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how low is too low? i know this differs from situation to situation. but would say a low C be audible/present on most systems or good speakers? what is the lowest note audible/present for say a simple sine. this is just a question about frequencies not really saying im going to follow this when making music.
thanks

i read some where that 40 is low as shit so i cut at 35 with ozone, meh..

oxith_lo wrote:how low is too low? i know this differs from situation to situation. but would say a low C be audible/present on most systems or good speakers? what is the lowest note audible/present for say a simple sine. this is just a question about frequencies not really saying im going to follow this when making music.
thanks

I never go below 40 hz , and i always cut at 30 hz... And i find that F is usually the most present note.

What the most prominent note is depends greatly on the system and the room acoustics. If you are writing music to be played on a club system, you are safe to go down to 32 Hz (C) and, but many shittier quality or smaller speaker systems start to lose a lot of power at 40-42 hz or so, so keep that in mind.
I love me a low D, 36,7hz.

Never too low, I'm all about the 1Hz vibe, so deep.

You have these things called ears. They allow you to hear things. I'd suggest using those

Kit Fysto wrote:You have these things called ears. They allow you to hear things. I'd suggest using those

Ears can only hear what the system you're using to playback can cope with though. I've had to 'guess' my sub in the past when I've been mixing down on shitty equipment...sometimes I got it right, sometimes I'd hear it played on a decent sysytem and be like "woah, fucked that up...".

Plus the comments re; in a club environment...not every 'club' is going to have a fantastic soundsystem capable of handling all the low frequency stuff. The medium could well be a DJ in a small bar in Helsinki (true story) playing back on a pair of Mackie monitors to handle front of house sound.

thanks for replies guys. much appreciated.

yo it depends on the system it's intended for

cut at 20. 30hz is the best frequency to listen to on subs in a car. people saying that 40hz is high are crazy. 40hz isnt that low

Didn't want to start a new thread for such a similar question, but...where do you guys normally like your mid range synths fundamentals to be hitting at? I normally low pass them at 150 to give room for the kick, and am having some trouble finding a good frequency to start them off at. I'm talking a burial-esque reese that sits low down, but is still above the kick.

150 is probably a little high for your kick but it depends on the sample. Try combining eq and sidechaining to clear up your kick

My kick hits much lower than that, but given the nature of a gradual slope on a low pass I've just been feeling comfortable giving in plenty of room to breathe. I want it to dominate the lows while the bass sits ever so slightly above it. idk if i'm making sense.

40hz is usually where you get the most power from good sound systems.

that's why people write so many edm songs in F through A. because the sub bass hits the hardest in that range. Em is too low, Fm is pushing it, F#m is perfect - unless you're trying to write in modes, of course.

you don't need anything passed 28hz. 30hz is almost inaudible, but that's about as low as anything should ever need to be. unless you're designing like soundscapes and effects for movies or something.

By low C if you mean C 1, I would find that probably a bit TOO low for most systems. I myself normally never go lower than D#.

E, F, F#, G are all good keys.

I high pass my tunes around 30.

As for a mid range bass, that would depend on the nature of the bass. Doctor P's Big Boss would probably have been low passed at around 100,000,00 hz, whereas if you're making dungeon somewhere around the region of 150-500 maybe.

musicandme wrote:Didn't want to start a new thread for such a similar question, but...where do you guys normally like your mid range synths fundamentals to be hitting at? I normally low pass them at 150 to give room for the kick, and am having some trouble finding a good frequency to start them off at. I'm talking a burial-esque reese that sits low down, but is still above the kick.

For reeses I'd cut them for the sub bass, but for the kick I'd notch an EQ in the reese rather than cutting above the kick.

It's a sine wave... no need to high pass the sub, there's no content below (or above) the fundamental

fv2k wrote:It's a sine wave... no need to high pass the sub, there's no content below (or above) the fundamental

while true in theory, it's rarely true in practice. tend to get pops and clicks from the synth's envelopes, which is usually easier to fix by just low passing.

also, most people saturate their sub a little, and low pass it so the harmonics are subtle but still present.

A sine wave that is PURE will have no additional content, but as per post above, DAW processing will normally add artifacts either desirable or no, so I'd say it's good practice to LP/HP your sub.

Human ears can't hear anything below 20hz. 40hz and above is typically good for a chest rattling sub. E,F and G are favoured root keys to achieve this, C is probably a bit too low. The lowest i've personally written anything is D#. Have a play and find out what works for you.