How Low Does Your Source Material Go?

[fscl]

OK, we've all got our test records with 20-50Hz sweeps and at least one copy of Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture with the cannons and our favorite test records but I was wondering (dangerous)........

What is the lowest musical note on vinyls in song(s)?

I was quite dismayed to read the referenced / linked article in the "How HiFi Are LPs" topic which included this:

"it is not uncommon practice in [cutting] disc masters to use a 70Hz high-pass [bass cutoff] filter, except for organ recordings. It is generally found that the elimination of these very low frequencies gives an improvement in overall sound quality, since the low-frequency noises [in and about the studio] are eliminated, and no significant musical content is removed."

I have Jimmy Smith and Bach organ LPs however, I have yet to find a note(s) as LOW as on What Goes Around.......Comes Around, Justin Timberlake, section after the spoken word, OK rap, on CD.

Of course there's the obligatory boom, boom drum, but the notes around 6mins + to the end are LOW. Even the salesman at the audio store said they were LOW when I brought my CD to demo the sub he wanted to get rid of.

There's quite a bit of LOW bandwidth on DVDs, what's pleasantly surprising are newer digital TV broadcasts (over airwaves) and radio stations.

Please point me to some outstanding pressings.

Fred

[JaS]

I wouldn't call it an 'outstanding pressing' but you won't even hear the bass tune on LFO by LFO if you use bookshelf speakers, and even some floorstanders don't reach low enough to do it justice. Get it right and it'll loosen your fillings! Bjork's Debut album also reaches pretty low on more than one track.

Regards,
JaS

[bauzace50]

Hi,
the liner notes on this LP state the content of 32 Hz moments. This is RCA Living Stereo of Saint Saens Symphony No. 3 (the "organ"symphony), with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch. This LP has been reissued wonderfully in 33.33 and 45 rpm versions recently ( also on XRCD).
Regards,
bauzace50

[Axon]

More typically than a 70hz highpass is a sum to mono below a certain frequency, which can improve recording and tracking abilities substantially. That said, with the proper care taken, no highpass filter is needed at the recording stage.

[lanny]

The famous opening C organ pedal of Also Sprach Zarathustra is supposed to be 16 Hz, but is typically played an octave higher on recordings.

Check out this interesting YouTube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieagmEhmnbE

There's a 19 Hz pedal on my CD of Mendelssohn organ sonatas. It makes my subwoofer ports chuff.

The lowest sound on LP is allegedly the big drum hitting the floor in the original 45-rpm Reference Recordings Dafos (<8 Hz IIRC). Since it was an intentional part of Hart's performance, I suppose it could be considered a musical note.

[fscl]

This is great stuff.

Thanks lanny for the YouTube link, very interesting indeed.

Have to dig out my ASZ to see if it taxes the sub or recorded an octave higher.

I swore, I felt funny during one of my earthquake encounters in CA.

If the wind's just right does the arch resonate at a low frequency? LOL.

Fred

[MonkeyBoy]

I just looked up lowest notes in the Guinness Book of World Records, and it says the lowest note attainable is 8.12 Hz from organs with 64 foot long pipes. One assumes that it can be felt rather than heard. It also says that a sub-double bassoon was made in 1873 which could reach 14.6 Hz, but no surviving examples are known. I'll bet the tunes played on that thing were real toe-tappers.

[fscl]

Since Lanny's link no longer works (lament } try this one:

http://www.soundsheavenly.co.uk/basstest.mp3

Happy subbing

Fred

[youngdand]

My DM4's do ok ish with it. but onl just.

I wouldn't call it an 'outstanding pressing' but you won't even hear the bass tune on LFO by LFO if you use bookshelf speakers, and even some floorstanders don't reach low enough to do it justice. Get it right and it'll loosen your fillings! Bjork's Debut album also reaches pretty low on more than one track.

Regards,
JaS

[Zaimejs]

Since Lanny's link no longer works (lament } try this one:

http://www.soundsheavenly.co.uk/basstest.mp3

Happy subbing

Fred

I just tried this... and I don't know if my sub is working properly. How low should I be able to feel if I have a sub woofer?
Let me add a few details... I have as smallish Klipsch sub. On the back there is the HZ crossover knob. I always thought that was the level at which the sub would take the signal away from the speakers, but now i'm wondering if it's how low I want the sub to go. 40 is the lowest. So on that sub test, anything below 40 won't even be played on my sub?

Anyone know how that works.

[JoeE SP9]

That's the low pass frequency for the sub. Frequencies at the dial setting and below are what goes to the sub woofer.

[wordwizard]

Saint Saëns Organ symphony # 3 by Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra.

[analogaudio]

string bass and electric bass lowest note is 41Hz, piano lowest note is 28Hz. I believe pipe organ is the only musical sound lower than piano and bass. Using the PC spectrum analyzer function of Trueaudio ($100) I have looked for but never found anything deeper than these, even from low drum sounds.

[MonkeyBoy]

I've never measured the actual frequencies on any recordings, but it makes a huge difference if I use my sub on a lot of records. My mains only go down to 27 Hz and the sub goes to 19 Hz.