Sound Question

[lewisbaral]

Hello everyone, just a quick question:
When an engineer says a sound has a lot of "energy" (sometimes they say it like "there's a lot of energy in the 100 - 130 region" what are they referring to?

[wub]

Not sure, I'd probably ask the engineer to clarify what they meant.

[lewisbaral]

I think it means that at 100-130 Hz. a spectrogram of the sound would show a higher SPL at those frequencies relative to the rest of the sound spectrum but I'm not 100% sure.

[wub]

I'd ask the person who said it what they meant.

[lewisbaral]

Will do. Thanks.

[Sheff]

lol

[titchbit]

they could mean that there is a lot of volume in the 100-130 hz range if theyre referring to a particular song, or if they're talking more generally, they could be saying that songs in the 100-130 bpm range tend to have a lot of "energy". either way that's kind of a weird thing to say. definitely ask.

[alphacat]

I think it means that at 100-130 Hz. a spectrogram of the sound would show a higher SPL at those frequencies relative to the rest of the sound spectrum but I'm not 100% sure.

^ You got it. This is what I would take it to mean, anyway.

[lewisbaral]

They were talking about in a specific sample.

[titchbit]

then it would probably be the hertz

[elyhess]

yeah i feel like the scenario you've described they would most likely be talking about frequency of sound on that whole spectrum of sound deal

[outbound]

Lol this is something that I say quite often to clients (not specifically that area mind, that would be worrying! )

In the context that I use it it's a lot more general than just 'Has a higher db' or 'the spectrum analyser shows it is louder in that area'

It could be that the area is more compressed, has a lot more going on in there (Harmonic modulations etc), is more distorted/saturated etc. Sometimes it is just a fancier way of saying 'is louder' but not usually, it's more a feeling than a technicality. The questions I have to ask 'This section is drawing a lot of attention to itself' 'does this work for the song as a whole?' 'Do I want to draw less attention to it and give focus to the rest of the mix?' 'Maybe it has a lot of attention but maybe the track needs that so I could leave it alone or maybe bring it out further? which works better?