At home
the song sounded full.
Just you,
the keyboard,
both hands,
big warm chords.
Then the band joined in.
The bass played its low E.
Your left hand
played E with a G sharp on top,
right down there
next to it.
And the bottom of the song
turned to porridge.
Not out of tune.
The tuner said
everyone was fine.
Just thick,
buzzing,
as if the room
had started to rattle.
Your ear is a row of filters.
Each one listens
to a band of frequencies,
and two notes that land
in the same band
do not sound like two notes.
They rub.
In 1965
Reinier Plomp and Willem Levelt
measured it.
Two pure tones
sounded roughest
when they were about a quarter
of one of those bands apart,
and smooth again
once they were roughly
a whole band apart.
Here is the trap.
Those bands
are much wider than they look
at the bottom of the keyboard.
The low E on a bass
is about forty one hertz.
The G sharp above it
is about fifty two.
Eleven hertz apart,
deep inside one band.
The same major third
two octaves up
is eighty six hertz apart,
close to a whole band,
almost clear of it.
Same interval.
Same notes on paper.
A pleasant sound up there
is a growl down here.
Arrangers have a name for it,
the low interval limit.
Below about the C
an octave under middle C,
thirds start to blur,
and lower down
only fifths and octaves
stay clean.
So voice your chords
for the band you are in.
When the bass has the root,
your left hand does not need it,
and it certainly does not need
a third
an octave below middle C.
Move the colour up.
Let the bottom
be one note,
or an octave,
or a fifth.
If the bass player
plays the third,
it can be the only third
down there.
And when the low end turns to mud,
before you reach for the EQ,
look at the hands.
Count how many notes
are below the C
an octave under middle C.
Usually one too many.
– Serguey Asael Shinder
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