HPF on heavy guitars?

MX582

Member
May 20, 2006
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Katy, Texas
where do you guys usually roll off the high pass filter on heavily distorted guitars without taking away from the grunt of a palm muted riff?
 
so far ive been cutting off around 60hz but ive heard some people going as high as 150hz..gahh i need more accurate monitors for low end cus its hard to tell whats going on down there with the monitors i mixing on right now
 
If I put a HPF on, i'll usually do it between 100 and 150Hz. It generally ends up being around 120Hz, mainly so that it just cleans the low end up for the instruments that need it, but still leaves the balls in the tone.
 
I used to go as high as 100hz, but realized in recent times that it's too excessive. It destroys the weight of the cab behind the tone and generally leaves you with a flat, two-dimensional sound.

60-80 is about right. Lately, I've actually taken to boosting 90-100Hz on guitars as per Colin's recommendation as it really does add the life and sound of the cab into the sound. You get that 'oomph' that you generally only get from being in the room, but without necessarily destroying the low end of your mix, if you're careful.
 
Lately, I've actually taken to boosting 90-100Hz on guitars as per Colin's recommendation as it really does add the life and sound of the cab into the sound. You get that 'oomph' that you generally only get from being in the room, but without necessarily destroying the low end of your mix, if you're careful.

hmmm ill have to try that sometime..

ive been checking out the Event precision 8's which have a pretty accurate low end..im thinking about picking up a pair..hopefully that will make it easier to hear whats going on
 
Keep your room in mind. My greatest hinderance with hearing low-end accurately is this plastered box piece of shit excuse for a room. Putting up bass traps would probably do more to improve low-end clarity than getting a new speaker system.

I find that 110 to 160Hz tend to be the problem areas for most rooms.
 
well im doing 90% of my mixing on yamaha hs 50s and the low end sucks on those things...i plan on getting bass traps at some point but i think a pair of 8" speakers would definatly help too
 
I high pass my heavy guitars all the time. Depending on the tone and song, it's usually somewhere around 100Hz. I also tend to drop the 160Hz region also by a few dBs, there's always a ton of energy in that area during heavy palm muting that will make regular consumer stereo speakers fart out.

If the bass is sitting just right you won't notice the missing low end from the guitars. Getting that bass to sit right is a bitch though...jeez...
 
If the bass is sitting just right you won't notice the missing low end from the guitars. Getting that bass to sit right is a bitch though...jeez...

has anyone tried using auto tune or some kind of pitch correction on a bass? i heard that this helps it sit in the mix alot better because a bass is never perfectly intune since the strings are flopping around..expecially in drop tunings
 
has anyone tried using auto tune or some kind of pitch correction on a bass? i heard that this helps it sit in the mix alot better because a bass is never perfectly intune since the strings are flopping around..expecially in drop tunings

The best way to solve this is to get the bass player to intonate his/her instrument. Also, if the song has drop tunings, increase the string gauges. My basses very rarely drift significantly out of tune even during long sustained notes. I've tested the note holding sustain of my 4- and 5-strings in the tunings Drop C (4-string), B-standard (5-string) and Drop A (5-string). The low string gauges I use are either 105 (4-string) or 125 (5-string). I've tried both heavier and lighter, and these seem to sound best with my guitars and hold the sustain I need for behind some of the solos.

Cheers,
Richard "doc":kickass:
 
well im doing 90% of my mixing on yamaha hs 50s and the low end sucks on those things...i plan on getting bass traps at some point but i think a pair of 8" speakers would definatly help too

I own the Event sp8's and they kick ballz man. Big improvement form the beringher lier monitors lol
 
i learned to crank the "bass" section of the eq (on the amp) almost all the way down when recording bass

that is, if you're going direct

with a mic, its a different story

you dont necessarily need the low end below 80 hz of a bass

i usually try to favor the low mid before i favor the low on bass tracks

but as far as guitar goes, i let it fly flat in the mix. i dont cut off anything and i usually try not to boost anything. my philosophy for recording guitars has always been, get the tone you want now! dont save it for later.