Those "nasty mid frequencies"

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irthlingz
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Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by irthlingz » Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:01 pm

I was looking at a TAXI listing for "Organic Tension" cues (Dispatch # D210706OR) and it said "The tracks also need to be background-friendly.... They sound full and warm, yet they don't have all those nasty mid frequencies that strings naturally have – they're all filtered out during mixing. Dynamic EQs, multiband compressors, using different reverbs, etc. are very handy techniques to reach this goal."

I was interested to see what they were really referring to in terms of frequencies, so I looked at three of the references with the Cockos Frequency Spectrum Analyzer plugin in Reaper. The ;TLDR seems to be that it should start dropping off precipitously by 1KHz and keep going down all the way up to the top (which in the refs was 15KHz).

To see for yourself: https://sharmuse.com/nm.html

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by cosmicdolphin » Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:54 am

Using a plugin like Soothe2 - Gullfoss - or Smooth Operator will help

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by lesmac » Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:02 am

Just about every track Iv'e ever looked at on a frequency analyser has that curve.

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by Ted » Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:58 am

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:54 am
Smooth Operator
Have you tried this one? I have several of the BABY Audio plugins and I like them. When this one came out it looked good, but maybe a bit difficult for me to comprehend exactly how to use, so I held off on getting it.

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by cosmicdolphin » Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:30 am

Ted wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:58 am
cosmicdolphin wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:54 am
Smooth Operator
Have you tried this one? I have several of the BABY Audio plugins and I like them. When this one came out it looked good, but maybe a bit difficult for me to comprehend exactly how to use, so I held off on getting it.
No but it seems very similar to Soothe which I do have, you just kind of throw them on anything that's a bit peaky or across a whole bus or even the master bus - there's loads of presets and I usually find one of them works well then I just dial in the wet/dry. Pretty quick and simple.

https://youtu.be/_6dhJvnrJQ4

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by Telefunkin » Fri Jun 18, 2021 6:35 am

Try grabbing a sample of pink noise and putting it through the same analyser, then see what shape you get.
Graham (UK). Still composing a little faster than decomposing, and 100% HI.

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by Ted » Fri Jun 18, 2021 7:20 am

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:30 am
Ted wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:58 am
cosmicdolphin wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:54 am
Smooth Operator
Have you tried this one? I have several of the BABY Audio plugins and I like them. When this one came out it looked good, but maybe a bit difficult for me to comprehend exactly how to use, so I held off on getting it.
No but it seems very similar to Soothe which I do have, you just kind of throw them on anything that's a bit peaky or across a whole bus or even the master bus - there's loads of presets and I usually find one of them works well then I just dial in the wet/dry. Pretty quick and simple.

https://youtu.be/_6dhJvnrJQ4
Ahh... I'm a preset junkie, :)

I've been working through the Mike Senior mixing book (I had a couple of other unrelated books I had to finish before really starting this one in earnest). I'm at the point where he's talking about using an Auratone (or equivalent) mono speaker for getting the midrange right. I know there's been a lot of discussion about it on the forums-- and I hate that it's not a fun "sexy" piece of gear like a new guitar or bass might be, but I think I've come to the point where I need to make the investment.

I really need better acoustic treatment in my room-- but I really don't like this room at all and would rather try to move to another place before I invest in room treatments-- so I think it might be a good idea to buy one of these speakers.

I've read not-so-great reviews of the new Auratones... but there are different ones-- I want to get an active model. Also, I was looking at the Avantone Mixcubes.

Anybody got some thoughts on what the best option is for one of these mono monitors in 2021?

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by cosmicdolphin » Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:13 am

Ted wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 7:20 am
Anybody got some thoughts on what the best option is for one of these mono monitors in 2021?
Yeah I have a single Avantone Mixcube ..had it more or less since the active version came out ....10 yrs maybe..it's wired into my switchbox with a dedicated mono feed

I was a bit underwhelmed at first but it's usefulness grew on me over time as I got better at mixing. A beginner would probably not appreciate it as much as a more experienced producer.

If someone wanted to take it from me now they'd have to fight me, it would be like losing a limb. It's very much a supplementary/second monitor ..even if you had a pair you can't hear enough low end to do a full mix properly. And they ain't cheap either.

What it does though is give you a much more honest representation of a mix. Listen to a well produced commercial track on them and you'll notice how everything is balanced and you can follow the bass line, then cry as you put your own mix through it that you thought was sounding good on the big monitors and have it fall apart when it's mono...things muddy and unbalanced and barely any bass.

It forces you to focus on important stuff....the arrangement for starters. I can't tell you how many mixes I've heard where there's too much going on in the midrange and the'ye tried to hide it by panning things away from each other instead of using arrangement techniques. You can't get away with that shit on these babies. You'll just hear parts clashing as they pile up.

They are great for balancing lead instruments , if you nail the level on the Avantone it will translate well to other speakers. Also because it's mono you'll pick up on phase issues that you never noticed in stereo..some parts might disappear entirely in mono or be drastically quieter due to phase cancellation.

I can heartily recommend one but expect it to be a slow burn rather than love at first listen.

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by irthlingz » Fri Jun 18, 2021 10:15 am

Telefunkin wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 6:35 am
Try grabbing a sample of pink noise and putting it through the same analyser, then see what shape you get.
Hi Graham - I did this and put a screen shot up at https://sharmuse.com/nm.html. It's pretty even compared with the reference tracks - much less drop in dB as it goes up in frequency.

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Re: Those "nasty mid frequencies"

Post by Ted » Sat Jun 19, 2021 5:52 am

cosmicdolphin wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:13 am
[
Yeah I have a single Avantone Mixcube ..had it more or less since the active version came out ....10 yrs maybe..it's wired into my switchbox with a dedicated mono feed


I can heartily recommend one but expect it to be a slow burn rather than love at first listen.
Thanks Mark. I'm gonna pick one of these up. I was talking to some of the guys from the A/V team at my work last night and I asked them what they thought about the Mixcube and getting one for mono mixing and they were all for it.

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