Brightening Question

dc3hawaii

New member
Hey Guys,

So I am Mastering a track and I was wondering what are the best methods/freq for overall brightening? Hi shelf at 10k, 8k? I know there are different freq you need to increase while mastering but if I wanted to overall brighten, what would you suggest. If you can't suggest any specific freq. please let me know how you approach brightening the track. whether it be trying bell curves, or hi shelfs at certain freq, etc. please let me know.

Thanks for all the help!
 
Those frequencies are more like "air" and you've got to actually have something there to have a high shelf do much (and be careful - there can be a lot of stuff you don't want up there too).

I'd probably start with a little tug down in the lower mids, i.e., to maybe scoop out what is giving the feeling that it needs brightening. But without hearing it, I'm purely making this up...

A multipressor is something else you might look into.
 
Those frequencies are more like "air" and you've got to actually have something there to have a high shelf do much (and be careful - there can be a lot of stuff you don't want up there too).
Yep. Better yet, be careful when tracking and mixing. ;)

I'd probably start with a little tug down in the lower mids, i.e., to maybe scoop out what is giving the feeling that it needs brightening. But without hearing it, I'm purely making this up...
In almost every situation, subtractive EQ is preferable. Turn down the range you want less of rather than turn up what you want more of. Maybe you'll just end up turning everything up after, and wonder why, but louder is always better. I might put a low-shelf cut on it instead of a high-shelf boost. If it actually sounds better when it's overall louder, you know you're onto something.

A multipressor is something else you might look into.
I think most people will tell you to avoid that. What I actually usually do is to shelf up the high end a bit going into my RMS compressor stage, and then kind of correct for it on the other side. "Pre-emphasis/de-emphasis".
 
(snip) what would you suggest. If you can't suggest any specific freq. please let me know how you approach brightening the track. whether it be trying bell curves, or hi shelfs at certain freq, etc. please let me know. (snip)
Totally dependent on where the source "is" vs. where you "want it to be" vs. the actual potential of the source. I.e., if there is nothing above 10kHz, boosting the hell out of 15kHz isn't really going to do anything constructive. You need to find what flatters the source and do that. If there isn't anything that flatters the source, you may even have to go as far as to "invent" it.
 
To start a different discussion, if you want a bright sound, the best place to start is while tracking...use an LDC rather than a dynamic...or use and SDC rather than an LDC.

As others have said, once you get to mastering there's no one-size-fits-all answer. This really is a job you have to do by ear. If I get confused, I'll sometimes just load a 31 band GEQ plugin and start playing with boosts and cuts--I usually make really big moves to help me find the frequencies I want to play with, then tone it down to reality once I've decided. I'll add that this is only for easy playing with frequencies--I don't necessarily use the GEQ for the actual EQing.
 
Those frequencies are more like "air" and you've got to actually have something there to have a high shelf do much (and be careful - there can be a lot of stuff you don't want up there too).

I'd probably start with a little tug down in the lower mids, i.e., to maybe scoop out what is giving the feeling that it needs brightening. But without hearing it, I'm purely making this up...

A multipressor is something else you might look into.

Yep. Better yet, be careful when tracking and mixing. ;)


In almost every situation, subtractive EQ is preferable. Turn down the range you want less of rather than turn up what you want more of. Maybe you'll just end up turning everything up after, and wonder why, but louder is always better. I might put a low-shelf cut on it instead of a high-shelf boost. If it actually sounds better when it's overall louder, you know you're onto something.


I think most people will tell you to avoid that. What I actually usually do is to shelf up the high end a bit going into my RMS compressor stage, and then kind of correct for it on the other side. "Pre-emphasis/de-emphasis".


