Audacity Forum

Why don't they go beyond 22khz.
First, I realize that 22khz applies to audio that's recorded at 44khz. You record at 44 and you hear 22.
But recorders go much higher than 44, and nobody provides equalizers beyond 22. Some are less. Why in the world not.
On Aud I only see 20khz.

Human hearing only goes to 20KHz. Sometimes scientists want Audacity to do things beyond audibility (both directions). Audacity is an audio production editor, not a scientific tool. It's not unusual for Audacity to create scientific errors with the goal of sounding good.

Nothing you do higher than 20KHz is ever going to sound good.

Koz

geosv wrote:... and nobody provides equalizers beyond 22. ... On Aud I only see 20khz.

If you increase the sample-rate Audacity's built-in equalizer changes accordingly ...
Unless you are part-dog , you won't be able to hear anything above about 20kHz.

If you increase the sample-rate Audacity's built-in equalizer changes accordingly ...

Well, I wondered if that might happen.
But anyway there are other products out there too. I've seen music where the 22h bar is a third of the way up, so there was sound beyond that. We should see it in a graph as well as be able to adjust it.

Also wanted to take an opportunity to mention that in Aud v1 there was the preset NAB equalizer (National Assoc of Broadcasters, US). I liked that one sometimes but you dropped it from v2. You added AM radio, which is interesting.
NAB is similar but not same as RIAA. It helped with some thin digital sound.
As for AM, there's much more to AM sound. In so many cases it's really enjoyable compared to raw LPs or (perish the thought) CDs. Sound is maximized. Check the AM recording at Youtube of Nancy Sinatra's Boots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1l8ymXlm4. Your AM Eq straight line just means you are not changing the original at all, not that you are equalizing all frequencies.

geosv wrote:Also wanted to take an opportunity to mention that in Aud v1 there was the preset NAB equalizer (National Assoc of Broadcasters, US). I liked that one sometimes but you dropped it from v2.

If you want NAB back, see http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/EQCur ... recordings.

Gale

I got around to checking what Trebor said. It's not a good accommodation for my point. The frequencies aren't labelled about 30k. The sliders for adjustment only go to 20khz. Not even 22, so above 20 is not changed.
It's possible to draw the curve, but again no frequencies labelled. I see it's possible to set it for linear frequency scale and see freq labelled to 96 (192). Not clear exactly what vertical line 96 is related to. So I mean since up to 192 is possible, everybody should just get with it and accommodate it properly.
Goldwave editor even limits the frequency display to 16kh.

You could use a plug-in Equalizer if preferred, such as VST format.


Gale

geosv wrote:Why don't they go beyond 22khz.

Because there is no "sound" above 20 kHz, at least not as far as humans are concerned.

geosv wrote:I've seen music where the 22h bar is a third of the way up, so there was sound beyond that

No, not "sound". There may be frequencies present above 20 kHz but "sound" is generally defined as "audible acoustic waves", and frequencies above 20 kHz are inaudible.

Why do you need to process frequencies above 20 kHz? What are you trying to do?

Steve's type of answer is technically lame and annoying. I would not stay here if it goes that way.