High pass on mastering does not equal to more headroom

[Frankie.T]

I see on different tutorials, from many sources that filtering the low end is the way to go to gain headroom, and is treated like the gravity, something that it's obvious, i see people doing that everytime.
Anyway i disagree with those suggestions, cause this is not how frequencies work, and use this approach regardless can even "damage" your song

So i decided to make some tests to demostrate this, you can watch the following video if you are interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thH3nOzRYNU

tl;dw using an high pass doesn't give you more headroom, instead you can create peaks that can make more truble than benefit.

This doesn't mean you don't have to use filters, i love filters, i use filters, but only if i like the song more, not because of headroom, it's more about the sound, about make the song to sound better, as every other process, sometime i use an high pass, sometime a shelf and sometime nothing, but never do it because of headroom. A proper mix is enough to make a song to sound loud.

What do you think and what are you used to?


Ps: I know people on forums doesn't like that kind of thubnails, i don't like them too, but apparently the way people decide what to watch on youtube is different. I make this premise cause i know someone will say it, but i'd like to talk about the topic, not how youtube work. Thanks

[legendCNCD]

Yeah I dont even use lowpass on master usually, it is not needed when the mix is already having all things considered.

[Azbest]

No filtering on the 2-bus here either. When I put one of my fav producer's tracks through a spectrum analyzer I noticed he has a lot of frequencies in the below 30Hz area. I stopped giving a shit since then.

[NAD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thH3nOzRYNU

Did you turn off Auto Gain in Pro-Q?

[mystran]

Unless you totally screwed up with the invidual tracks (ie. ridiculous rumble or DC offsets, etc), this kind of filtering is basically about as successful in improving headroom as throwing a deck in air is for sorting playing cards. Even if there is a change in headroom, it's more likely you'll get one as a random by-product of phase-shift from minimum-phase filters than from actually removing any significant frequency content. With linear-phase filters (no phase-shift) you should probably except headroom to usually get worse due to additional ringing.

[dark water]

Hello Frankie,

1) currently, until you edit it, your thread title mentions low pass (letting frequencies only below a filter cutoff point pass through) but your thread text talks about high pass (letting frequencies only above a cutoff point pass through).
Your text (high pass / low cut) doesn't seem to match the title (low pass / high cut).

2) I agree with your statement generally: cutting away frequencies should be done primarily for sound / EQ reasons.

However, as you and I know, compression of SOME instruments can sometimes be greatly helped if filters are applied, and this might have a secondary effect of saving headroom come the mastering stage.
This is an issue of context for a song / instrument rather than fitting all cases.

Also, there is an interesting point - questioned most recently in a Dan Worrall video - about YT applying low pass filters anyway, and if that is the case, then perhaps some people might ask why not filter (and gain headroom) music prior to uploading tracks to YT if the social media site is going to do this anyway.

3) If you're going to shout "f**king BULLSHIT' at us in your videos but bleep the sound out (without also pixelating / obscuring your mouth), do be aware that removing only the sound doesn't make it much better if we can mouth-read you perfectly!

Either keep the original sound in, which I would respect more because it's at least honest to your original thought, or also obscure/pixelate your mouth, or just substitute the swearing words for a milder euphemism (we can all understand that, for example, saying 'complete BS' could easily replace "f**king BULLSHIT" and carry pretty much the same feeling).

Cheers.

[Frankie.T]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thH3nOzRYNU

Did you turn off Auto Gain in Pro-Q?

Yes, auto gain was disabled

[Frankie.T]

Hello Frankie,

1) currently, until you edit it, your thread title mentions low pass (letting frequencies only below a filter cutoff point pass through) but your thread text talks about high pass (letting frequencies only above a cutoff point pass through).
Your text (high pass / low cut) doesn't seem to match the title (low pass / high cut).

2) I agree with your statement generally: cutting away frequencies should be done primarily for sound / EQ reasons.

However, as you and I know, compression of SOME instruments can sometimes be greatly helped if filters are applied, and this might have a secondary effect of saving headroom come the mastering stage.
This is an issue of context for a song / instrument rather than fitting all cases.

Also, there is an interesting point - questioned most recently in a Dan Worrall video - about YT applying low pass filters anyway, and if that is the case, then perhaps some people might ask why not filter (and gain headroom) music prior to uploading tracks to YT if the social media site is going to do this anyway.