I tried to post a link to the song I am Mastering but this is only my 2nd post so it did not let me. If you wanted to brighten this up where would you start? Would you still start by tugging down the lower mids? So your both saying you would pull out more low information so that the high information is more "heard"? Usually I do some subtractive EQ to get some mud or boxyness out of the entire track, then I'll start boosting to make it brighter. Your saying that after I cut out some mud or boxyness I should do some deep, broad cuts on some lower freq? Most of the mastering Eq's i've seen are additive EQ's(analog modeled), but I mainly use the Plugin Alliance bx_digital V2, SPL Passeq, Native Instr. Passive EQ, and Fabfilter Pro-Q2. If anyone has any Mastering plugin's they really like/use, pl

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Just get different monitors

This is absolutely no help at all.
 
Totally dependent on where the source "is" vs. where you "want it to be" vs. the actual potential of the source. I.e., if there is nothing above 10kHz, boosting the hell out of 15kHz isn't really going to do anything constructive. You need to find what flatters the source and do that. If there isn't anything that flatters the source, you may even have to go as far as to "invent" it.

What do you mean by flatters the source?
 
What do you mean by flatters the source?

Every case is a special case. What your mix needs is different from what some other mix needs. When I apply eq to something it's because I listened and decided what particular eq that particular thing needed. You can't simply transplant what someone else did to your project and expect it to make any sense.
 
Every case is a special case. What your mix needs is different from what some other mix needs. When I apply eq to something it's because I listened and decided what particular eq that particular thing needed. You can't simply transplant what someone else did to your project and expect it to make any sense.

I understand that and I wasn't asking to tell me where to boost in a mix. I was just asking what freq are most common to boost. Like I don't think I would boost 2k to brighten a track(or i might be wrong, idk). But I am learning that 12k isn't something that I might want to boost. I learned from asking this question to try and use more subtractive eq and eq out the freq that are not making the track sound bright.

any more info would be awesome!
 
I always used to do a rough mix onto cassette (shows my age) and play that on different peoples Hi-Fi systems. Most people tend to whack up bass & treble as their usual settings. After living with the mix for few days didn't seem so bad after all. So the watch-word is let the listener adjust bass & treble. Did I think this up, no!, learnt it from my hero George Martin donkeys years ago, so what was good enough for him and the Beatles!!!!
 
i usually try , but don't always use if it doesn't work with the song, is to raise about 2 db at 11 to 14 k. sometimes i get that sound i'm looking for.
 
As I said in another thread if you dont have a good EQ trying to add brightness may still sound bad. And thats how you will know. The less is more method mentioned here is correct. Or around 5khz to 10khz broadly about 2-3db gain.
 
I tried to post a link to the song I am Mastering but this is only my 2nd post so it did not let me. If you wanted to brighten this up where would you start? Would you still start by tugging down the lower mids? So your both saying you would pull out more low information so that the high information is more "heard"? Usually I do some subtractive EQ to get some mud or boxyness out of the entire track, then I'll start boosting to make it brighter. Your saying that after I cut out some mud or boxyness I should do some deep, broad cuts on some lower freq? Most of the mastering Eq's i've seen are additive EQ's(analog modeled), but I mainly use the Plugin Alliance bx_digital V2, SPL Passeq, Native Instr. Passive EQ, and Fabfilter Pro-Q2. If anyone has any Mastering plugin's they really like/use, pl

---------- Update ----------



This is absolutely no help at all.

I hope that you come back and post a link to what you have. None of us can even begin to guess what you are trying to do without hearing what you have already.

There is great general advice so far, but it not possible for anyone to give advice without hearing what you have.

And I have no clue what garww was trying to say either. We always wonder which color pill he took...
 
I try to get my mixes as close as I can and when I think they sound dull or lifeless I grab a Waves Mulit-band compressor. Either the C4, C6 or C3-16. All have several mastering presets and you usually can find one that will get you at least close to what you want. Then you tweak the bands from there. They are more complicated and you can really screw things up if you do not understand how they work but if you use a preset and tweak ever so slightly from there you can have some really good results. Multi-band compressors are nothing to be afraid of if you understand how they work and know how to use them. IMO.
 
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