Loss of high end on mixes

T

tin34543

New member
Hi guys,

I run Reaper, Behringer desk, Audiofire 8 audio interface. I have noticed that when I produce tracks that sound balanced well in the studio and then I play them in my car stereo, or on my separate laptop there seems to be a lot more top end/brightness to the songs.

This seems to happen a lot around the frequencies the hi hats live at. I can mix a song in the studio and the hi hats sound fine and then in the car they are much louder/brighter. I have checked the eq in the studio (on the desk) and in the car and everything is set to default/flat.

So I am wondering if my studio setup is not producing high frequencies like it used to and maybe it is time to replace my mixer/audio interface.

Do mixers/audio interfaces loose the ability to reporoduce high frequencies over time?

The studio kit is about 8 years old. Anyone elese ever noticed this?

Cheers

Tin
 
Chances are it is your listening environment that is the cause. You haven't told us how you are monitoring. What's the size of the room? Any acoustic treatment?
 
I've got IMF speakers that were bought in 1980. They still put out the high frequencies, so I doubt that you speakers are wearing out. More likely, there is a big difference between the frequency balance of the different speaker systems.

The most obvious reasons for a loss of high frequencies is either damaging the speaker (blowing out the tweeter), or if the capacitors in the crossover were going bad, causing them to cut some frequencies. That's probably not going to happen on a system that's only 8 years old. Speakers, being electromechanical transducers, exhibit more variability than any other single item in the chain. Between differences in response of drivers, crossover points, room placement issues, cabinet resonances, and design criteria, you will see massive differences between different speakers. Go to any Guitar Center and listen to the dozen different monitors they have. KRKs will sound different from M-Audio, Mackie, JBL etc.

Don't judge anything based on laptop speakers. They are worthless for ANY critical listening.

If you are serious about checking your listening environment, get a measurement mic and run some tests to document the response of your system.
 
Also, don't think that because the eq in your car is set flat, that the frequency response is actually flat. For the car test, you should set the eq so everything sounds good on it, get used to it, then test mixes on it without changing anything.

Look to see if there is a tweeter setting on your monitors. If there is, turn them up.
 
Does this happen only with your own mixes or also with other songs?
Just play one of your favourite songs in the car and your studio setup and compare if there is a similar loss of high frequencies.
If yes, it has something to do with the setup in your studio.
If no, it is a problem with your mix.
 
Yep, most likely your listening space. Moving your speakers or listening position a foot or two can substantially change the low frequency response. If things are set up in a way that emphasizes the lows, you'll tend to compensate by underrepresenting the low end, which will tend to make your mixes sound bright on other systems.
 
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