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Aural Flouride

Confessions of a Middle Aged English Hashish Eater

How not to be eaten by aliens

Until a few years ago most music reproduction was rather flat and it lacked a lot especially in the reproduction of bass notes. This is the the same as comparing the original photograph on the left with the one in the middle. There has been a loss of quality, particularly noticeable in the lower frequencies (the reds, the bass).

What has happened in recent years is that people have begun to associate More Bass with More Good, and they have forgotten what Hi Fi means. High fidelity, sounding the same as the original sound. Now they simply associate more bass with better reproduction. What we get is the equivalent of the photo on the right, very strong in the lower frequencies, see those vibrant reds! Feel that bass! It's undoubtedly something that we were not getting before, but it isn't the music as recorded, it has nothing to do with Hi Fi.

We should wake up. Of course the phrase “too much bass” is a meaningful expression. It is just as meaningful as too red, for exactly the same reason. The right amount of bass in music is the same proportion as in the original sound. So many modern so-called Hi Fi systems and home theatre systems will allow people to reproduce sound with far more bass notes than the original. This can best be illustrated by using the Hi Fi system to listen to ordinary speaking voices. Regular voices of people speaking in a TV studio should not make your diaphragm shake, but they do with many Hi Fi systems with huge subwoofers. This isn't Hi Fi, it's Hi Bass and it sounds as stupid as the idiots that buy it.

Before dismissing this as the rantings of a middle aged man try testing your own Hi Fi system by recording some real life ordinary male speaking voices and playing them back at ordinary speaking volumes. Play the sound on your Hi Fi and see if you get His Master's Voice, or Darth Vader's voice. If you have a musical instrument capable of reliably producing a good pure bass note test that as well with a live recording. The correct setting is the one that reproduces that note in all its range, not the one that sounds like it has the most bass.