Bass vocal range and famous bass singers

The bass voice at a glance

A bass is the lowest standard male voice, conventionally E2 to E4, and its sound lives in the bottom octave, where the tone is fullest. The voice changes gear around G3 to C4, earlier than a baritone or tenor does.

A bass-baritone can reach some of the same low notes, but a bass treats that bottom octave as home rather than a place to visit.

What a bass is

A bass carries more vocal-fold mass than any other category, which is what gives the bottom of the range its size: notes that another singer can technically hit but not fill. The trade is at the top: where a baritone still has room, a bass is already working hard, so the repertoire tends to sit low and move slowly.

Basses are among the rarest categories in recorded popular music, and the figures collected here reflect that: a handful of voices against more than two hundred tenors.

What the basses here show

• Largest reported catalog span, shared at 4.0 octaves: Ivan Rebroff (F1–F5) and Tim Storms (B0–B4); tied for narrowest are Barry White at D2–E4 and Samuel Ramey at D#2–F4.
• The catalog group starts at B0 (Tim Storms) and ends at F5 (Ivan Rebroff), a span of 54 semitones from the floor of the category to its ceiling.
• Prominence spans 1966 to 2011, and the median catalog span is 46 semitones against E2–E4 for the conventional bass band.

Voice categories are guides borrowed from choral and operatic practice. Most profiles' figures are commonly cited spans from the catalog, not recordings checked note by note; a few have reviewed or disputed sources. Open a profile for what its sources support.

Every bass on one axis

How high and how low basses sing

• Bass-baritone
• Baritone
• Tenor
• Countertenor
• Contralto
• Mezzo-soprano
• Soprano