WTH??? Vocal frequency ranges.

[ijohn]

I was yesterday years old when I learned how low vocal frequencies are.

Type of voice	Frequency range Hz
Bass	87.31 - 349.23
Baritone	98.00 - 392.00
Tenor	130 - 493.88
Contralto	130.81 - 698.46
Soprano	246.94 - 1,174.70

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I always thought the vast majority of vocals were what I thought of as mid-range: MAYBE they started at 500hz-800hz and going to 2,000hz. So I also thought that with a 3-way speaker design were mostly handled by the mid-range driver. Whoops. This totally changes how I will have to think about speaker options and read reviews. Woah.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

You learn something new every day!

 

[ijohn]

You learn something new every day!

Woah, man! I don't need that kind of pressure!

 

[Angle Poise-Lamp]

You learn something new every day!

Learning requires that you have a capacity to remember things, not my forté...

 

[Al ears]

I was yesterday years old when I learned how low vocal frequencies are.

Type of voice	Frequency range Hz
Bass	87.31 - 349.23
Baritone	98.00 - 392.00
Tenor	130 - 493.88
Contralto	130.81 - 698.46
Soprano	246.94 - 1,174.70

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I always thought the vast majority of vocals were what I thought of as mid-range: MAYBE they started at 500hz-800hz and going to 2,000hz. So I also thought that with a 3-way speaker design were mostly handled by the mid-range driver. Whoops. This totally changes how I will have to think about speaker options and read reviews. Woah.

If you are going to select speakers based only on these issues you are going to be sorely disappointed ..... 🙂

 

[ijohn]

If you are going to select speakers based only on these issues you are going to be sorely disappointed ..... 🙂

Ha! For sure. But it definitely enlightened me on which drivers are doing what. Which helps me see reviews, crossover frequencies, drivers complements, driver size, etc., in a new light.

Besides, isn't being disappointed integral to our hobby? Then we get to complain and start a whole new exhaustive search for the "perfect" system instead of just enjoying the music like we did when we first started. LOL.

 

[Gray]

You learn something new every day!

I've been absent on quite a few days.

 

[Gray]

FM radio tops out at 15kHz.
They were going to give it a max of 10kHz, but Bee Gees fans complained.

 

[Angle Poise-Lamp]

FM radio tops out at 15kHz.
They were going to give it a max of 10kHz, but Bee Gees fans complained.

Are any Bee Gees fans young enough to hear the difference?

 

[Deleted member 194101]

It still amazes me why people think the human voice and many instruments that mimic the human voice, are producing really high frequencies. Go back 50000 years and humans would have a very accurate and sensitive sense of hearing to the natural sounds around them and this would have been all they needed. Why do people fixate about their music and systems needing to produce very high requencies? There is very little above 10kHz in most recordings. Unless you're listening to smoke detectors all day, I don't understand this obsession with really high frequencies.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I think the OP is pointing out how low they are, not saying he expected them to be particularly high.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Learning requires that you have a capacity to remember things, not my forté...

Post my dad developing dementia, I've built up a couple of quite long lists of things to remember, and go through them at some stage most days when I walk the dog. It helps. My memory is definitely better than it was before I started.

Unless I am remembering incorrectly...

 

[Deliriumbassist]

Bass vocalists can get lower than that too. This is why subwoofers should not be an afterthought/a race to the bottom - even after being crossed over, they are still contributing to the fundamental and low order harmonics of so many instruments, as well as the human voice.

 

[My2Cents]

I was yesterday years old when I learned how low vocal frequencies are.

Type of voice	Frequency range Hz
Bass	87.31 - 349.23
Baritone	98.00 - 392.00
Tenor	130 - 493.88
Contralto	130.81 - 698.46
Soprano	246.94 - 1,174.70

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I always thought the vast majority of vocals were what I thought of as mid-range: MAYBE they started at 500hz-800hz and going to 2,000hz. So I also thought that with a 3-way speaker design were mostly handled by the mid-range driver. Whoops. This totally changes how I will have to think about speaker options and read reviews. Woah.

You're getting hung up on the 'fundamental' frequency. The 'air' on recorded vocals can extend all the way up to 20KHz. Mid range 'bite' is around 1-4K.

 

[ijohn]

You're getting hung up on the 'fundamental' frequency. The 'air' on recorded vocals can extend all the way up to 20KHz. Mid range 'bite' is around 1-4K.

Thanks for your reply. Can you please elaborate on mid range "bite"? I'm not familiar with that term.

 

[My2Cents]

Thanks for your reply. Can you please elaborate on mid range "bite"? I'm not familiar with that term.

'bite' in this case being onomatopoeic (musically). A term used by mixing engineers.
Remember, everything we are listening to is fake unless it was recorded live with a couple of mics, a dummy head or a simple Decca tree set up in a live space.
However, what's not fake when there’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality! LOL

 

[ijohn]

'bite' in this case being onomatopoeic (musically). A term used by mixing engineers.
Remember, everything we are listening to is fake unless it was recorded live with a couple of mics, a dummy head or a simple Decca tree set up in a live space.
However, what's not fake when there’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality! LOL

Thanks!