Spectrum/EQ/Low-end problems - am I a dummy?

[lookwhaticando]

While I'm trying to roll off all frequencies under around 100Hz for instruments that either aren't supposed to be bassy, or basses that need to leave room for the actual SUB bass, I notice, through Spectrum, that I'm still getting frequencies as low as 12Hz. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Or is this normal? I looked up a YouTube video on mixing using Spectrum, and the guy who made the video didn't seem to have a problem rolling off these frequencies.

I'm just trying to get my mixes to ACTUALLY sound good, rather than me just THINK they sound good.

[lookwhaticando]

Sorry -

I just have an audio track with an EQ-8/Spectrum chain, with the EQ first, and Spectrum last.

Is it really just more of a problem with Live's built-in EQ's? Or am I missing something insanely dumb?

[doghouse]

Is Spectrum really that accurate?

12Hz is really low, do you have tempo-synched effects in any of your sounds? Spectrum might be reacting to that.

[lookwhaticando]

Although the lower frequencies do seem to be attenuated, theoretically, shouldn't everything below 100Hz be completely muted?

[chapelier fou]

Hi-Q activated ?

[lookwhaticando]

Hi-Q activated ?

It is, both on the EQ and the WAV file.

[The Carpet Cleaner]

You're not a dummy, I have the same behavior, and I remember reading some explainations about that, it's about how steep is the filter, but honestly I never understood that correctly so I wouldn't mind someone explainning it again ...

[R7]

It's because of how filters work. You've heard of a 24db and 12db filters (low pass, or high pass), what they mean is that the volume of the frequencies bellow the threshold are reduced by 24db (or 12db) per octave. What this means is when you're high passing you're not just slicing off the sound at the cut off, but the frequencies bellow the cut-off are reduced by an amount depending on the slope of the filter (24/12 or you can find 36db and 48db as well) and how many octaves the frequency is from the cutoff, so the further from the cutoff the more the frequency is reduced. I don't actually know what slope the eq8's filter is, I would guess 24db. So its fairly normal to high pass it and still be left with some low end. I think one reason why generally eq's don't just cut at exactly the cut-off is because I think it would sound quite unatural.

Hope that explained it...

[dazzer]

The latest version of DDMF's IIEQPro has got amazingly steep filters (60db) which are perfect for the extreme cuts that you're after. Cheap too. Highly recommended.

[The Carpet Cleaner]

beautiful, thanks a lot guys !

[noland]

You don't have to get another filter tool. Theres an easy way to handle this in ableton.

HP/LP Total Kill Rack (in 60 seconds)

- take an eq8, set filter 1 to hp and filter 4 to lp
- Duplicate this one with Ctrl+D several times (5 or 6 should do)
- Select them all and group them
- map the freq controls of each filter 1 to macro 1 of the rack and do the freq controls of filter 4 to macro 2
- minimize all the filters but the first
- done!

If you want to spend some more time you can also set up different stacks of filters in seperate chains of the effect rack (chain 1: 1 filter, chain 2: 2 filters, chain 3: 3 filters, and so on) and adjust a macro to the chain selector. so you can choose how many filters you want to use in a row.

[noland]

del

[jasper]

You don't have to get another filter tool. Theres an easy way to handle this in ableton.

HP/LP Total Kill Rack (in 60 seconds)

- take an eq8, set filter 1 to hp and filter 4 to lp
- Duplicate this one with Ctrl+D several times (5 or 6 should do)
- Select them all and group them
- map the freq controls of each filter 1 to macro 1 of the rack and do the freq controls of filter 4 to macro 2
- minimize all the filters but the first
- done!

If you want to spend some more time you can also set up different stacks of filters in seperate chains of the effect rack (chain 1: 1 filter, chain 2: 2 filters, chain 3: 3 filters, and so on) and adjust a macro to the chain selector. so you can choose how many filters you want to use in a row.

this workaround is very funny.
you're suggesting that in order to prevent 12hz from always being in a mix, you should simply s"tack up 15 EQ's in a row and hey, you're done, it was that easy!"
Dude...if 12 Hz is coming out of your DAW there's a bug somewhere.
If you need to stack up EQ's before it goes away..something is really wrong, lol.

[jasper]

Found this thread while searching for this issue.
At first I did notice a lack of headroom with Live.
But then today I discovered why there is a lack of headroom.
Even if it's just a hihat, the spectrum plugin always shows a bar at 12 Hz bouncing up and down.
So I rolled off everything below 30, then 60, then 100...
Then I stacked five or six EQ's in row, all rolled up at about 100...
and that 12 Hz still comes out from this audio engine.
It's one of those things on the "make sure it's fixed before upgrading list"

Why is 12Hz even there AT ALL ?
You can damage your speakers with shit like that, guys, c'mon.

[Tarekith]

You don't need to kill all frees below a point to do the job either, especially for what you're trying to do. Often a simple cut of a few dB below a certain cutoff point does the job and sounds far better than throwing super steep filters on everything.