As a creative music producer, the frequency spectrum can be considered your canvas, the instruments and sounds you choose are the paints and textures. Everything you then create is heard in the sonic landscape of your track. So, understanding frequency and some basic audio theory is fundamental to your ability to craft music, design sounds, use EQ and mix tracks. Before getting into the frequency Spectrum lets look at a little bit of audio theory.
The frequency of a sound is basically how high or low we hear it. We also call it pitch. Pitch is how our brain perceives vibrating air molecules which we call sound. Each note we use has its own specific pitch.
High pitched sounds vibrate faster than low. The number of times per second air vibrates is called its frequency and is measured in Hertz. Hertz, named after a 1900c scientist, is the number of times that a repeated event occurs per second. In this case, how often air particles vibrate every second. Anything that moves in air causes a disruption in the air molecules around it which cause vibrations in the molecules next to them. We describe it as travelling in a wave but actually the molecules vibrate in place and pass that vibration on.
Sound we hear is just our brains interpretation of vibrating air molecules. I don’t know about you but that blows my mind regularly. However, don’t dwell on it too much, it’s complex and we look at it in more detail in the future.
What I want you to get from this is to with understanding your hearing. The range of human hearing starts around 20hz which is air vibrating at 20 cycles or times per second and can go up to as much as 20,000hz or 20Khz.
And this is where it starts to make sense. You’ll have seen hz in your DAW, in any of the spectrum EQ’s/channel EQ that you used and no doubt you’ll have some experience of boosting and attenuating your EQ. EQ’s are dynamic processors, a gain control for specific frequency bands.
So then, what is the audible frequency spectrum?
Basically, its the dynamic range of our human hearing, the very lowest we can hear and the highest, although as you age you lose the ability to hear very high frequencies. And actually, the lower end of sub bass we feel as much as we hear. Try testing your own hearing with an online tone generator.
Notice how you need to adjust the volume as the pitch gets higher. Hertz is the measurement of pitch and decibels is the measure of loudness but more on loudness and dB in a later video.
Or this video...use headphones or good speakers.
The frequency spectrum is broken into several bands. Knowing these bands and their importance in making music will improve your productions, your knowledge and your ability to communicate with other musicians. Being able to describe them is really useful. Each band has descriptive words associated with them to help us describe the sounds we hear whether they are good or not so good.
Developing your language as a producer, understanding the frequency spectrum and applying that knowledge is the difference between producer and a good producer.
Warmth, muddy, tinny, crunch ... air.
Sub bass frequencies are the low ones. 20hz to 60hz. These sounds are the ones that make your belly shake, chest thump and are most accurately recreated using sub woofers. The sub bass can add weight, create a sense of fear or narrative cue a large creature and can add body to your composition. It is essential in cinematic production, EDM and most popular music these days. Notes used in this frequency range generally enhance a baseline that sits further up the spectrum rather than carry the bass line, there is less definition to the pitches. So keep baselines down here simple and ensure they carry the root notes of an harmony.
You can consider this range to add body, thump, rumble, depth...but beware that unless designed and if not EQed well, it can add to muddiness in the low MID frequencies/instruments; cello, dbl bass, contra, basson, etc and cause the loss of definition with other bass instruments, such as Tuba.
The bass frequency range is generally 60hz to 250hz but sometimes people use the terms; low bass and upper bass, even mid bass. This helps people to get ideas across easier so expect this language in a studio/compositional environment. The fundamental frequencies of your instruments, kick, timpani & bass even snare, cello, bass trombone and toms start to appear in this band and notes come into play.
Your track starts to take shape harmonically.Nb: extra info* You can try tuning some of the drums to the root or 5th degree of the key of your song for extra harmonic content and cohesion. Some producers are renowned for this technique.
When discussing this range, we talk about adding bottom end, fatness, boom, punch, weight & warmth. But again, beware because when you start mixing instruments, you can also get a loss of clarity, too much boominess, even start to get muddy, woody. Many mid range frequencies have low end rumble in this range so be sure to use a high pass filter to leave space for these instruments.
Try this for your self, listen to some bass music or create a fat bass line with an underlying sub bass and consider this way of describing it. What does it sound like? Gently boost some of the sub and bass frequencies and see if you can identify when something sounds full and when it just sounds boomy.
