konradh
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Bass HPF
A lot of people say to high-pass filter the bass around 40-50 hz at the highest. Some say 20-30 hz.
I usually find that once I get my kick strong, my bass sounds too boomy unless I HPF it higher, like at 80-90 hz. I realize that the bass fundamentals start at 41 hz or so with a 4-string bass, but then again, there is some slope to the filter. It doesn't chop off 100% at the corner frequency.
Anyone out there ever use a higher HPF value like me on bass?
The current track I am working on uses a Scarbee J-Bass, but I have noticed this on other basses as well. I am using the HPF in the ProChannel EQ.
Thoughts?
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Sanderxpander
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No but I do sometimes dip it a bit around 80 to make room for the kick.
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jb101
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Hallo, Konrad.
I often HPF the bass higher. If you HPF above the frequency of the fundamental it doesn't matter as the human brain is very good at "replacing" when it's not there, if that makes sense.
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codamedia
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Your not alone, I often have my HPF set between 80 and 100 for bass. There are no set rules here, just general guidelines.
Remember, if your kick is taking up the space below 80 there is no room for bass so it should be rolled off. Others will roll off the kick at 80 then let the bass fill that space instead. To really get a clean bottom end - you should be notching those two - at the others dominant frequencies. EG: If the kick has a dominant spike at 100hz, notch the bass at 100hz to make room for it. If the bass is dominant from 60 - 80, notch the kick in that area to create room. etc... etc... etc...
Also - just because the low E on a Bass is 41hz, that does not mean you need the bass in that area. That low E will be emphasized with any frequency that is a multiple of 40. EG: 80, 160, 320, etc... Think of it this way - the low E on a guitar is 82hz. Unless I am recording a solo guitar piece, I won't let the guitar anywhere near this space. I start to work it 1 - 2 octaves higher on an EQ.
Just my 2 cents...
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Bristol_Jonesey
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The human brain has a unique ability to "create" the missing fundamental when listening to just the harmonics & overtones - this is why you can "get away" with using a HPF on bass guitar quite high up
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Sanderxpander
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Cool, perhaps I've been too careful. My room isn't great for mixing low end either. I usually HPF around 40 or 50 and notch away at the 80/120 area to get it to sit with the kick.
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CJaysMusic
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A lot of people say to high-pass filter the bass around 40-50 hz at the highest. Some say 20-30 hz. It all depends on: - The type of bass used
- The sound of the bass
- The sound you want it to sound like
- The sound of the other instruments in that particular song, especially the Kick
After you establish all of those, then you would make a judgement on if you even need that EQ filter and how to set that filter. There are no right or wrong settings and there is no best setting. You use what fits that bass in that song. CJ
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sharke
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It totally depends on the bass source. If I'm using Native Instruments MM-Bass then I keep it quite low, but with Trilian basses I tend I have to set it much higher to avoid boominess.
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Cactus Music
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I often find myself having to up the filter to 80 or even 100. It's all what I am finding in any given mix. If there's to much low end, there's too much low end. and applying a hi pass seems to work just fine for me. Sometime I'll go back and hi pass just the bass and not the whole mix. Depends. I use a Sub to check my mixes and if my teeth start rattling I adjust. There's no science to my method, It just has to sound the way I know it's should sound. And I like the bass maxed.
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Guitarpima
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It really depends.
Sometimes I dip the bass around 60hz, as mentioned, and sometimes I'll use a HPF. How low I set the HPF depends though. I usually get my BD sounding nice and work from there. The idea is to sort of fake the BD as a trigger for the bass. It's a fine line though and it always depends on what the music is doing.
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Grivanov
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My few words about side-chain compression and good arrangement of kick and bass. And then it all depends on the selected sound. Use HPF, use notch and most importantly use a good monitoring. There are no rules, all for a good sound.
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Anderton
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I use shelving a lot for bass. HPF more for vocals and guitars where there's significant amount of bass content that's not in the range of the instrument.
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konradh
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Excellent discussion guys and some very good ideas. Based on this, I will not feel bad about an HPF at 80-100 hz if it sounds good, although I am going to A/B this with a low-freq shelf as Craig suggested and see which works better in the context.
Konrad Current album and more: http://www.themightykonrad.com/ Sonar X1d Producer. V-Studio 700. PC: Intel i7 CPU 3.07GHz, 12 GB RAM. Win 7 64-bit. RealGuitar, RealStrat, RealLPC, Ivory II, Vienna Symphonic, Hollywood Strings, Electr6ity, Acoustic Legends, FabFour, Scarbee Rick/J-Bass/P-Bass, Kontakt 5. NI Session Guitar. Boldersounds, Noisefirm. EZ Drummer 2. EZ Mix. Melodyne Assist. Guitar Rig 4. Tyros 2, JV-1080, Kurzweil PC2R, TC Helicon VoiceWorks+. Rode NT2a, EV RE20. Presonus Eureka. Rokit 6s.
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southpaw3473
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Anderton
I use shelving a lot for bass. HPF more for vocals and guitars where there's significant amount of bass content that's not in the range of the instrument.
I do the same. It's really great having the new X3 Quad Curve eq. It makes shelving, hpf and lpf a snap.
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Maarkr
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You may consider listening to the mix on a system with a sub. Many subs have a 100Hz crossover, including home theater subs, and if you have smaller monitors, you may miss out on a lot of lower activity going on. Leave room for your kick (if the kick is important to you), try side-chaining your kick & bass, or adjust the hpf slope to see what goes on.
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sharke
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Maarkr
You may consider listening to the mix on a system with a sub.
Or a good pair of studio headphones. I'm constantly amazed at the bass in my ATH-M50's. I have a cheap pair of Sony cans for the gym and there's a song in my gym playlist that for ages I thought had no bass line. Listened to it on my M50's last night and to my surprise it actually has a very cool sub bass line which throws the song in a whole new light.
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