Audio frequency chart
The audible spectrum in seven bands, with what sits in each and what happens when you change it.
The seven bands
Twenty hertz to twenty kilohertz is a range of a thousand to one, and nothing about it is uniform — the ear's sensitivity, the demands on a speaker and the content of music all change enormously across it. Splitting it into bands is how engineers talk about it without listing frequencies one at a time.
| Band | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-bass | 20 Hz–60 Hz | Felt more than heard. Most laptop and phone speakers produce nothing here. |
| Bass | 60 Hz–250 Hz | Kick drum and bass guitar. A small speaker usually starts somewhere in this band. |
| Low mids | 250 Hz–500 Hz | Body and warmth. Too much here sounds boxy. |
| Mids | 500 Hz–2 kHz | Where most of a voice lives. Every speaker reproduces this band. |
| Upper mids | 2 kHz–6 kHz | Consonants and presence. The ear is most sensitive around 3 kHz. |
| Treble | 6 kHz–12 kHz | Cymbals and air. Cheap earbuds often roll off before the top of this band. |
| Top end | 12 kHz–22 kHz | Hearing here narrows with age, and most music carries little of it. |
Where instruments actually sit
The fundamental frequency of an instrument is much lower than people expect, because what identifies an instrument by ear is mostly its harmonics rather than its fundamental. A violin's lowest note has a fundamental around 196 Hz, and everything that makes it sound like a violin is above that.
| Source | Fundamentals | Harmonics reach |
|---|---|---|
| Kick drum | 40–100 Hz | 5 kHz (the beater click) |
| Bass guitar | 41–400 Hz | 7 kHz |
| Male voice | 85–180 Hz | 12 kHz |
| Female voice | 165–255 Hz | 12 kHz |
| Acoustic guitar | 82–1,200 Hz | 15 kHz |
| Piano | 27.5–4,186 Hz | Above 15 kHz |
| Violin | 196–3,500 Hz | Above 15 kHz |
| Snare drum | 100–200 Hz | 15 kHz |
| Cymbals | 300 Hz and up | Above 16 kHz |
Two things follow from this table. First, a speaker that gives up at 150 Hz still reproduces most voices intelligibly, which is why laptop speakers are fine for a meeting and disappointing for music. Second, almost nothing has a fundamental above 4 kHz — the whole top half of the spectrum is harmonics, noise and air.
What changing each band sounds like
20–60 Hz, sub-bass. Felt in the chest more than heard. Adding it gives weight and scale; too much turns everything into a rumble and masks the bass above it.
60–250 Hz, bass. The power band. Cutting here thins a mix out; a broad boost is the fastest way to make something sound boomy, especially in a small room where the walls are already reinforcing it.
250–500 Hz, low mids. Warmth, and the first place a mix turns muddy. A cut here is one of the most common corrective moves in mixing.
500 Hz–2 kHz, mids. Where a voice lives and where the ear pays most attention. Changes here are immediately obvious; boosting can sound honky, cutting makes things distant.
2–6 kHz, upper mids. Consonants, presence and attack. The ear is most sensitive around 3 kHz, which is also why fingernails on a blackboard land there. A small boost adds clarity; a large one causes listening fatigue within minutes.
6–12 kHz, treble. Cymbals, sibilance and detail. This is where cheap earbuds roll off, and where excessive boosting produces harsh sibilant speech.
Above 12 kHz, top end. Air and openness. Most adults hear only part of this band, and most music carries little energy in it.
Using the chart with a tone
Reading about bands is much less useful than hearing them. Open the tone generator and move through 60, 250, 1,000, 3,000 and 10,000 Hz in turn, listening to how different they feel at the same nominal level. The perceived loudness changes dramatically even though the signal does not, which is the single most useful fact about hearing that a chart cannot convey.
Then find your own limits: the bass test for the bottom, the hearing range test for the top.
Last reviewed 2026-09-22.