Constantinou 1

George Constantinou ID# 0822751

Prof. Michael Moss

MTEC-111-6B: Introduction to Music Technology

11/02/2017 Spectroscope

Electric Bass Frequencies Relationships

-First Test: Open Strings Frequencies (From highest to lowest note)

Open G: Main freq at 100hz, Harmonic peak at 200hz, 290hz, 400hz, 800hz, 1100hz.
 Constantinou 2

Open D: Main freq around at 70hz, harmonics peak at around 140hz, 220hz, 280hz.

Open A: Main freq not visible enough at 55hz, harmonics at 110hz, 270hz, 220hz, 440hz.
 Constantinou 3

Open E: Main freq not visible, harmonics at 80hz, harmonics at 125hz, 160hz, 320hz.

We notice that as the lowest the note the vaguer the main frequency.

-Second Test: Octave higher from open strings

G Octave:
 Constantinou 4

D Octave:

A Octave:
 Constantinou 5

E Octave:

When we play an octave higher we see the main frequency being stronger. Its the frequencies

that already exist in the open strings but as harmonics, now as fundamentals. So, we understand

that when we play any note we hear not only the fundamental but all the harmonics. At the low A

and E strings the main low frequency is almost not visible, this may mean that us hearing lower

notes could be a matter of psychoacoustics rather than what frequencies that our ears may not

comprehend.
 Constantinou 6

-Third Test: Different plucking techniques and plucking spots (Open E string)

Thumb: Neck position, Between Pickups, Bridge Pickup

As we change the plucking position and moving from neck to bridge we see that the mid

frequencies get boosted and some higher frequencies add when we move to the bridge. That fact

applies to all of the plucking techniques as we can observe from the next pictures.
 Constantinou 7

Index Finger: Neck, Between PU, Bridge PU.

 Constantinou 8

Pick: Neck, Between PU, Bridge PU.

 Constantinou 9

We can see that changing technique changes our sound. The thumb technique is smoother and

does not contain as much harmonics as the other techniques. Plucking with the index finger gives

us more mid frequencies and as we move our hand to the bridge more high frequencies are

added. At last using a pick gives us a much more dented and sharp graphic and we can see that

our sound has more harmonics than before, and especially more high-mid and high frequencies.

So, we can conclude that when we want sound with more attack and precision we need to add

more harmonic frequencies to our sound, and if we want a smoother sound we should focus on

the body of sound, our fundamental and first harmonic frequencies and cut the mid and high-mid

harmonics.