How low does Enya go?

[SubSonic]

Hello, i was wondering if anyone ever tested how low some enya tracks go.-frequency wise. many say that music doesnt go below 40hz much. but i suppose Enya is an exception? especially Watermark and The Long Ships on her first album. has anyone ever tested her songs?

[Kevin P]

I've never tested the actual frequencies, but I've used Enya tracks to test/demo subs, so her stuff goes pretty deep.

Orinoco Flow, in the middle part, has some pretty low bass notes in it. Maybe in the 40s Hz-wise.

[Glen B]

If you want to really experience truly low frequencies then pipe organ music will give you that. I have a Dorian Recordings CD of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition with notes that go as low as 16Hz. This recording was a one-time Stereophile Magazine favorite for use in testing the low-end capabilities of speakers.

[alebonau]

Hello, i was wondering if anyone ever tested how low some enya tracks go.-frequency wise. many say that music doesnt go below 40hz much. but i suppose Enya is an exception? especially Watermark and The Long Ships on her first album. has anyone ever tested her songs?

Hi subsonic,

I checked this out with the mic and onscreen plot from my velo DD15 - it gives a plot of freq 15hz-200hz thats in the music. And my sub is setup to give a pretty much flat system response of 15-200hz.

And can see with both Watermark and the Long ships tracks sub bass going down to 15hz. And the sub bass information down to 15hz in some sections is of equal magnitude to other components of the music so yeah definetely some very low bass there.

A big enya fan myself got all the discs and by the way her first disc is infact 'the celts' as far as I know, off the BBC TV series of the same name that brought her music to prominence. The celts was later re-released remastered etc after her later sucesses with Watermark and Caribean blue.

[SubSonic]

Ohh. Thank you for that fact. I never knew The celts was her first album. And Thank You for testing them out! I always knew I was probably missing something from "The Long Ships" i just wish i could turn it up louder. I love the bass in that track. nice to meet another Enya fan. May i ask. what is your take on as i call it, "The Devil Songs" ;x( which consist of Cursum Perficio, Pax Diorum and Tempus Vernum? i really like those songs but they can get scary sometimes :lol:

Hi subsonic,

I checked this out with the mic and onscreen plot from my velo DD15 - it gives a plot of freq 15hz-200hz thats in the music. And my sub is setup to give a pretty much flat system response of 15-200hz.

And can see with both Watermark and the Long ships tracks sub bass going down to 15hz. And the sub bass information down to 15hz in some sections is of equal magnitude to other components of the music so yeah definetely some very low bass there.

A big enya fan myself got all the discs and by the way her first disc is infact 'the celts' as far as I know, off the BBC TV series of the same name that brought her music to prominence. The celts was later re-released remastered etc after her later sucesses with Watermark and Caribean blue.

[alebonau]

Ohh. Thank you for that fact. I never knew The celts was her first album. And Thank You for testing them out! I always knew I was probably missing something from "The Long Ships" i just wish i could turn it up louder. I love the bass in that track. nice to meet another Enya fan. May i ask. what is your take on as i call it, "The Devil Songs" ;x( which consist of Cursum Perficio, Pax Diorum and Tempus Vernum? i really like those songs but they can get scary sometimes :lol:

hehe I just let my self get enraptured in it all whether theyre devil songs or not ! :twisted: hehehe

What I like about enya is the great instrumentation and her very pure vocals, plus the ambience/atmosphere she creates with her music. Which yeah can be scary sometimes. My wife actually even likes the stuff when I play it and will often come sit by me for a listen while its playing, which makes a change with some of the other strange stuff I listen to which can get the opposite response with the vol knob being turned down !

yes good to come by another enya fan !

[Martyn]

There’s a Norah Jones track (The Nearness of You) that ends with two single notes on a piano. By running back and forth between my CD player and my piano, I indentified the notes as C1 and A0 whose frequencies are 32.7 Hz and 27.5 Hz respectively. My speakers seem to reproduce these notes quite clearly, although the A0 is starting to roll off. Without the piano as a reference, it might be difficult to tell whether you're hearing the actual note or its harmonics.

My daughter's Dido CDs have some significant low frequencies too, plus some interesting percussion. I've grown to rather like her stuff, much to my daughter's amusement. Again, the harmonics could be misleading without a reference.

[ThomasW]

Okay here are a couple plots I made for your consideration. These are from a 'mix' bass-demo CD I take to audio shows like the RMAF. The CD consists of cuts from multiple CDs in my collection. The cuts were specifically chosen for their ability destroy 'normal' subwoofers.

Per request here's "The Long Ships" by Enya



Next is something with a bit more umph. This is the first cut from percussionist Evelyn Glennie's solo album "The Shadow Behind the Iron Sun". Needless to say this isn't for playback on your 'average' subwoofer. And understand that this album would be classified as very difficult listening music....:wink:



Here's a mystery one .........(hint guest performers include her husband Lou Reid... 8O )