Questions on eqing and splitting bass frequencies

[jimborchardt18]

So after reading through a couple of threads, i have a couple questions

1. When you say cut out any frequencies over say 90 hz, does that mean when i throw a spectrum analyzer on my drums or something that the frequency should peak here or that there should be absolutely no frequencies over 90 hz?

2. Also when splitting up your bass frequencies, what do you guys usually do. Say i am using massive, would you pull in two or three instances of massive and eq each one, or just eq one instance of it?

3. When creating a sub for the track, should i create a completely new instants of massive for the sub or just use my already existing basslines for the sub?

Thanks guys I appreciate your help

[deadly_habit]

So after reading through a couple of threads, i have a couple questions

1. When you say cut out any frequencies over say 90 hz, does that mean when i throw a spectrum analyzer on my drums or something that the frequency should peak here or that there should be absolutely no frequencies over 90 hz?

2. Also when splitting up your bass frequencies, what do you guys usually do. Say i am using massive, would you pull in two or three instances of massive and eq each one, or just eq one instance of it?

3. When creating a sub for the track, should i create a completely new instants of massive for the sub or just use my already existing basslines for the sub?

Thanks guys I appreciate your help

1. no unless your eq or filter has an -infinite db per octave setting.
2. 1 instance with the output being sent to 3 separate busses
3. it varies on the sound, frequency content and what type of sound you want

[jimborchardt18]

So after reading through a couple of threads, i have a couple questions

1. When you say cut out any frequencies over say 90 hz, does that mean when i throw a spectrum analyzer on my drums or something that the frequency should peak here or that there should be absolutely no frequencies over 90 hz?

2. Also when splitting up your bass frequencies, what do you guys usually do. Say i am using massive, would you pull in two or three instances of massive and eq each one, or just eq one instance of it?

3. When creating a sub for the track, should i create a completely new instants of massive for the sub or just use my already existing basslines for the sub?

Thanks guys I appreciate your help

1. no unless your eq or filter has an -infinite db per octave setting.
2. 1 instance with the output being sent to 3 separate busses
3. it varies on the sound, frequency content and what type of sound you want

Thanks for you help man, i appreciate it.
So for clarification there should be no frequencies say over 90 hz?

And sorry im new to this but what to you mean 3 different busses?

[OlzaMK]

The instance (massive) is loaded into 3 seperate mixer channels

3 channels playing the same instance, but each instance has certain frequencies cut. (hi/mid/lows)

and on each 3 channels is where you can add varieties of different fx and eqs

Lol I tried to sum it up, but I'm just as clueless as you.
I use FL so it might be a little different for ya,

[jimborchardt18]

The instance (massive) is loaded into 3 seperate mixer channels

3 channels playing the same instance, but each instance has certain frequencies cut. (hi/mid/lows)

and on each 3 channels is where you can add varieties of different fx and eqs

Lol I tried to sum it up, but I'm just as clueless as you.
I use FL so it might be a little different for ya,

Thank you that perfectly explains it, im still confused on equing though if any one wants to help

[deadly_habit]

The instance (massive) is loaded into 3 seperate mixer channels

3 channels playing the same instance, but each instance has certain frequencies cut. (hi/mid/lows)

and on each 3 channels is where you can add varieties of different fx and eqs

Lol I tried to sum it up, but I'm just as clueless as you.
I use FL so it might be a little different for ya,

Thank you that perfectly explains it, im still confused on equing though if any one wants to help

Code: Select all

low pass band pass high pass
---\           /-\        /---

they're going to overlap each other as when you set the cut points on them depending on the filter you use it reduces the other bands per octave by that db level

[jimborchardt18]

The instance (massive) is loaded into 3 seperate mixer channels

3 channels playing the same instance, but each instance has certain frequencies cut. (hi/mid/lows)

and on each 3 channels is where you can add varieties of different fx and eqs

Lol I tried to sum it up, but I'm just as clueless as you.
I use FL so it might be a little different for ya,

Thank you that perfectly explains it, im still confused on equing though if any one wants to help

Code: Select all

low pass band pass high pass
---\           /-\        /---

they're going to overlap each other as when you set the cut points on them depending on the filter you use it reduces the other bands per octave by that db level

Thank you but what i am still confused about is when someone says frequencies shouldn't go over 90 hz does that mean it should peak before that or there should be absolutely no frequencies after 90

[deadly_habit]

The instance (massive) is loaded into 3 seperate mixer channels

3 channels playing the same instance, but each instance has certain frequencies cut. (hi/mid/lows)

and on each 3 channels is where you can add varieties of different fx and eqs

Lol I tried to sum it up, but I'm just as clueless as you.
I use FL so it might be a little different for ya,

Thank you that perfectly explains it, im still confused on equing though if any one wants to help

Code: Select all

low pass band pass high pass
---\           /-\        /---

they're going to overlap each other as when you set the cut points on them depending on the filter you use it reduces the other bands per octave by that db level

Thank you but what i am still confused about is when someone says frequencies shouldn't go over 90 hz does that mean it should peak before that or there should be absolutely no frequencies after 90

what tutorial are you going off of so i can try to clarify it
it means gen to set your cutoff at or a lil bit before that point

[Basic A]

You need to use a linear phase eq properly setup or the multiband compression technique.

