[macrojack]

You hear (or read) the terms "bass", "mids", "highs", and "midbass" all the time. What I was wondering is whether there are standardized, agreed upon frequency ranges indicated by these terms. I've read that the human voice range is from 80 Hz. to 1100 Hz. What is the mid bass range? Where is the cutoff point for bass? Are the terms just amorphous references to nothing certain? Are we just talking or are we talking about something specific and constant?

[macrojack]

Nobody knows? Nobody cares?

[JRace]

There is no standard range.
However it can be broken down like so:
0Hz - 20Hz = Subsonic bass
20Hz - 80Hz = Bass
80Hz - 250Hz = MidBass
250Hz - 8000Hz = Midrange
8000Hz - 20,000Hz = Treble
20,000Hz + = Supersonic treble

The human voice ranges from about 100Hz - 7000Hz for men, and from about 200Hz - 7500Hz for women, although that is just general ranges.

[Speedskater]

The Audio Glossary by J. Gordon Holt has slightly different frequencies:

Infrasonic bass = 0Hz - 20Hz
Bass   =   20Hz - 160Hz 
MidBass = 40Hz - 80Hz
Midrange = 160Hz - 1300Hz
Treble   =  1500Hz - 20,000Hz

I think that you can find the book online at the magazine's web-page.

[ctviggen]

The human voice ranges from about 100Hz - 7000Hz for men, and from about 200Hz - 7500Hz for women, although that is just general ranges.

I have a hard time with these.  For instance, get a group of men together, play a 7khz tone, and see how many men will match it.  My guess is zero. Maybe some elite singers could do that, but the vast majority of men never come close to the upper part of that range.

Also, does this graph include harmonics? 

[konut]

The chart that JRace posted seems to include overtones, or those frequencies that may be present but at much reduced volume from the fundamental frequency that dominates. The overtones give the clues to what the instrument actually is when, for example, a clarinet and trumpet play the exact same note. This chart gives the fundamental range of various instruments as well as a rankings of the frequency range, that you asked about, at the bottom.


http://www.psbspeakers.com/audio-topics/The-Frequencies-of-Music

Overtones are an interesting thing. I've seen it written that a trumpet with a mute attached will produce overtones up to 40khz.

[JRace]

The chart shows that the male speaking voice can contain freq up to 7k.
This will be present in some "S" or "F" or "TH" sounds produced by some male voices.

This in no way means a male singing will contain 7kHz sounds at any reasonably detected level.

As for J. Gordons glossary, that is just his definition, as there is no true definition of BASS, MIDRANGE etc. In fact, by definition midrange is just the range between the upper and lower...

[JLM]

I thought "mid-bass" was between bass and midrange, not the middle of bass and would have defined it as more like 60 - 120 (one to two octaves below middle C).

But agree, there is no widely accepted bandwidth definitions.

[macrojack]

I asked because I thought it seemed like a "Tower of Babble" situation where everyone nods solemnly in agreement even though they are all thinking of something different at the same time. Having no standard certainly deprives us of successful communication.

I too always thought mid-bass was between bass and midrange. Easy to misunderstand when the terms are so vague.