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Hi production people

Ok, so i'm pretty ok with how to EQ my low end frequencies for Dubstep, but not sure where i should cut the high end? any ideas?

i notice sometimes that my tracks have a little bit too much energy in the top end, which is cool at low volumes or on your monitors, but at high volumes and possibly on big rigs, the high end may be a little too harsh.

any specific frequency cuts would be much appreciated, especially on the master and drum tracks....

cheers!

MarchMellow

gaston_UK wrote:Hi production people

Ok, so i'm pretty ok with how to EQ my low end frequencies for Dubstep, but not sure where i should cut the high end? any ideas?

i notice sometimes that my tracks have a little bit too much energy in the top end, which is cool at low volumes or on your monitors, but at high volumes and possibly on big rigs, the high end may be a little too harsh.

any specific frequency cuts would be much appreciated, especially on the master and drum tracks....

cheers!

MarchMellow

this will be interesting for me also I always try to cut the high frequencies when they're to louder but I don't know If I'm doin well or not

eqing is never gonna have one set answer for where to cut and where to boost....it varies with every instance.

one trick for eqing is to make it sound as bad as possible and then do exactly the opposite!
for example, make a boost in ur eq, move the boost from left to right to find the set of frequencies that sound most horrible when boosted, and make small cuts here.

also a/b ur tracks with some released tracks u like, you'll notice if yours have too much high end immediatly...

B-LAM wrote: one trick for eqing is to make it sound as bad as possible and then do exactly the opposite!

safe advice. invaluable for break eqing.

ok,

I heard somewhere ( think it was the chase & status tutorial in ComputerMusic ) that on all your tracks you should just cut the high end at a certain frequency if you play the track out in clubs, because if this frequency is too prominent the PA's limiter will kick in in a big way.

anyone else heard of this at all?

gaston_UK wrote:ok,

I heard somewhere ( think it was the chase & status tutorial in ComputerMusic ) that on all your tracks you should just cut the high end at a certain frequency if you play the track out in clubs, because if this frequency is too prominent the PA's limiter will kick in in a big way.

anyone else heard of this at all?

yep not sure what the recommended frequency is but i got mates who do d'n'b and roll off the highs after 16k
partly to do with the dnb sound anyways but also to do with the system

download a spectrum analyzer (there was a thread on good free ones last week)
play a few tunes you like and monitor their frequency range, if a pattern emerges then nick it!

i like to roll everything out of the tune past 17k or so... they do this anyway at the mastering house for vinyl cos those frequencies can't be cut

ramadanman wrote:i like to roll everything out of the tune past 17k or so... they do this anyway at the mastering house for vinyl cos those frequencies can't be cut

So, for example Ramadanman, if you were handing out some tunes before they had been cut , you would just cut at 17 yourself right? or do you not bother unless you know its gonna get played out?

i'm just curious!

it depends really

personally im not into crystal clear sparkly hi end anyway. i'd generally just roll it off the drums bus rather than the whole tune

ramadanman wrote:it depends really

personally im not into crystal clear sparkly hi end anyway. i'd generally just roll it off the drums bus rather than the whole tune

yeah, thats my main gripe really, the drums sounding a little too 'shiny' so to speak. i'll give it a go, cheers for the info.

another little thing while we're talking about drums, snares in particular, i know that they should sit around 200hz or there abouts, but do you roll off frequencies after that, cause when i do it seems to drown out the snare completely. ofcourse i may have a few snares, one a little more bassy, one a bit more higher in frequency, but is that higher frequency snare going to 'collide' with other sounds such as pads or hats, anything sitting higher up in the mix, and is that why the snare sometimes seems to jump out a bit/or seem to be drowned out... i do use spectrum analyzers, but there not that useful unless you vaguley know why certain frequencies are ...where they are..if you get me!

the impact of a snare is around 200-- often, not always-- but there's a lot more sound to a real snare drum. the crack of the stick hitting the head can be anywhere around 1.5khz up to 4 or 5, even... snare rattle lives between 8 and 12, and then harmonics in between all of this. 5-800 is usually mud for a snare.

vinyl rolls off the high-end, sure, but otherwise most mastering engineers will do a high shelf, up often a lot--like 6 db--. maybe at 8, maybe 10, maybe 12... depends on the tune.

what you want out of your high end is clarity of all the parts, not a super-shiny mix just by turning it up. For me getting the hi-end nice and clean is a lot harder than the low-end, and a lot more specific.

i almost never roll off hi's; i'll find the bad freq and yank it out, though-- hats at 8k, etc. snares, you almost always want to have something going up there just so that it 'sits' in the mix. breaks, sure-- fuck 'em up however. and kick usually need something in the 3-6k area to cut through.

synths and basses though-- totally-- filter it away. or try it, at least.

rolling off the hi's of a mix overall can turn an otherwise nice mix into a dull one, which DJ's won't play because it doesn't sound crisp enough. it's one thing on vinyl-- whole other thing when it's a home master off a cd-r.

sound advice TeReKeTe, much appreciated, i'll give your suggestions a go, andtell ya the outcome.

i'm glad you said that rolling off the top of everything isn't a must, i was hoping this was the case.

Good topic and thanks for the knoladge




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Best to use an implement with a serrated edge, I find a bread knife to be effective.

whatever sound right man!

If you want to cut all your high end from a certain frequency up you should use a bandpass filter and set it up higher. Other than that you should really eq each instrument or sound involved in the high end seperatly. Just play around with it until it sounds good.

Also, do you know for certain that on a loud system the high end is too much? Don't just assume this, you should def listen to it loud enough to tell before jumping to a conclusion like that.

AFL wrote:If you want to cut all your high end from a certain frequency up you should use a bandpass filter and set it up higher. Other than that you should really eq each instrument or sound involved in the high end seperatly. Just play around with it until it sounds good.

Also, do you know for certain that on a loud system the high end is too much? Don't just assume this, you should def listen to it loud enough to tell before jumping to a conclusion like that.

yeah, your probably right, most people have said my stuff has sounded good when played out, probably just my ears and my monitors... i was just curious as to whether there were frequencies you should just literally avoid pushing too much.

i used to roll everything above 16K off, but after a MAMMOTH thread on DOA debating the merits of barely audible energy on hi hats/rides that exists above this point i have become more wary...

I conducted a lickle rudimentary experiment with a sine wave and my frequency analyser and discovered that i could hear frequencies as high as 19k...

So i now roll everything off above this point (17-19k) as standard -just for the sake of the extra headroom to be gained- and everything else i leave to taste and the individual merits of the track.

No point compromising the sound of a track in preparation for what a mastering engineer will do for you anyway!

shortstuff wrote:i used to roll everything above 16K off, but after a MAMMOTH thread on DOA debating the merits of barely audible energy on hi hats/rides that exists above this point i have become more wary...

I conducted a lickle rudimentary experiment with a sine wave and my frequency analyser and discovered that i could hear frequencies as high as 19k...

So i now roll everything off above this point (17-19k) as standard -just for the sake of the extra headroom to be gained- and everything else i leave to taste and the individual merits of the track.

No point compromising the sound of a track in preparation for what a mastering engineer will do for you anyway!

What speakers did you use for the experiment?

JTransition, do you work at Transition?

if so, whats your take on this topic?