The mid range frequencies are where all the rest of your instruments occur, their fundamental frequencies littering this your sonic landscape.
Here I have to talk about the fundamental frequency and harmonics. The fundamental frequency is essentially the note you hear, C3 middle C, concert pitch A 440hz. No matter how you describe it, it’s the pitch we identify the strongest and what we use to compose music.
However, all notes have many other harmonics also called overtones, associated with them. The amount of these other frequencies we hear depends on which instrument is playing the notes. This is why middle C on a flute sounds different to middle C on a violin. The amount and level of each overtone varies depending on the material of the instrument and how it was made. It gives us what we call its timbre, its tone, its quality. What is important to understand here is that all instruments, software, synths and traditional, have frequencies higher than the pitch they play as notes. You need to understand how best to manage them all without having a washy mix or losing the sonic quality of your instruments.
Above; All the ways a string moves when plucked. These movements create the harmonics we (don't) hear.
Now, the mid range. From 250hz to 500hz. It is the home of toms and lots of the fundamental
frequencies (root/tonic), middle C is 262hz. It is a full sounding frequency band and is definatly a place to be very careful with EQ boosts. This is an area that can be honky and woody, roomy, muddy.
Practise listening carefully to instruments in this frequency range, experiment with boosting and attenuating the EQ to listen to when it sounds boxy. Use an EQ with aspectrum analyser but also try EQ’s without as this makes you listen more intently.
The mid, er, mids are where it’s all going on. Literally, so be careful not too over crowd this area. From 500hz to 2000hz or 2khz electric guitars are in their element. The vocals are prominent. Our ears are more sensitive to this frequency range, we hear them louder than low frequencies. It is often the most memorable range in regards to vocal hooks, catchy melodies and killer choruses. Here you need to watch out for it sounding nasal, tinny, gritty unless that’s what you are going for. This area is home to the main parts of your song, the part taking the melody will be most strongly heard in this area and may need some EQ and other production techniques such as panning, automation and side chain compression to create space.
From 2-4khz represents the last few octaves of our notes system for traditional instruments. Although many synth instruments can create pitches and notes up into this frequency band, its not very pleasurable. Obviously experiment yourself with playing synths in these high bandwidths. Don’t take my word for it, you may find things you like.
This is the realms of small instruments, shakers, piccolo, violin but notes at the end of this range are only used at the end of runs, as dramatic effect in conjunction with other notes and rarely carry the melody.
This area will be full of harmonics from all the other instruments so be careful with EQ as you can change the tonal quality of instruments. This high mid range can be full of bite, clarity, crispness and starts to add presence but be aware that it can also be home to problems such as ringing and add harshness.
The area we call low high frequencies, is now starting at 5-8khz. This range does exactly what it says on the tin. It really provides clarity, sizzle, and definition to your sounds and mix. It is the range that stereo systems use for boosting the treble.
It is also where we find problem areas with vocals. The sounds of sss can be very overwhelming and it is something to consider when you are recording a vocalist. Do they need to control their ss more? They may even need to consider changing the words in some cases when there is just too much, what we call sibilance. This is EQing even at the recording stage, thinking about what problems could come up in the production stage means you can fix them before they happen.
Again whilst this area can define your instrumentation, it can also be too harsh and even raspy or shrill especially with instruments such as brass. It can be piercing if boosted too much. Learn which instruments benefit from boosts and cuts in all the frequency ranges but don’t just do it blindly, listen to what your ears and mind think sounds best.
Here we are at the final band to consider, the high frequency range sometimes called brilliance. Many instruments have harmonics or overtones that spill up into this range and it is referred to as adding brightness, sheen and even air to a mix. It can also sounds shrill and hissy. Again, be careful adding and subtracting sounds here and listen carefully. Don’t just do something with EQ or other productions tools just cause you heard someone talk about it, trust your ears and listen out for sounds that are piercing.
Thats all for today. Listen to all the things we talk about. Experiment with your own equipment and sounds. The frequency range is a spectacular thing. Learn it, ultimately, its your artist pallete. Enjoy working with it.
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