When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
I've heard some people say it should be around 30hz on the master-channel? But to me it seems like it doesn't make a difference? And should i do it with an EQ or the auto-filter (ableton)?
Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
I use the Ableton Eq for filtering, especially when you are trying out various things. There are different response curves you can try with the Eq which you can't get with Autofilter.
if you can't hear a difference its probably because your monitors/room doesn't respond very well around there. Although it can be noticeable.... Never the less, if you can't hear any difference it might be the right thing to do. There could be some stuff going on in the low end that you can't hear but will effect things like your compressors or limiters further down the mastering chain.
I stopped doing that whole 'roll off below ....' thing. I sometimes make little notches around that region, or sometimes a low gradiant cut which could start at 1k or so. But nothing as severe as sharp cuts.
I guess I don't really do any mastering like that, I'm still trying to learn how to get better at mixing. I think mastering is just another tool to distract me from that... (maybe im not the best person to reply to this post!)
if you can't hear a difference its probably because your monitors/room doesn't respond very well around there. Although it can be noticeable.... Never the less, if you can't hear any difference it might be the right thing to do. There could be some stuff going on in the low end that you can't hear but will effect things like your compressors or limiters further down the mastering chain.
I stopped doing that whole 'roll off below ....' thing. I sometimes make little notches around that region, or sometimes a low gradiant cut which could start at 1k or so. But nothing as severe as sharp cuts.
I guess I don't really do any mastering like that, I'm still trying to learn how to get better at mixing. I think mastering is just another tool to distract me from that... (maybe im not the best person to reply to this post!)
Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
+1lem wrote:I use the Ableton Eq for filtering [...] There are different response curves you can try with the Eq which you can't get with Autofilter.
...but i can hear a difference when i cut with Ableton's EQ8 around 30HZ (i use Adam Sub8 for LowEnd) and i often cut a bit higher let's say around 38to42hz
mainly to personal taste, there's no strict rule, but as lem said
lem wrote: I'm still trying to learn how to get better at mixing. I think mastering is just another tool to distract me from that... maybe im not the best person to reply to this post!
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Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
it all depends on the track. i let someone (who posted on this forum a couple of years ago) master my tracks and he filtered the lowest note off my bassline! 
Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
lots of dumb sound tech people high pass their systems around 40hz which is kinda painful, but with a good system their is really no need to high-pass anything - maybe 20hz but actually really low tones are interesting tootone-def wrote:it all depends on the track. i let someone (who posted on this forum a couple of years ago) master my tracks and he filtered the lowest note off my bassline!
Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
I think it stems from a lot of soundsystems being filtered around 40hz. I think it must be less common now. I have HP filtered music in a club and not noticed any difference until the cutoff gets higher. But it still sounds like there is a lot of bass in general.
Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
In my room and with my monitors, I can't really hear below around 30hz so don't notice anything different if I was to HP filter it, the only difference I become aware of is that I have a bit more headroom and that's about it.
I don't do it anyway, I really never bother with this 'self mastering' stuff, more inclined to work on the mix and the frequencies used in my parts. Having said that, I read somewhere once that even if you set a fundamental ( say 40hz for arguments sake ) - and that is the lowest frequency in the track, there can still be other frequencies below that. I didn't read to much into it as it was too confusing to be honest but I was in the knowledge that a fundamental would be the lowest frequency component in a given sound?????
If I'm using one shot samples, drums/percussion etc, I will tend to filter those so as to not add additional and unnecessary rumble to the low end ( and even if I can't hear any, I still do it as it's the cumulative effect of lots of samples summed together that can be the cause of issues but when I'm synthesizing sounds, bass, kicks, hats, percussion etc, they are always made with the mix in mind and are created accordingly so never really feel the need to be HP filtering/Lo cutting the entire track.
But I'm not mastering engineer so I don't 'master' anything, much more concerned about my mixes and individual parts that anything else.
I don't do it anyway, I really never bother with this 'self mastering' stuff, more inclined to work on the mix and the frequencies used in my parts. Having said that, I read somewhere once that even if you set a fundamental ( say 40hz for arguments sake ) - and that is the lowest frequency in the track, there can still be other frequencies below that. I didn't read to much into it as it was too confusing to be honest but I was in the knowledge that a fundamental would be the lowest frequency component in a given sound?????
If I'm using one shot samples, drums/percussion etc, I will tend to filter those so as to not add additional and unnecessary rumble to the low end ( and even if I can't hear any, I still do it as it's the cumulative effect of lots of samples summed together that can be the cause of issues but when I'm synthesizing sounds, bass, kicks, hats, percussion etc, they are always made with the mix in mind and are created accordingly so never really feel the need to be HP filtering/Lo cutting the entire track.
But I'm not mastering engineer so I don't 'master' anything, much more concerned about my mixes and individual parts that anything else.
Re: When mastering, where should i cut off in the low end?
I cut off around 30 - 35hz cause there isn't really 'energy' kinda low end in that region. It's more the low end that will blow away your pants a bit.
For those who can't hear that low because of their room or monitors. Try this little trick:
compress/limit your track to the fullest and put an EQ before the massive compression. Now low cut and listen to the energy level that will change when you're sweeping through the frequencies.
In this case you can 'hear' the certain effect of what you're cutting, without hearing the 30hz region.
Most of the time while i'm mastering, i'm sweeping through the frequency spectrum the whole time. Brainworx is really good for that kinds of stuff. Just listen where the sweet-spots are of the kick, clap and hat.
Boost those regions a bit to accentuate. Next to that i'm trying to dip the painful frequencies. Most of the times those are the rides and/or resonating synth-lines.
Besides EQ'ing i try to glue the mix a bit together with compression if it's needed. If it needs a bit more transients then i also try to accomplish that with (parallel) compression.
It's all about how you setup your compressor. It could be used in both ways. Making transients and glueing transients...
Speaking about parallel editing. It can really work to give the track some extra color. I'm really a big fan of tape/tube saturation to bring some live to the mid-low and mid-high.
Though these 'tricks'/techniques are really personal taste. I master most of the time digitally. I got some outboard equipment, but not a massive passive or something like that.
Most of the time my outboard gear is to destroy the 'digital' character of the track.
Just my 2 cents
For those who can't hear that low because of their room or monitors. Try this little trick:
compress/limit your track to the fullest and put an EQ before the massive compression. Now low cut and listen to the energy level that will change when you're sweeping through the frequencies.
In this case you can 'hear' the certain effect of what you're cutting, without hearing the 30hz region.
Most of the time while i'm mastering, i'm sweeping through the frequency spectrum the whole time. Brainworx is really good for that kinds of stuff. Just listen where the sweet-spots are of the kick, clap and hat.
Boost those regions a bit to accentuate. Next to that i'm trying to dip the painful frequencies. Most of the times those are the rides and/or resonating synth-lines.
Besides EQ'ing i try to glue the mix a bit together with compression if it's needed. If it needs a bit more transients then i also try to accomplish that with (parallel) compression.
It's all about how you setup your compressor. It could be used in both ways. Making transients and glueing transients...
Speaking about parallel editing. It can really work to give the track some extra color. I'm really a big fan of tape/tube saturation to bring some live to the mid-low and mid-high.
Though these 'tricks'/techniques are really personal taste. I master most of the time digitally. I got some outboard equipment, but not a massive passive or something like that.
Most of the time my outboard gear is to destroy the 'digital' character of the track.
Just my 2 cents