KVR Audio

s7a5 · Post by **s7a5** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 8:31 am

When working with kick drums and basslines should I cut everything below 50hz? (using eq)
I know boosting those evil frequencies can damage monitors but i still donno if I should cut them or leave them flat

P.T. · Post by **P.T.** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 9:51 am

Unless you're doing a type of music that makes use of such deep bass it is good practice to cut it. The exact
cut off freq is the question.

If you don't cut it you will be using up a lot of headroom on bass sounds that you can barely hear, or depending on the playback system used, can't hear at all. Bass uses a lot of energy.

intel · Post by **intel** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 9:52 am

I generally cut everything below 20Hz. sometimes 18Hz, depending on what I'm working with.

50Hz is still within the range of human hearing, so I wouldn't cut it completely. lower than that you drop out of the range of hearing and get into frequencies that just rattle speaker cones, and that's not a desired effect.

s7a5 · Post by **s7a5** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:02 am

tanks alot guys for reply
so when im cutting the frequencies i should cut everything below about 20hz but do i leave the other 30 hz untouched (flat)?
cuz ive read somewhere that boosting within 50hz and down may damage speakers

Mental Audio Deviations · Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:44 am

s7a5 wrote:cuz ive read somewhere that boosting within 50hz and down may damage speakers

I suppose you could insert a good limiter before the output and just try what sounds good.

Sepheritoh · Post by **Sepheritoh** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:56 pm

In general, you should do the cut-off on individual tracks and not on the master bus.

I would think that anything that you do not specificaly want to be there should be removed. That goes with all frequencies in general, but even more so with bass. The less "noise" you have, the better your mix will fit in general.

For guitars you may want you cut-off at about 80hz, as anything below that is mainly noise. For strings and pads, other than bass strings, you may even want to raise the cut-off point higher (100-120).

If you follow that kind of route for all your instruments you may end up with some space for your kick / bass drums and bass. If you then leave it (or have a cut-off at no higher than 20hz) your bass will come through more effective if you play it back on a home theatre system that has a LFO channel.

just 1/2c worth.

Sepheritoh · Post by **Sepheritoh** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:03 pm

Mental Audio Deviations wrote:
s7a5 wrote:cuz ive read somewhere that boosting within 50hz and down may damage speakers
I suppose you could insert a good limiter before the output and just try what sounds good.

The problem with bass is often that you do not even hear it on most monitor systems. Even if it sounds good, there are energies below 20hz that you can not hear on your monitors.

Most of us are not that lucky, but it just might happen that somebody wants to play your track back on a club system, home theatre or a cinima system with masive LFO woofers and the noise you left there sounds just like a rumble.

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:57 pm

I make Drum n' Bass, typically using A LOT of sub bass, and I cut it off at 20hz.

declassified · Post by **declassified** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 11:07 pm

Chase wrote:I make Drum n' Bass, typically using A LOT of sub bass, and I cut it off at 20hz.

Do you use that distorted bass sound or sine waves?

[EDIT]You answered my question in another thread...

With sine waves, the answer is quite easy i guess...

Just determine the frequency of the lowest and highest tone of your bassline and cut everything else off

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 11:10 pm

superstition wrote:
Chase wrote:I make Drum n' Bass, typically using A LOT of sub bass, and I cut it off at 20hz.
Do you use that distorted bass sound or sine waves?

Both

Cut or not cut..