I am new to music editing in general. I am confused on how to view the present bass and treble level for the track. I know that you can adjust the bass and treble levels from the effect menu but how do you view at what level it is ?
There isn’t a absolute measurement for the amount of bass or treble. Sounds usually contain a broad range of frequencies. “Frequency” is the measure of how “high” or “low” a sound is, and is measured in “Hz” (Hertz). Low frequencies below about 400 Hz make up the “bass”, whereas high frequencies above about 1500 Hz make up the “treble”. Bass and treble are just convenient names when referring to low frequencies or high frequencies, but the terms are a bit “fuzzy”.
The absolute high frequency limit for human hearing is usually quoted as 20000 Hz. Human ears are not able to detect frequencies above 20000 Hz.
The low frequency limit for human hearing is usually quoted as 20 Hz. This is a bit “fuzzy” because “hearing” very low bass becomes more of a sense of “vibration” rather than hearing with your ears.
The range of frequencies in sound is commonly referred to as the “spectrum”.
Just as the audio spectrum may be divided into “low” (bass) and “high” (treble), it is sometimes useful when describing sound to subdivide further. For example:
- 20hz - 80hz = … Low Bass
- 80hz - 320 Hz = … Hi Bass, also referred to as Midbass.
- 320hz - 1280 Hz = … Midrange
- 1280hz - 5120 Hz = … High Midrange/Low Treble
- 5120hz - 20840 Hz = . High Treble
Note that the “Hz” frequency ranges are a guideline/opinion and not an official “standard” of any sort.
Note also that in this example, the Hz frequency ranges are becoming much “wider” as the frequency increases - For “Low Bass” the “range” is (80 - 20) 60 Hz, whereas for “High Treble” the range is close to 15000 Hz. This is because of how we hear sounds. Our sensation of how high or low a sound is, is based on “how many times higher or lower” is one sound than another. In music, an “octave” represents a doubling (or halving) of frequency.
To view the frequency spectrum of an audio track (or part of an audio track), use the “Plot Spectrum” tool: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/plot_spectrum.html
Set the “Axis” to “logarithmic” to see a representation in the way that we hear.