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> Any overtones that are missing in the recording are overtones that didn't make it through the human ear in the first place. Even if human beings cannot hear
by Mediterraneo10 8y ago
> Any overtones that are missing in the recording are overtones that didn't make it through the human ear in the first place.
Even if human beings cannot hear higher frequencies directly, they can hear the beats produced when higher frequencies sound at the same time as lower, directly audible ones. This has sometimes been exploited for musical purposes and I do wonder if this plays some role in some listeners’ feeling that low-bitrate encoding or speaker playback lacks oomph.
- jerf 8y agoIf the beats are audible, they're "real" and recordings will pick them up just fine. You don't need to record the original ultrasound to hear them. You still can't hear the inaudible frequencies, at the risk of stating a tautology. You can make some small case for lower frequencies, because even if they are not audible they get to the point where other senses can pick them up too. A sufficiently loud 1Hz wave is simply something shaking. But you can't hear ultrasound.
- Mediterraneo10 8y agoThey are an artifact, a side effect, of the way human hearing works, they are not actually present on a recording medium (only the frequencies that produce the effect in the human ear are).
- 6nf 8y agoYes so the EFFECT is recorded cause the microphone hears it just the same as a human ear.
- hannasanarion 8y agoAnd they weren't actually present at the time of recording either, they're a product of waves adding together. Those same waves are still added together when it plays from your speakers.
- Mediterraneo10 8y ago> Those same waves are still added together when it plays from your speakers. Not if the bitrate used to encode the digital audio is low and drops any of the higher frequencies from the lot.