We use the term “higher” to describe notes of smaller wavelengths, and this term seems strangely fitting in a way that I don’t quite understand. For example, when a band is playing heavy bass notes and then a singer comes in with treble notes, it seems like the vocal notes are actually physically *higher* (like, in the room or in my ears) than the bass notes.
Is this a real thing? Or am I just imagining it? Or is it just subconscious association with the words “high” and “low” which we use to describe these notes? Or maybe I’m just noticing that speakers and venues usually put the woofers on the bottom and the tweeters on the top?
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I think most of what you’re experiencing is perceptive but there is some truth to bass being closer to the floor than the ceiling.
Music is pressure waves moving through air, which bounce off surfaces in the listening environment and into our ears. High frequency sounds are more prone to bouncing than low frequency sounds are. And high frequency sounds are more easily absorbed by soft surfaces (furnishings) than low frequency sounds are.
In practical terms what that means is more of the low frequency sound “stays” in the room. And depending on where you position yours ears relative to the sound source, you could be hearing low frequency sounds at a higher volume than what they’re supposed to be. It’s like when ripples in a pond meet each other with the right speed and direction, they combine to make a bigger ripple. Sound is basically ripples in the air.
When somebody is designing a professional listening environment like a recording studio, they need to control that “buildup” of bass. That is commonly done by placing “bass traps” on the floor in the corners of the room. They’re not commonly placed at ceiling level.
In a perfect environment I can’t say that low frequency notes are physically lower. But in a normal room with uncontrolled bouncing and dampening, they end up closer to the floor than the ceiling.
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