At high SPL, sub-bass is experienced as full-body resonance, felt before it is heard

Very low sub-bass at high sound-pressure level is experienced somatically — as physical resonance through the body — as much as it is heard as pitch. Audiences of the Valve Sound System describe clothing and hair shaking and ‘full body resonance,’ the whole room trembling. This is qualitatively different from a standard club PA, which delivers bass as audible pressure but not full-body resonance, because it lacks the sub enclosures and SPL to drive the effect. For DnB producers this somatic dimension is part of the intent: a sub-bass line’s payoff is a physical sensation, which is precisely what is lost when the track is played on a system without real sub reproduction.

Examples

‘you get full body resonance’; ‘everything in the place shake… everything was just moving’; ‘the whole place was trembling.‘

Assessment

Explain the difference between hearing bass and feeling sub-bass resonance, and why it depends on the playback system.