What is "Air?"

[alfstone]

I identify it with brightness, freshness...in few words, adding high frequencies.

Alfredo

[Ted]

I identify it with brightness, freshness...in few words, adding high frequencies.

That is my takeaway as well: specifically, high frequencies that are the product of overtones.

I have also learned a bit more about the secret sauce of my Bass Xciter. In a nutshell: It is secretly a distortion pedal and a scooping EQ. The Distortion is very subtle, and just enough to generate/accentuate some harmonics. The controls allow you to find the frequencies where the harmonics are most alive (the "Air"), and to blend them with the dry signal. That may be an oversimplification (or just wrong), but it helps me think about what I am doing when I turn the knobs.

[Geir]

Hot Tip: The most sensitive human ears top out at 20 kHz, but there are some interesting EQs that allow you to boost at frequencies even higher.

This part of the spectrum is well outside the audible range. But these boosts are so broad that their effects radiate down through the spectrum and cause a subtle but transparent increase in the sense of "air" in the mix.

If your mix is missing this quality, consider emphasizing the air frequencies in sources that contain naturally pleasing high end information.

Boosting frequencies above 20k may very well result in aliasing when you sample it (especially at 44.1k). This will result in "unmusical" harmonies in the audible spectrum. It might not be especially loud but it will be there.

[StephenM]

I identify it with brightness, freshness...in few words, adding high frequencies.

That is my takeaway as well: specifically, high frequencies that are the product of overtones.

I have also learned a bit more about the secret sauce of my Bass Xciter. In a nutshell: It is secretly a distortion pedal and a scooping EQ. The Distortion is very subtle, and just enough to generate/accentuate some harmonics. The controls allow you to find the frequencies where the harmonics are most alive (the "Air"), and to blend them with the dry signal. That may be an oversimplification (or just wrong), but it helps me think about what I am doing when I turn the knobs.

my ears do like what you are talking about.  I like just a smidge of distortion on the bass and that eq you talk about.  It is subtle but none the less big...

[Ted]

I like just a smidge of distortion on the bass and that eq you talk about

Bass Xciter works really well with acoustic guitar as well (but there is a model made for acoustic guitars). I have a cheat sheet with different settings for two different basses and two different acoustic guitars. There are lots of other and newer exciter pedals and plugins that do similar things.

This discussion is complementary to our other discussion about Getting a Good Sound From a Plugged-In Acoustic Guitar.

[alfstone]

There is also another important factor to consider, and I'talking about our AGE.

Our ears get older together with us.

Try this test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnJGKHZ5yUw

I'm actually 67, and I'm rather glad I can hear sounds till 13000 Khz. But everything above it is completely lost, for me.

What I mean is that adding high frequencies to any sound or mix - I mean not only the VERY high ones, but all over 10000 Khz - can partially compensate the phisiological loss, and give us a better sensation of "air".

 

Alfredo

[Ted]

adding high frequencies to any sound or mix - I mean not only the VERY high ones, but all over 10000 Khz - can partially compensate the physiological loss, and give us a better sensation of "air".

Part of the reason "air" is so mystical is that notes and overtones beyond even the best human hearing range have effects on the frequencies squarely within ordinary human hearing range.

But these boosts are so broad that their effects radiate down through the spectrum and cause a subtle but transparent increase in the sense of "air" in the mix.

There are probably music producing gurus that specialize in their mastery and control of air - who can control to some extent the cascading effects of EQ in the 20+ Khz. That's fascinating. I'm more interested in learning what NOT to do; how not to accidentally poison my air.

BTW: My hearing peaked at just above 10,000 Khz. I also have tinnitus, so that might also be about the point where the test frequency blended with the constant frequency that is always in my ears. So congrats on having young ears.