has an effect on adrenelin.. and the trick to making any moving visuals more alive is Always in the bassline. I don't like it this way, but this has always been what the client likes.. damn the BASS! Lol

 

From this, I realised many people judge a piece of music by the lower frequency's ability to emote hence the preference for warmer sounding equipment.

Edited by viix

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Ah yes. Bass is very important to me too. It is what that gives the music the rhythm and impact. My friend, who plays drums in a band told me that it is normally the drummer that leads the band during a perfromance. Any earth shaking, body thumping bass will get people in the mood the party. Thats why pubs and disco's bass is loud.

 

To me, good bass is fast, punchy and deep. It is often very hard to replicate on a hifi system. They need to shift a larger volume of air as compared to headphones. I've also learn from REL that a hifi's requirement is different to a HT one. HT's sub needs to sustain a longer boom but can be flabby while a hifi one needs to be fast, deep and punchy.

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Bass usually gives music the "mood", whereas the vocals give it the "feel".

 

Bass gives the tempo to the entire tune, and is usually something the listener goes for first. This is especially so for bassheads.

 

Great bass is tight and fast, like that of IEMs (:P). Honestly, I really like the UM1's bass for the "tightness". Bad bass would be those which are flabby and uncontrolled, though I have no examples. The worst however, would be no bass at all. :P

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One other thing about bass. By definition, if the note is let's say, 30hz, it means that it will resonant for 30 cycles per second. Hence, deep bass (<40hz) by default cannot just come and go like that. It should/will resonant/reverberate and shake the floor if you are using speakers. For headphones, you should feel the vibration.

 

Most of the time, many mistake mid-bass for bass. What I mean is, in the 80-120hz range. This is usually the range of bass which gives the impact, the thumping feel. The impact on the strike of drums is in this frequency range. Most bass music is found in this range, and it is also in this range that mid-bass muddles up the midrange. So if a system has a peak here, it will tend to mask details.

 

Next is I would like to give examples of great exponents of bass:

 

Drums : Steve Gadd

Double bass : Ray Brown

Any more examples?

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To me i am addicted to bass that i just brought a AKG 26P.....i listen to techno,pop and japanese eurobeats(initial D anime sound track and midnight max tune 2) thus bass is very important in these....it give that mood it esp. in the initial D and wangan max tune 2 music these are meant to be Racing music with out the bass the feeling of the adelilin(spelling) rush is not there

Edited by speedknight

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To me i am addicted to bass that i just brought a AKG 26P.....i listen to techno,pop and japanese eurobeats(initial D anime sound track and midnight max tune 2) thus bass is very important in these....it give that mood it esp. in the initial D and wangan max tune 2 music these are meant to be Racing music with out the bass the feeling of the adelilin(spelling) rush is not there

 

Well these genre, to me, isn't music.. it's just beats.. Alot of these have more emphasis on drums, bass, and alot of electro syth. Don't get me wrong, I do listen to D&B and bass is important. but for music, it's all together a different story!

Edited by viix

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To me i am addicted to bass that i just brought a AKG 26P.....i listen to techno,pop and japanese eurobeats(initial D anime sound track and midnight max tune 2) thus bass is very important in these....it give that mood it esp. in the initial D and wangan max tune 2 music these are meant to be Racing music with out the bass the feeling of the adelilin(spelling) rush is not there

 

Well these genre, to me, isn't music.. it's just beats.. Alot of these have more emphasis on drums, bass, and alot of electro syth. Don't get me wrong, I do listen to D&B and bass is important. but for music, it's all together a different story!

 

It's music too, just that some people associate classical and jazz as music whereas techno and pop is junk. If you say a music is only emphasis on drums and bass and therefore not music, what about solo volin pieces? only strings emphasising on mids and highs?

 

My 2 cents :)

 

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LOL, I say it isn't music because they are beatsy tracks. I didn't say they are junk, just not really MUSIC, the kinds that gives you a overall sense of well being, engaging and not just heart racing head banging sort. (which I term beats) lol

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To me, it's all relative.

 

Meaning the bass becomes importent depending on that particular song. For example, if you've listened to some of the LOST soundtracks - long, drawn-out tones from the piano set the main "beat" or rhythm for some these orchestral pieces. This being the case...it's importent to get a deep and detailed.

 

Then in some pieces, the cello is very apparent thoughout the whole song. Again, detailed and deep.

So, in the end, it all comes down to the song.

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what kube pointed out is what i feel as well. When im listening to rock or metal, i usually require bass to 'feel' the music. It sets the tempo and keeps me upbeat when im listening to the song.

However, for classical pieces, i would prefer less bass as i would want to focus more on the clarity of each note played. =)

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Hi,

 

For me, good bass is deep, tight, not overwhelming and adds depth to the music. Bad bass is like those ah beng techno bass which is technically mid-bass overly boosted which detracts from the music and draws attention to itself.

 

Regards

CK

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Hi all,

 

This is my first post and I'm certainly excited to be among Singapore's audiophiles! I'm a bass player of over 5 years experience and obviously, bass is very important to me in headphones. Like some who have posted above me, I like punchy,warm and tight bass that provides the foundation for the other instruments to build upon. Over-exaggerated bass in headphones tend to drown out the other frequencies, causing a thorough decrease in the listening quality.

 

Great bass playing can and will be found in almost all music. Virtuoso rock bassists like Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and John Deacon of Queen will really shine given the correct headphones. Also, great bass players can be found similarly in jazz music, such as Ray Brown, Charles Mingus and Jaco Pastorious. I suggest you guys pick up a copy of Jaco Pastorious' solo bass album and have a listen with bass-centric headphones; you'll be wowed!

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Let me begin by stating that I'm not a bass-head, I don't like thumping bass, I don't like disco bass, and I can live without deep bass if the mids/treble are done right, as with the AKG K501.

 

So why is bass important?

It gives music the sense of pace and rhythm. This should be quite simple to understand. If you can follow the beat of the music, then the bass has done its job.

 

It gives the music foundation. When listening to different types of music genres, bass generally gives the music a sense of scale. The bass reverberation gives you a sense of the instrument's size, like the kick drum, tympani, double bass/cello.

 

More bass allows you to have more treble. The folks at REL mention in the installation manual that whenever their sub was added, it allowed more detail to be heard in the upper registers. Why? I surmise it is due to balance. When addition bass and treble are added to the mix, the one does not sound out of proportion(stand out) for whatever reason. Eg. if you have too much bass, it becomes bass boom. Too much treble, and it becomes bright and fatiguing. So it is the balance of both frequency extremes that allows you to have both at the same time.

 

What is good bass?

What is bad bass?

Please share your own personal experiences...

 

 

CMK gives some good comments on bass n asks 2 interesting questions. The fact that this 2006 posting is reveberated in 2008 illustrates the long-lasting effect bass has on listeners! :))

 

Besides giving a sense of pace n rhythm, a sense of scale, a better treble balance,as said, I think a good bass provides depth and also contributes to a better soundstage.

 

Bass is inherent to certain music (imagine the introduction to Richard Strauss's 'Also sprach Zarathustra' minus the organ bass); unnecessary to others?

 

So,

What is good bass?

What is bad bass?

and,

Can music do without bass?

 

More discussions for better understanding?

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