DP-24 and the question of "switchable" high-pass filter

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TECHNINOT

TECHNINOT

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My dear and often most helpful colleagues,

Perhaps this question has already been posed and answered a hundred times, NONETHELESS - one of my good friends and professional singer songwriter as well as excellent recording technician (but who lives in a different country than I) insists that I must use a HIGH-PASS FILTER as a sort of bottom line opener to making better mixes. I have told him, of course, that not using a DAW system I cannot make use of plug-ins of any sort. In the title of a TASCAM FORUM article I saw the term "switchable high-pass filter" for DP-24 but there was no follow-up information to be found in the article. Its principal subject was the NEO DP-24.

Can anyone elucidate this mystery for me, please? I like the hands-on mixes I'm making with my machine but he tells me that they don't sound professional and are not, by current standards, even listenable.

As what I love the most about all of this is MAKING MUSIC, I would really like to find the simplest of solutions that can also be "listenable" :-))

Thank you dearly, whoever you are who finds the kindness of heart to answer this quest for new knowledge.
 
It's not quite so absolute that you must use HPFs all over the place, but they can be useful. If your friend is hearing something weird in the lows that you aren't hearing perhaps it's your listening situation that's to blame. If your monitors aren't reproducing the lows well enough there may be extraneous LF information in your recordings you aren't aware of.
 
Now that's an excellent illustration of how knowledgeable I am in terms of sound engineering. I would have thought that the problem to be resolved had something to do with HIGH frequencies. Thanks for opening my eyes to another reality. And now, the question comes rising like a geyser up into the placid pool of my mind, what does all this mean in the practical sense? Must I cut the gain in the 80 dB range of all the Low Frequencies, I mean for all the tracks from the get-go? Remembering, of course, that I only work with my DP-24 with no computer assistance...
 
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Well, they block the lows and pass the highs, so it does have something to do with the highs.
 
That sounds ever so slightly sarcastic, but it doesn't really answer my question now does it?
Could be a nice day to go down by the river, huh?
 
TECHNINOT said:
Must I cut the gain in the 80 dB range of all the Low Frequencies, I mean for all the tracks from the get-go? Remembering, of course, that I only work with my DP-24 with no computer assistance...
Click to expand...

Some people as a normal part of their process cut lows on everything but kick and bass. For me it's not a default. The key is to be able to hear what you're doing, which means good monitors and a good room. Then you can listen and decide.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Some people as a normal part of their process cut lows on everything but kick and bass. For me it's not a default. The key is to be able to hear what you're doing, which means good monitors and a good room. Then you can listen and decide.
Click to expand...

I find it useful ... especially if I notice something I didn't when I was tracking. There are all sorts things that can make a low freq rumble. Most of us aren't using acoustically treated studios and are making do with the conditions that exist, same for recording a live performance ... heating vents, overhead fan, hollow stage floor, etc.
 
You can EQ per track, so tweaking the low end to roll off would likely accomplish what you want. Couldn't find any mention of a dedicated HPF in the DP-24 manual.

I've got a 2488NEO and have been using outboard mic preamps which some have an HPF. Just think I perceive an improved (more colored?) sound with a an outboard pre rather that using the Tascams, although I don't think the Tascam pres are bypassed going in the 1/4.
 

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Thank you gentlemen. While looking over all of this I discovered that I was recording considerable room noise - 48dB for one thing, so I tried the trick of applying the guitar effect NOISE SUPPRESSOR on a vocal track and that changed things quite a bit. (I had thought that my mic - an AKG SOLIDTUBE - was awfully noisy for a long time, but it was completely innocent in the story). Then I tweaked the low end to - 3dB at 80 Hz on an acoustic guitar track, but that just made my Martin sound a bit thin. I will, of course, continue to experiment with this new information and I thank you from the depths of my singing heart for your kind assistance.
 
As a rule I would HPF everything that is not kick and bass guitar, however the rule sometimes gets broken. If you don't have one try one of these.

Alan
 
When I do use a high pass filter I like to be able to precisely set the frequency and slope. If it's too shallow it doesn't do enough, and if it's too steep it creates a boost around the roll-off frequency. What constitutes too shallow and too steep depends on the source and where you set the roll-off frequency. Perhaps one reason I don't use them much is that one size doesn't fit all, and in the old days most HPFs were fixed.

Sometimes I use the "too steep" filter to deliberately create the boost, though I've done it more with LPFs than HPFs.
 
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