Hi!
In rock and pop music, what’s generally the standard frequency range of the bass track?
Does it much depends on the specific songs and instruments used?
I’m asking this because I’m mixing my first song project and I just can’t seem to decide which bass track to use on it: the higher-pitched one or the lower-pitched one? I’ve written those two bass tracks on Trilian (a virtual instrument you probably all know well) in Cubase choosing a bass guitar preset, and they both are almost exactly the same except one is one octave lower than the other. The song is a slow rock (70 BPM) in the key of A with acoustic rhythm guitar (strummed and very present throughout), synths, vocals (rather high-pitched), drums, and of course the bass guitar (done in Trilian) which has a bit of a melody quality or function to it.
1ST POSSIBLE BASS TRACK (the higher-pitched one)
The dominant frequencies of the first potential bass track range from 80 Hz to 140 Hz, with 110 Hz being very frequent (it is the A note).
With this bass track, the song seems to be more bonded together and the melody of the bass track is more discernible, but I’m afraid the lower notes don’t go deep enough, and we kind of miss a deal of the physical quality of the bass, I mean the physical vibratory sensation we can feel in the body (in the chest) when a bass is playing loudly enough (on good speakers…).
2ND POSSIBLE BASS TRACK (the lower-pitched one, one octave lower)
The dominant frequencies of the second potential bass track (the one which is one octave lower) range from 40 Hz to about 75 Hz, with 55 Hz being very frequent (again this is the A note).
With this bass track, I kind of feel the bass goes maybe too deep, and thus it seems the bass is alienated from the rest of the mix, but maybe it’s just an impression… and maybe bass tracks are meant to sound like that…! In fact, the welcome vibratory sensation I was talking about earlier is present in it. However, we less distinctively hear the melody quality of the bass track (maybe that doesn’t matter much…).
Overall, what could help me to solve the question is if I knew the standard frequency range of bass tracks used in rock and pop music. I just want my bass track to sound like bass tracks of songs I love!
One last point I could consider: the lowest frequency a bass guitar can produce, when playing the lower E string, seems to be 41 Hz (E1, according to scientific pitch notation system)… Consequently, that could make a strong argument for choosing my lower-pitched bass-track, the one which uses the range 40 to 75 Hz, since it seems to be more plausible, closer to the tones played by a real bass guitar…??? But what if bass players rarely play that open E string and more usually choose the higher-pitched E on the 2nd string 2nd fret, or on 3rd string 7th fret…???
Please can you shed some light on the most frequently used bass guitar frequency range in rock and pop!
Stevo8