You cant split frequencies using normal EQs or filters is what deadly has been trying to tell you, hes just saying it very technically.

[jimborchardt18]

The instance (massive) is loaded into 3 seperate mixer channels

3 channels playing the same instance, but each instance has certain frequencies cut. (hi/mid/lows)

and on each 3 channels is where you can add varieties of different fx and eqs

Lol I tried to sum it up, but I'm just as clueless as you.
I use FL so it might be a little different for ya,

Thank you that perfectly explains it, im still confused on equing though if any one wants to help

Code: Select all

low pass band pass high pass
---\           /-\        /---

they're going to overlap each other as when you set the cut points on them depending on the filter you use it reduces the other bands per octave by that db level

Thank you but what i am still confused about is when someone says frequencies shouldn't go over 90 hz does that mean it should peak before that or there should be absolutely no frequencies after 90

what tutorial are you going off of so i can try to clarify it
it means gen to set your cutoff at or a lil bit before that point

I get it now, just read through a thread that helped out a lot. Generally, what frequencies do mid basslines sit at, between the kick and snare?

[jimborchardt18]

You need to use a linear phase eq properly setup or the multiband compression technique.

You cant split frequencies using normal EQs or filters is what deadly has been trying to tell you, hes just saying it very technically.

word, thanks man. Do you know of any good tutorials or threads that will explain multiband compression or linear phase eq?

[Basic A]

You need to use a linear phase eq properly setup or the multiband compression technique.

You cant split frequencies using normal EQs or filters is what deadly has been trying to tell you, hes just saying it very technically.

word, thanks man. Do you know of any good tutorials or threads that will explain multiband compression or linear phase eq?

Im not actually telling you you need to compress it, rather just take advantage of the fact that most daws come with a multiband compressor, and this is your best bet to a linear phase eq.

Route he original mixer signal to 3 different mixer tracks.

Load a multiband compressor on one, and tweak to band frequencies to your liking.

Save as preset.

Load these on each of those 3 mixer tracks I had you route.

Somewhere on the multiband compressor youll have an option to mute bands... usually muted/active/passive switch. go through soloing 1 band per mixer route.

Now when you bus those 3 signals back together, they will sound exactly how they did when you split them, not being affected by phase issues cause by the overlaps on normal filters/eqs.

[gh02]

this tut explains splitting frequencies in Live, but the principle applies to any DAW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK-UKZuXssk

[staticcast]

You need to use a linear phase eq properly setup or the multiband compression technique.

You cant split frequencies using normal EQs or filters is what deadly has been trying to tell you, hes just saying it very technically.

...bullshit

[staticcast]

So after reading through a couple of threads, i have a couple questions

1. When you say cut out any frequencies over say 90 hz, does that mean when i throw a spectrum analyzer on my drums or something that the frequency should peak here or that there should be absolutely no frequencies over 90 hz?

A filter that actually "cuts out all frequencies above x" is called an "ideal LPF". Such a thing doesn't exist. Well, it does, but it's neither practical nor a good idea to use for various technical reasons. When people say "cut everything above x" or "stick a LPF on with a cutoff of x", what they mean is "use a filter that starts rolling off around "x. In other words, if x=100Hz, then at 200Hz it might attenuate by -6dB, at 400Hz by -12 dB, and so on. You can see this on the LPF section of any standard EQ curve -- everything doesn't suddenly drop to minus infinity at the corner frequency, it "slopes" downwards.

On a spectrum analyzer, you shouldn't expect to see exactly the same slope, unless you started out with white noise. Rather, what you should see is the same signal as you'd get without the filter, but with the level above frequency x starting to fall off, the higher you go. Try enabling and disabling the filter and comparing the spectrum.

This is why there's no point low-passing a pure sine sub: a pure sine is a spike on your spectrogram. If you stick a LPF on it, you still get a spike on your spectrogram, at the same frequency. It might just be a bit quieter, that's all.

2. Also when splitting up your bass frequencies, what do you guys usually do. Say i am using massive, would you pull in two or three instances of massive and eq each one, or just eq one instance of it?

I would do the former, so that you can use a different patch for your sub and for your mids and process them separately.

3. When creating a sub for the track, should i create a completely new instants of massive for the sub or just use my already existing basslines for the sub?

For a sub I'd use something less heavyweight than Massive, for a start. But apart from that, I'd use a pretty much clean patch, with the same MIDI clip as you're using for the mid line.

[jimborchardt18]

Thanks to all of you!!! so helpful