In most modern popular music styles, the deep low end is going to come from the kick drum or the bass, and sometimes both (although that's harder to do right). The secret to a big and powerful low end, without it all turning into a muddy mess, is to figure out what is going to occupy that low end and then open those frequencies up for only those things that you want the low end from. If I find I need to roll off much more than that, then I definitely screwed up something in the mixing stage and will go re-visit the mix again to try to get it right. If I use a high-pass filter it will be set to very low frequencies (10 or 20Hz at most) just to remove any possible DC offset and really low sub rumble that I don't want. and, then, only a little bit using a shelving filter instead of a hi-pass filter. Even in mastering, if I think there is too much low end or subs, I'm rarely rolling off frequencies above 30 or 40 Hz maximum.
No, I typically don't do ANY EQ on the stereo mix buss at all when I'm mixing.
When you are mixing, do you use a low cut filter on the final mix and if so where?įor example, on a mix will you set the low cut at 50Hz, or even higher? If so, then how do you make the bass low end audible?Īlso, how do bands like The Roots get that beautiful low end without making the whole mix muddy?
