What is common for rolling off lows and highs

[koalamo]

I realized today I have no idea what the common slope is for rolling off the lows of say a kick drum or the highs of a guitar, can you guys tell me what you usually use. I've been using 12 db/oct. I know its what sounds better is better but idt my speakers even reproduce anything below 50 hz so I can't even tell.

Oh and for the people who don't hp/lp individual tracks and do it during mastering what slope are you using for that 12 db/oct?

Cheers.

 

[Ascendant]

Depends, I tend to use a steep curve for lows and smoother curve for rolling off highs, in ReaEQ (not sure what the bandwidth is in dB/oct). Sometimes I use the filters in NastyVCS though which has a Hi Q setting that makes the filter a lot steeper, I believe that's 24 dB/oct with Hi Q on, 12 dB/oct off. I like to use Hi Q for attenuating low frequencies since it rolls off more subs without cutting into the lows. As for highs, like I said it depends on the source, on guitars I usually use a pretty steep filter to avoid cutting into the high mids but on bass guitar I might use something softer. I usually only put a hpf and lpf first in my master chain with a steep slope just to cut out the unnecessary crap (subs, > 18khz).

 

[Skinny Viking]

so if you can't hear the difference anyway how do you know what works well for someone else is working for you?

best solution for you is try a clip of music with 2 different settings, bounce 'em down to your ipod or whatever and give a listen or bring them in your car and hear what the difference is, if any

 

[C_F_H_13]

I have 2 simple methods for filtering on pretty much anything.

1- Sculpting: filtering the top and bottom out of guitars, or bringing other elements into focus I generally use a 6db or 12db at the most. Gentle slopes always sound better to me and effect the overall sound alot less.

2- Fixing: If a guitar trck is fizz city or a synth has 45db of un needed sub bass I'll move up to the 24-48db range. I pretty much only use the high slopes when there's actually a problem and I need to clear as much space without losing the top or bottom radically. An example would be I got an acoustic track that had this wierd 16khz ring in it and no matter how much I tried to notch it it wouldn't go away, so I ended up doing 2 48db/oct filters at 14,5k or so just to get rid of it without losing the top end.

 

[Derykus]

Will someone please explain what kind of EQ's give db/oct ranges? I've never come across an eq with this feature, or maybe I just don't know where it is. This "6 db/oct" filter etc. has always baffled me, and I'd really like an eq with it. I've got Q on everything I've used.