How do I know if my speakers can play the low end?

Play the lowest zones (20–60 Hz) with the sine wave. Studio monitors typically reach 40–50 Hz; nearfield bookshelves 50–70 Hz; laptops 100–150 Hz; phones 200+ Hz. The on-screen tone is real even when speakers can't deliver it.

Why do square and sawtooth sound louder than sine?

Richer waveforms contain harmonics across the spectrum. A square wave has odd harmonics at 1/3, 1/5 amplitudes; sawtooth has both odd and even at 1/n. The tool auto-scales gain per waveform so switching doesn't blast or vanish.

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Bass Frequency Finder

An interactive map of the bass range (20–500 Hz) with every musical note tied to its frequency, color-coded EQ zones, instrument range overlays, and audible playback. Drag the cursor to hear any note, find the kick drum sweet spot, or hunt the muddy band of your bass guitar.

82 Hz

note E2 · 0 cents

Body & warmth

—

Wave

Frequency 82 Hz

Volume 20%

The cyan ticks under the chart mark every C note (octave boundary); the yellow ticks mark the open strings of a 4-string bass (E1 · A1 · D2 · G2). Small green ticks are the natural notes; thin grey ticks are sharps/flats.

Instrument range overlay

Toggle an instrument to draw its fundamental + harmonic reach on the chart above.

EQ recommendation zones

Click a chip to jump the cursor to that zone, then press Listen to hear it.

Bass Frequencies — A Working Guide

The bass range — roughly 20 Hz to 500 Hz — is where the foundation of almost every musical mix lives. It's also where the most common mixing problems hide: muddy low-mids that smear vocals, missing punch on a kick drum, sub-bass that disappears on small speakers. This tool gives you a hands-on map of that range so you can hear what each frequency does instead of guessing.

The 4-string bass open notes

Standard 4-string bass tuning (E A D G) puts the open strings at E1 = 41.20 Hz, A1 = 55.00 Hz, D2 = 73.42 Hz, and G2 = 98.00 Hz. Those four notes are marked in yellow on the chart so you can see exactly where your bass lives. A 5-string adds a low B0 = 30.87 Hz; a 6-string adds a high C3 = 130.81 Hz on the top.

The five bass zones

Sub rumble (20–40 Hz): Pipe-organ pedals, sub-bass synths, room shake. Most laptop / phone speakers can't reproduce this at all. On a proper sub it adds physical weight you feel as much as hear.

Punch & weight (40–80 Hz): Kick-drum thump, bass-guitar low fundamentals (E1, A1). This is the "chest hit" frequency band. Too little and the mix feels lightweight; too much and it eats headroom.

Body & warmth (80–160 Hz): Where bass guitar and kick drum fundamentals fight for space with male vocal chest tone and the low end of every other instrument. Boost gives fullness; cut adds clarity.

Mud zone (160–300 Hz): The classic "blanket over the speakers" range. When too many instruments stack here, the mix loses definition. A 2–4 dB cut around 200–300 Hz on a few tracks is the single most common low-end mix fix.

Upper bass (300–500 Hz): Boxiness / honkiness boundary. The character of acoustic instruments lives here too — too much makes a snare hollow, too little makes a piano thin.

Why hearing the frequency matters

EQ-by-numbers ("cut 4 dB at 250 Hz") is fine when you've done it ten thousand times. Until then, it's faster and more reliable to sweep and listen: switch to the EQ Frequency Finder, boost a narrow band, drag it across the spectrum, and learn what each region sounds like. After a few sessions your ears will know "this is 80 Hz" the moment you hear it — and you'll EQ by intent instead of by recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the lowest bass sound thin or disappear?

Most laptop and phone speakers roll off below 100–150 Hz. The fundamental of a low E (41 Hz) is simply not there on those systems — what you hear is the harmonics at 82, 123, 164 Hz etc. The brain reconstructs the missing fundamental (a perceptual phenomenon called the "phantom fundamental"), so you still hear the note as "low E", just with no actual sub-bass energy. Plug in headphones or a subwoofer to hear the real low end.

What's the difference between fundamental and harmonics?

A bass note at 82 Hz (low E on bass guitar) has its fundamental at 82 Hz and overtones (harmonics) at integer multiples: 164, 246, 328, 410 Hz, and on up. Most of a bass note's character — the pluck, the growl, the string definition — actually lives in the upper harmonics (700 Hz – 5 kHz), not the fundamental. That's why a 80 Hz pure sine tone sounds nothing like a bass guitar's open low E.

Where exactly is "mud" on bass?

Most commonly 200–300 Hz, sometimes extending to 400 Hz. The problem is rarely the bass alone — it's the bass plus guitar low end, plus piano left hand, plus male vocal chest tone, all piling up in that 200–300 Hz region. A 2–3 dB broad cut around 250 Hz on one or two tracks usually opens up the mix. Cut before compression for best results.

How do I know if my speakers can actually play the low end?

Play the lowest few zones (20–60 Hz) on this tool with the sine wave. If you can't hear or feel anything, your speakers are rolled off there. Studio monitors typically reach 40–50 Hz; nearfield bookshelves often 50–70 Hz; laptops 100–150 Hz; phones 200+ Hz. The on-screen tone is real even when your speakers can't deliver it.

Why do square and sawtooth waves sound much louder than sine?

At equal amplitude, richer waveforms have higher perceived loudness because they contain harmonics across the spectrum. A square wave has odd harmonics 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, ... the amplitude of the fundamental; sawtooth has both odd and even at 1/n amplitudes. The tool auto-scales the gain per waveform so switching doesn't blast or vanish.

What is "cents" in the readout?

Cents are 1/100ths of an equal-tempered semitone. A note that's "+50 cents" is exactly halfway between two adjacent notes. Sliding the cursor between notes shows how many cents you're sharp or flat of the nearest note. Useful for tuning and for understanding microtonal intervals.

Is my microphone or audio being recorded?

No. This tool only generates sound (a pure waveform at the chosen frequency) using the Web Audio API and plays it through your speakers. It never requests microphone access, never records, and never uploads anything. Everything runs locally in your browser.

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