How low can you go?!?!

[andygabrys]

Rob Chiarelli had a few comments as well about the low end missing. HP filtering??

https://youtu.be/OA2X73ybKsU?t=19m25s

I'm so glad taxi tv is also now on youtube. It makes it easier to reference clips to quote.

the tune is "Nothing to Prove" here http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.php?userid=62767

I don't think the mix has been excessively high pass filtered, but I would have balanced the mix with a lot more drums (so would hear the kick a lot more and that would have made raising the bass sounds a little to match pretty natural - which Rob C basically noted in the show).

[TheElement]

I do a Flat HP @ 26hz with a Q of 48 I also do a Flat LP @ 16khz with a Q of 48.

in the mix I'll set up more Flat HP like for the kick (always Linear EQ). It depends on the song for the mix HP's.

every sound in the mix is HP to a point where it still retains the sound I want. some are not HP at all.

Also on master to clear out mud I sweep 200-500Hz area with a bell and 0.56 Q until mix is clearer. usually use like -3db then go for less than half of that. less is more on the master. small changes on master for best results.

and I keep everything below 100hz in mono.

[Len911]

Rob Chiarelli had a few comments as well about the low end missing. HP filtering??

I don't think the mix has been excessively high pass filtered, but I would have balanced the mix with a lot more drums (so would hear the kick a lot more and that would have made raising the bass sounds a little to match pretty natural - which Rob C basically noted in the show).

That's probably true. The point I was trying to make, wasn't anything to do with this particular song. I thought that he commented somewhere that there seemed to be a trend with most of the songs reviewed missing something in the bottom end, I didn't want to listen to the whole episode again to find that particular place, so the first one I found I used to make the point that maybe by using the hp filter that it was possible to evoke the same comments from Mr. Chiarelli.

As evidenced already, by the limbo example, if there is a 50% chance of misinterpreting something, it's almost 100% certain I will for some reason!

[cardell]

Stuart, the title seems to conflict with "high pass filter".

Sorry Len, I was trying to give the thread a provocative title...

I was meaning: How low [a frequency] should you allow in your mixes? Should you rein in those very low frequencies?

Stuart

[cardell]

I usually have a hpf set on the sides in m/s mode on the master and can set this higher to keep the low sub info just in the center channel. Otherwise, individual channels get their own based on the source material.

Great!! Thank-you.

Stuart

[cardell]

Hey Stewart, most of the time I do filter my main bus, even after filtering all of the individual tracks.
On the Low End I may cut everything from 30Hz and below so I can push the 50-75Hz a little harder (been doing this recently)
On the High End I do a -6db Pass to taste, usualy checking it against a ref track.
Seems to pleasently soften the upper range.
But trust me, I'm still expirementing!!!
Cass

Yes! This is what I'm doing at the moment too. It's quite an interesting thing to experiment with.

I can definitely notice a different, but I'm trying to be sensible about it. I'll get there.

I do a Flat HP @ 26hz with a Q of 48 I also do a Flat LP @ 16khz with a Q of 48.

Thanks!

Stuart

[mojobone]

The foot of the kick drum is seldom lower than about 50 Hz; unless it's EDM or a trailer with LFE, there's seldom anything below that that won't rob your mix of punch and power, but I seldom lowpass the entire mix, since I've already done it for all the channels, except the kick, bass and the low end of the piano or maybe organ pedals.(Hammonds can kick out some serious lows) Keeping the lows centered is a terrific idea, particularly if your mix is headed for vinyl. Getting the low end to represent on earbuds and small speakers has been a challenge, or it was 'til I picked up Waves' MaxxBass which is currently on sale for $49.

[Len911]

The foot of the kick drum is seldom lower than about 50 Hz; unless it's EDM or a trailer with LFE, there's seldom anything below that that won't rob your mix of punch and power, but I seldom lowpass the entire mix, since I've already done it for all the channels, except the kick, bass and the low end of the piano or maybe organ pedals.(Hammonds can kick out some serious lows) Keeping the lows centered is a terrific idea, particularly if your mix is headed for vinyl. Getting the low end to represent on earbuds and small speakers has been a challenge, or it was 'til I picked up Waves' MaxxBass which is currently on sale for $49.

Punch and power reminds me of the transient plugins for tackling the attack of a signal to add punch and less about eq for adding punch and power.

but I seldom lowpass the entire mix, since I've already done it for all the channels,

Very good point!!

[cardell]

The reason I started down this path of inquiry is because: I used quite a low (pitched) kick drum sample in a piece I was working on with Steven (BlindTruth). It sounded wonderful on the Yamaha HS80Ms and looked fine on the spectrum analyzer, but...

...when I played it in the car it shook my defenseless speakers so much, I was concerned for the well being of my car audio system!!

What was/is going on here? I'm still not certain, TBH.

Stuart

[lesmac]

Unread post Re: How low can you go?!?!
The reason I started down this path of inquiry is because: I used quite a low (pitched) kick drum sample in a piece I was working on with Steven (BlindTruth). It sounded wonderful on the Yamaha HS80Ms and looked fine on the spectrum analyzer, but...

...when I played it in the car it shook my defenseless speakers so much, I was concerned for the well being of my car audio system!!

What was/is going on here? I'm still not certain, TBH.

Stuart

Maybe it was the room modes in the car, just the right collection of frequencies to excite the speaker enclosures and space in the car. Usually bass can escape from cars thats maybe one of the reasons why they are such a used reference. Just a thought.