Important frequencies in a mix

[::XeS::]

Hi
Actually I'm mixing a song. A few days ago I tried to do a test mix to check how it sounded. I thought it sounded good but checking it on my car it sucked so much.
So I tried to compare it with some reference song (a Jacob Hansen's one and a Tue Madsen's one), through a level meter.
First impressions was: my mix sounded Close,not too much exciting,really flat)
I found that each reference songs had a scoop around 250Hz-500Hz and much more trebbles and punchy sound.
So I tried to eq a little the "scooped" zone and to raise the hi-freq area....now it seems better but tomorrow I re-mix totally the song having in mind these frequencies.
Now the question: are there any general key-frequencies to avoid some weird sounds?
For example, 250Hz-500Hz could give a "carton"/closed sound?
Moreover, where can I get addictional highs without fucks-up cymbals,snare and kick? Cymbals have already lot of highs, also guitars and voice....so I don't know..
What do you think?

 

[ahjteam]

Have you highpassed everything? That can sometimes give you as much as 5-20 dB of headroom for the tracks when you remove all the low frequency rumble you won't need, and the best part is that when you highpass the tracks, you gain clarity for the whole mix as "the less there is stuff, the better you hear it". Applies to all areas of the frequency spectrum.

For example you can highpass the overhead tracks at 400-700hz and vocals at 80-200hz without losing anything vital. They might lose a bit of the body, but they might fit the mix a whole lot better. For example with drums, I usually have like 3-7 highpasses in the mix before they hit the speakers (pre-compressor eq, post-compressor eq, bus-compressor, pre-limiter, parallel compression and the master bus). I usually also have a highpass filter at the master bus, usually 24dB/oct at 35hz.

Also check out the raw tracks from the producer edition of Lamb of God's Sacrament album, you might notice the same effect here. The sounds as one are pretty thin sounding, but they form pretty heavy sounding when put together as a whole.

 

[::XeS::]

Tomorrow I'll start to mix from the start another time, so I'll take more attention on it. But that 250-500Hz scoop....I don't know...was interesting to found it in all my references

 

[ahjteam]

I usually scoop everything but vocals at 330hz because the ear just is super sensitive to that frequencyarea

 

[::XeS::]

Yes, I noticed that a simple raw scoop in the mixdown (I don't have PT here so I loaded the mixdown in Logic and tried some eq) in that zone, open drastically the mix....

 

[TheDriller]

I usually also have a highpass filter at the master bus, usually 24dB/oct at 35hz.

This is gospel fact.

no-body wants 6Hz bullshit chewing up their head room.

on the issue of getting more treble. try a tape saturator plugin of some sort.
it can really help to generate extra harmonics and add a nice high end "sheen" to the mix.

 

[::XeS::]

Of course I have hi-passed in the master bus at 30-40Hz...but I think I have to eq better every instrument

 

[schust]

I usually also have a highpass filter at the master bus, usually 24dB/oct at 35hz.

ok, i'm gonna be an idiot and ask. i get the hi-pass at 35hz, but what's the 24db/oct??

btw - where do most people hi-pass their bass?

i've been dipping around 300-500hz on the master for awhile and it really made a difference. my recordings generally suffer from 'card-board-itis' before i do this.

 

[TheDriller]

ok, i'm gonna be an idiot and ask. i get the hi-pass at 35hz, but what's the 24db/oct??

Thats the steepness of the filter.

 

[schust]

Thats the steepness of the filter.

so -24db? stupid question #2; so what's the fundamental difference between -24db and a complete hi-pass? (if i have that right) i always thought a hi-pass was everything below...

 

[::XeS::]

No...you can hi-pass or low-pass with different values, so that the attunuations could be more or less heavy. An hi-pass of 2dB is much less noticeable of an hi-pass of 20db

 

[John_C]

i'm not sure why you couldn't have a complete high pass....... like just a cuttof freq.

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, it's impossible to literally obliterate anything below a certain point, and with digital eq's if you go too steep you can often get nasty artifacts (don't ask me about the science behind it though!)

 

[ahjteam]

its because filters steeper than 24db attenuation per octave usually sound non-musical because of the artifacts that.

But there is a free vst plugin called Rubber Filter by Christian Budde, that can cut 384dB per octave if you really want to hear how it sounds

 

[crosstalk]

I use GHi, GLow, and GBand. Anyone know what their attenuation per octave is? Is there a good free plug that lets you set the value like Rubber Filter. (Or is Rubber Filter a good plug?)

 

[SpewChunks]

I use GHi, GLow, and GBand. Anyone know what their attenuation per octave is? Is there a good free plug that lets you set the value like Rubber Filter. (Or is Rubber Filter a good plug?)

Try Aixcoustic creations Electri-Q - posihfopit edition (often recommended here, great all rounder)
http://www.aixcoustic.com/index.php/Electri-Q-posihfopit/30/0/

Stillwell Audio 1973 (Fantastic for boosting highs - Neve 1073 'emulator')
http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=17

Paris Eq (nice coloured eq)
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/944.html

That should about cover it for some of the best free eq's.