So Ive been reading on HPF and LPF

Last night I brought up a project Ive been learning with and at one time I thought it sounded good but last night it really sounded like it had way to much on the low end

Sitting here with coffee I decided to try it out from the start with an already recorded project and with the difference Im hearing got me to wondering if everyone using starting points on all their tracks takes.  Im seeing a lot online as to having atleast 100 on the HPF on every track outside of Kick and Bass as a starting point.


So here is a screen shot of what I used as my starting points and it seems to have made a huge difference but tomorrow Im afraid it might sound way to bassy again LOL.  

Am I thinking right using HPF and LPF in my intial template or ???   Whats the normal for you?

hpf and lpf is where it's at.

use it, where you need it.

don't arbitrarily assign hpf's


listen to them


move that curve where your ears and monitors tell you they need to be


can't trust your monitors/room?
gotta fix that first



100 is not low enough for most tracks

if something sounds boomy, and is put with something else that sounds boomy, it's gonna be boomy when they are all together



focus on masking


don't do a lot of solo'ing of tracks, that does not matter.

what matters is the mix


at least listen in 'clusters' of tracks, to find the buildups


think of carving frequencies out of certain tracks to allow places for other tracks to sit

but be very critical about moving the low end of the bass guitar and kick drum around, so they do not sit on top of each other.

does not matter which goes high, or which goes low, only that they are different

and don't think everything below 100 causes boom


sometimes, you will want to push 50-80 up, while nuking 145-250


it all depends on your source and method of capture

It really seems to have separated everything out better and Im not hearing/feeling that low end as bad now and the bass and kick still sound good for now but seem to be separated alot better and stand out more.

It kinda makes me want to go back and redo all my other projects to see how it works on them.  

The joys of being a beginner  

Thanks Bat,

LOL Ive been typing over ya during a reply.

Well Id like to say I trust my monitors cause when I play a reference track that I like, it sounds great and as expected.  I think I have more of a problem trusting my ears.

Maybe its still the ears thing in training more than anything.  As I listen, mix and slowly get better in my own way, I notice more and more and question what Ive done prior.

I thought I had the carving out the EQ down but now I feel like I should have started with the HPF and LPF before doing anything.  Make sense?

As far as starting points... it's fairly straightforward.

Instruments have undertone harmonics and rooms can sometimes create emphasis to the undertones however, it's fairly safe to start out with lo-cuts when you have knowledge of where each instrument plays on the spectrum.

That's why the low region is often reserved for the instruments that are expected to use that region; the Kick and bass.

I lo-cut the kick at 10-20hz and the bass at 30-40hz and most of the rest of the stuff get's lo-cut where it's suitable. 100hz is a good staring point.

I always check each track out at some point just to make sure I haven't over looked some important undertone or resonance. For example; a mic'd acoustic guitar will have a lot of useful sound below the lowest note's voicing... which can be great for sparse arrangements, but that's the same stuff you'll want to clean out on a dense arrangement... so every decision should have a context.


Charts like this make it easier to get started:








I like to lo-pass filters to weed out any phase flutter that is happening above a instruments useful range. It's hard to hear, doesn't help, and makes stuff sound disconcerting when it doesn't need to.


I like to use hi-shelfs when I just want to sculpt and bit of either "tameness" or "air".






Have fun.




best regards,
mike

Hey Mike?

Looking at the bars on each item (red, yellow, and black),

What is their intentions/scaling on doing it that way?

Is it somewhat set the HPF  toward the yellow and slop into the reds or??? 

I dont see a legend for it on the chart.  (wouldnt mind having thischart to post up on the wall either   )

Take the Bass for example

Set the leave the main EQ 350-4500 alone

Slope the HPF 350 down to somewhere in the 40-60 range

LPF 4500 and up


Am I think correct as a starting point

digi2ns


Hey Mike?

Looking at the bars on each item (red, yellow, and black),

What is their intentions/scaling on doing it that way?

Is it somewhat set the HPF  toward the yellow and slop into the reds or??? 

I dont see a legend for it on the chart.  (wouldnt mind having thischart to post up on the wall either   )

Shucks Mike. Great questions.


I just googled Instrument frequency chart and I liked the colors on that one so I didn't look at the details that inspired your question:






Here's where it's from:


http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

Black surrounded by Red: Low fundamentals

Red: Fundamentals

Yellow: Harmonics

Black surrounded by Yellow: Overblow/Breath/Air


I just looked at them and considered the whole stripe... most of the other similar charts do it that way.


best regards,
mike