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Cleaner Mixes
04/28/2009

Want to get an immediate improvement in the clarity of your mixes? Take out the trash!

Specifically, run each track through a highpass (a.k.a. lowcut) filter to remove infrasonics - thumps, booms, rumbles, and more - below the range of human hearing. Here's the idea:

  • Solo the track and listen to it

  • Insert a highpass filter.

  • Adjust the filter cutoff frequency and slope so that both are set as high as possible without audibly impacting the tone of the track. Do this by adjusting the filter, then bypass/apply the filter and compare the results. A subwoofer is a huge help for this; headphones can also be useful for this type of comparison.

When the filter is set to the highest frequency and steepest slope possible without audibly affecting the desired audio, it is removing everything below that frequency. You'll find that when you do this on every track, you'll have a cleaner mix, and will probably also have more headroom, as all the energy contained in unheard infrasonics in multiple tracks can add up to a substantial amount of lost headroom.





Other Techtips from April 2009:
April 30 - Finale to Sibelius
April 29 - Bleeding Treble
April 28 - Cleaner Mixes
April 27 - Coincident Mics on Guitar Amps
April 24 - Lug Connection
April 23 - Soldering The Ground
April 22 - Lose The Leash
April 21 - Acoustic Guitar Versus Band
April 20 - Contrast and Context
April 17 - Portion Control
April 16 - More Than One 13-pin Device?
April 15 - Roland Power
April 14 - Better Acoustic Treatment Performance
April 13 - Do It Now!
April 10 - Ozone Begone
April 09 - Day to Day Changes
April 08 - String Ping
April 07 - Disk Speed
April 06 - How Much RAM for Your Mac?
April 03 - USB Mic Tutorial
April 02 - Computer Boost
April 01 - MIDI Guitar Pitch Bend Range Settings


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