3) If you're going to shout "f**king BULLSHIT' at us in your videos but bleep the sound out (without also pixelating / obscuring your mouth), do be aware that removing only the sound doesn't make it much better if we can mouth-read you perfectly!

Either keep the original sound in, which I would respect more because it's at least honest to your original thought, or also obscure/pixelate your mouth, or just substitute the swearing words for a milder euphemism (we can all understand that, for example, saying 'complete BS' could easily replace "f**king BULLSHIT" and carry pretty much the same feeling).

Cheers.

Hi!

1) You are right i see if i can fix the title, thanks for pointing out

2) Talking about master bus i prefer to use a sidechain detector for compressor rather than change the sound of my song, if i think it's good, just to make the compressor work "better" also because usually when i use the sidechain feature for the compressor listening i'm more "extreme" i let him listen over 80-100 or even more with a gentle slope, but ofc it always depend on a song, i don't even use a compressor on every master, if doesn't need it i don't use it. I don't have a fixed chain, i just listen the song and apply what i need, that's the way i like to work.
For single instruments i use high pass myself if i need it, i.e. on an Tech House or any bass heavy related song, i may don't need vocal informations let's say below 100hz so there is no issue to remove stuff we don't need, sometime i can apply a low shelf if i think it sound better, than a cut, or just leave it as it is, at the end the point is, "use your ears" to take decisions.

3) Yes i know, it's more just about an ""effect" than a real "censorship" because my content is for adult people, so i'm not worried about give a proper content for kids. First because they usually watch games videos or cartoons, than there is an option on YT where you say specifically that your content isn't made for kids. Anyway thanks for the suggestion, i really appreciate it


Generally speaking i'm happy to see people here to do not applying cuts (or just process) regardless, i made the video, and this topic because i see an embarassing numbers of tutorials on YT and posts on socials, with that suggestion, or other BS, that unfortunatly people seems trust

[MogwaiBoy]

I agree - it could actually create higher peaks (thus reducing headroom, not increasing) and the phase shift of a high pass filter across the entire lows will just smear your bass anyway.

Only use if there's a serious problem down there (DC offset) and you can't go back to the mix and fix it on individual channels.

Besides, 20-30Hz is fully audible and essential for mix depth, provided there's no clashing happening down there (so yes do high pass things that mess with the sub clarity - on an individual, case-by-case basis).

[highkoo]

HPing junk out of individual channels is the way.
Clean it up before it gets to the mix buss.

[DJ Warmonger]

High-passing everything blindly won't.

However, removing DC and infrasonic components certainly will. DC offset effectively reduces the dynamic range of the output speaker, while infrasonic components can take substantial part of signal power while being inaudible.

[camsr]

With a clean, low noise signal, a highpass filter usually is not productive for increasing headroom. They are working best to improve headroom when the signal has some infrasonic noise component at a level that interferes with the rest of the signal. Highpass can be used to easily shape the signal and lower bass levels, which usually does increase headroom. Use gentle slope filters to prevent ringing artifacts and unwanted phase delay in the main sounds.

[ramseysounds]

Why would you even worry about trying to get more ‘headroom’ on the master buss? Just gain stage properly and hi pass every channel to remove unwanted frequencies to prevent build up when you mix. Ignore ridiculous youtube channels.

[astralprojection]

Whoever told you that high-pass a waveform would give you more headroom? I've never heard that before. Asinine statement.
Or you misunderstood it.
High-passing an instrument that does not have much bass to begin with can give you more headroom for the bassline and kick specifically, but that's not what you're saying so I think you got it wrong.

Subsequently low passing an instrument can give you more headroom in terms of less aliasing, and more room for your hihats, cymbal tails, and reverb tails.

The only thing that gives "more headroom" whatever the Heck you mean by that is band passing a signal to make room for another signal intended to occupy that space.
Which is very rarely done cause that doesn't sound good. You want to blend your signals nicely, not isolate them from eachother.

One exception, kick and bassline.
But even then, phase matching is a million times better than cut away from one to leave room for the other.

[Guenon]

Just gain stage properly and hi pass every channel to remove unwanted frequencies to prevent build up when you mix.

"Hi-pass every channel" is perhaps the more commonly encountered myth of this kind, and can also be detrimental to the end result. It's not nearly as often needed as is sometimes portrayed, and it's better just to leave things without processing like this most of the time.