Producers... Know your Frequencies!!!!

kobal · Post by **kobal** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:45 pm

Wanted to share some frequency ranges with you all. Feel free to contribute

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Text removed because we were informed about a coypright infringement.
The original article can be found here:
http://www.songstuff.com/articles.php?selected=53

Thanks for your understanding.
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Ableton support

mcconaghy · Post by **mcconaghy** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:10 pm

Great post! Everybody should print this out and hang it over their DAWs.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:41 pm

mcconaghy wrote:Great post! Everybody should print this out and hang it over their DAWs.

My thoughts exactly. Thank god for the office laserjet!

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:50 pm

something i do as i use many basslines in my tracks (and i'm speaking for Techno), is roll off the bassline below 100k, and give it a slight boost at 200k.
This gives my kick drum room to breath and not steal frequencies and makes compression sound, well, not so squashy.

other than that, i just use my ears

dont forget to master at at least 48khz (preferably 24bit / 48khz), and then dither/resample to 16bit/44.1khz

that alone will help mixes from getting "muddy", and most soundcards support 48khz for live out.... if you are rendering, and have the CPU power, go for 24bit/96khz!

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:42 pm

I'd cut everything but kicks and bass at below 150 or so, but that's just me... vocals even higher, usually, unless I'm going for Leonard Cohen

-Paws

kobal · Post by **kobal** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:18 pm

Glad to see that we are making some progress here.

kobal · Post by **kobal** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:40 pm

Pretty much the same thing. Just gives a simple idea to what they do. And it's a bit easier on the eyes

20 Hz and below - impossible to detect, remove as it only adds unnecessary energy to the total sound, thereby most probably holding down the overall volume of the track
60 Hz and below - sub bass (feel only)
80(-100) Hz - feel AND hear bass
100-120 Hz - the "club sound system punch" resides here
200 Hz and below - bottom
250 Hz - notch filter here can add thump to a kick drum
150-400 Hz - boxiness
200 Hz-1.5 KHz - punch, fatness, impact
800 Hz-4 KHz - edge, clarity, harshness, defines timbre
4500 Hz - exteremly tiring to the ears, add a slight notch here
5-7 KHz - de-essing is done here
4-9 KHz - brightness, presence, definition, sibilance, high frequency distortion
6-15 KHz - air and presence
9-15 KHz - adding will give sparkle, shimmer, bring out details - cutting will smooth out harshness and darken the mix

milfbait · Post by **milfbait** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 9:29 pm

kobal wrote:s'.
70-100Hz
Boost: For bass lines and bass drums.
Cut: For vocals.
General: Be wary of boosting the bass of too many tracks. Low frequency sounds are particularly vulnerable to phase cancellation between sounds of similar frequency. This can result in a net 'cut of the bass frequencies.

Excellent post. But I have to add, you should only boost the bass on ONE track or you will have mud. You have to decide what is gonna be on the bottom, kick or bass? If you boost both down there they will fight each other.

::mic-minimal:: · Post by **::mic-minimal::** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:02 pm

kobal good lookin out dude, that was very generous of you. you and willyum must be related.

peace

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:04 pm

Yeah, great stuff.

BTW; this applies as early as sound selection, electronica people. If you have a subby bass aand a subby kick, the easiest and often the best thing to do is to simply pick different sound combinations to solve the problem.

Oh, and ALWAYS cut. The pest of the mixer is when everyone boosts all the luverly frequencies and don't cut anything.

A.

hacktheplanet · Post by **hacktheplanet** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:31 pm

Rad!

Looks like I've got some tweaking to do.

Architect · Post by **Architect** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:40 pm

Just remember these settings aren't magic still use your ears and experience to get the type of sounds you want. This is just a general starting point or reference but by all means this isn't a rule to use these settings for those instruments all the time. Good stuff though thanks fellas!

kobal · Post by **kobal** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:41 pm

milfbait wrote:
kobal wrote:s'.
70-100Hz
Boost: For bass lines and bass drums.
Cut: For vocals.
General: Be wary of boosting the bass of too many tracks. Low frequency sounds are particularly vulnerable to phase cancellation between sounds of similar frequency. This can result in a net 'cut of the bass frequencies.
Excellent post. But I have to add, you should only boost the bass on ONE track or you will have mud. You have to decide what is gonna be on the bottom, kick or bass? If you boost both down there they will fight each other.

Well it does depends on how you eq your kick and bass. What I normally do is cut really low and inaudible freqs in my bass, and have my kick sitting just a few frequencies above my bass. That way I can hear both with clairty and there is no fighting. So it is possible

kobal · Post by **kobal** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:44 pm

Architect wrote:Just remember these settings aren't magic still use your ears and experience to get the type of sounds you want. This is just a general starting point or reference but by all means this isn't a rule to use these settings for those instruments all the time. Good stuff though thanks fellas!

True. It was never ment to be magic. The ears determine what fits and what not. These are just Guidelines to help out a bit. The key thing is to

Experiment!!!!

special ed · Post by **special ed** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:40 pm

this is one of the best posts ive read. great info. thanx much.

Producers... Know your Frequencies!!!!

Producers... Know your Frequencies!!!!

Re: Producers... Know your Frequencies!!!!

Re: Producers... Know your Frequencies!!!!