Put your tricks and tips here!

droddey


As a side comment on the HPF/LPF thing, also accept that the world will not end if you have a mic more than 1 millimeter from a guitar amp, and various other things. Back the mics off and you'll naturally get reduced low-lows and presence highs, and be closer to where you want to be without processing, possibly all the way there if you also are diligent about mixing with your fingers. This was a completely standard procedure back when, but it somehow seems to have gotten lost for a lot of people, or so it seems sometimes from reading comments.

Yeh, most of us homies don't have great sounding rooms, but if you experiment you can probably find places in a reasonably treated room where you can get back from the mic and not have problems that overwhelm the benefits I think. And you also just naturally get a more 'pushed back' sound without needing so much ambience to create it artificially. Not that so many people are into distance or depth in recordings these days I guess. But, if you are, try getting it naturally and you might be successful and avoid yet still more processing. Once you've learned the tricks that work in your room, it won't be an ongoing time burden probably.

Jeff Evans

Do you really want to be carving our valuable 40 Hz information from the bass sound. But park a 24 dB/Oct HPF set at 80- Hz means there will be no bass left and it will all sound a little thin you see.

Jeff Evans


getting things right at the source first. 

get the sound really happening from the source.

Once your initial tracks are sounding good then one can look at using eq to make things sound a little different or better.

mattplaysguitar


I've got to ask... What is so special about exactly 79Hz....?

Does it have something to do with the E2 being 82Hz and the D# being 78Hz? If so, this would really only apply to songs written in E, would it not?

mattplaysguitar


I've got to ask... What is so special about exactly 79Hz....?

Does it have something to do with the E2 being 82Hz and the D# being 78Hz? If so, this would really only apply to songs written in E, would it not?

Jeff Evans


Mastering is one way to do it but keeping the low end in check during the mix is also a good and better way to do it as well. I think you have turn up the music pretty loud actually to really hear how the bottom is really sounding. Some here say oh wow 85 dB SPL is just so loud and I cannot go that high for various reasons. But even at 85 dB SPL you don't really hear the bass so well. I find once you get into 95 dB and plus levels then the bass really stands out and begins to shine. Of course you don't have to stay up there for long but I still believe you have to go up loud at some time during an important mix. When you jump in your car to check out a mix do you do it softly, I say no you don't you crank it, well I do anyway![/quote 
 
Yeah mastering is a totally different animal in how *I* deal with low end. I was speaking more from a mix perspective. Watch curbing 60 Jeff...it will take away the "oomph" in your kick drums just about always. Try removing 40 and below as this will allow the good stuff in the 50's and 60's to still be there for impact purposes. The only time I touch 60 in a mastering situation is when someone may have too much thud in a kick drum or they have their bass accentuating in that area. Most times though, once I remove the low mid mud and all the stuff under 40, I can actually pump 60 up a dB or so to add a bit more definition to the kick or bass guitar. But it's rare for me to cut in that area...then again, it depends on the style of music. For rock, kicks and basses are going to end up in this area and need the force there. Sometimes a mix may have too much of this, other times, not enough. It's always different though as we know. :)
 
-Danny