Does digital signals need go be cleaned up?

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YanKleber

YanKleber

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Do I need to lo-pass, hi-pass and DC process tracks digitally generated such as VST sinthesizers and professionally sampled like Addicive Drums along the mixing?
 
The common answer these days in here would be to over process every single track you have to death with EQ and compression. There's been an epidemic of shitty advice in here lately from clueless trolls and individuals..



The correct thing to do would be to do what actually needs to be done based on how it sounds and not some preconceived notion of doing things because you think you're supposed to do them.
 
Greg_L said:
The common answer these days in here would be to over process every single track you have to death with EQ and compression. There's been an epidemic of shitty advice in here lately from clueless trolls and individuals..



The correct thing to do would be to do what actually needs to be done based on how it sounds and not some preconceived notion of doing things because you think you're supposed to do them.
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+1.

Watch out with Addictive Drums. All the preset kits are very heavily processed.
I usually find a kit I like then take off all the preset compression. Watch for OH/Bus/Master compressors.

Either that or just completely start from scratch.
 
Steenamaroo said:
+1.

Watch out with Addictive Drums. All the preset kits are very heavily processed.
I usually find a kit I like then take off all the preset compression. Watch for OH/Bus/Master compressors.

Either that or just completely start from scratch.
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What are the risks on using the pre-processed AD tracks?
 
There is no risk, as long as you like the sound of it. With compression, you can't undo it. So it has to be exactly what you want.

The direct answer to your original question is that it depends. If the signal suffers from dc offset, fix it. If there is too much rumble or general low end, clean it up.

You probably get the idea. Don't go through the hassle of fixing problems that you aren't having. There is nothing inherently wrong with digital files that always needs fixing.

There are three steps to any audio processing
1. listen to what you have
2. Envision what you want it to sound like
3. use whatever processing necessary to turn what you have into what you want.

There is no process that you always need to do. It is always dependent on what you start with.
 
Farview said:
There is no risk, as long as you like the sound of it. With compression, you can't undo it. So it has to be exactly what you want.

The direct answer to your original question is that it depends. If the signal suffers from dc offset, fix it. If there is too much rumble or general low end, clean it up.

You probably get the idea. Don't go through the hassle of fixing problems that you aren't having. There is nothing inherently wrong with digital files that always needs fixing.

There are three steps to any audio processing
1. listen to what you have
2. Envision what you want it to sound like
3. use whatever processing necessary to turn what you have into what you want.

There is no process that you always need to do. It is always dependent on what you start with.
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This my thread came because I have read that tracks may carry noise inaudible at mixing time but that may arise at mastering time.

However all in all I got the point. So basically the digital tracks should be left alone unless there is something really obvious. Did I got it. Correctly?
 
YanKleber said:
So basically the digital tracks should be left alone unless there is something really obvious. Did I got it. Correctly?
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You got it.

In fact, make it broader.

Leave all tracks alone unless:

a) there is something obviously worng with it;

b) you want to do weird creative stuff with it.
 
And a HPF never hurts to use on most tracks. Nothing worse than mic handling sounds or any low end rumble crap.
 
YanKleber said:
Do I need to lo-pass, hi-pass and DC process tracks digitally generated such as VST sinthesizers and professionally sampled like Addicive Drums along the mixing?
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What you should do should be directly related to the mix qualities you are going for or the issues that are blocking the mix qualities you are going for. Hi-/lo-pass filters are used to free up and clean up the signal in the highs and lows. For instance you apply hi-pass filter on vocals in order to free up signal to the sound sources in the lows/low-mids (bass guitar, kick, electric guitar...). In this case the reasoning is that because vocals consume so much signal in the mix it also is a great target for releasing a lot of signal to improve the signal-to-background noise (not signal-to-noise) of the sound sources dominant in the low/low-mid frequency range. In other words, the underlying focus in that specific hi-pass filter application process is on signal-to-background noise related to other sound sources than vocals. In this case this also indirectly resolves issues in the mids and highs because the sound sources dominant in the lows don't have to be made as loud so their non-dominant mids and highs are lowered as well, hence improving the signal-to-background noise of the sound sources dominant in the high-mids/highs. In other words applying a hi-pass filter can resolve things both in the lows and the highs, likewise a lo-pass filter can resolve things both in the lows and the highs.
 
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I get the impression some idiot is trying to produce a rule book for the recording community that says all the things you must do, all the things you must not and great music will appear. Other people try to use words to describe music or sound but then tangle them up in technobabble. Things don't sound good and magically sound bad in the mix, they had the problem before the mix but you don't notice, or simply just ignored them. If you think of your mix as a rectangle containing a graph with low to high on the horizontal axis and volume on the other, then once your mix is on the graph, there might, not should, be holes where no instrument or voice is sitting. These recordings have a kind of openness and space. Good for some genres. If all your sources sit in the same place, then the definition and quality suffers. If there are holes, then filling them may be safe, if the holes are already gone, where does the next sound source sit? Once you've got experience, you do this in your head, automatically from recording the first track. If you have a busy mix, then using HPF to remove the bottom to make a home for another low sound source makes sense. If nothing is going there, don't bother. Listen and think about what you are hearing, then use the science to fix it. I record everything flat, just in case, and fix it only if I have to. Others routinely process as they record. The only rule is that there are no rules, just recommendations and suggestions you are free to ignore if you wish. So many great recordings are the result of mistakes and experiments.
 
Steenamaroo said:
The OP got all the help he needed in post 1.
He even got a brucie bonus in post 2.
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That is up to OP to decide, it is also the answer to a different question, the question was why you found what I wrote did not make any sense.

If you want to contribute to a friendly community where there is not a whole lot of egos, then please avoid cutting off other members like this. I have no interest in ego fights and if I'm noticing that is a tendency about all of the threads in here which is something that recently has entered my awareness (I'm a new member here), I'm going to consider leaving, because in that case it's not worth spending time here.
 
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MusicWater said:
I'm noticing that is a tendency about all of the threads in here which is something that recently has entered my awareness (I'm a new member here), I'm going to consider leaving, because in that case it's not worth spending time here.
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We don't all have ego fights, you just don't know how to use appropriate audio jargon to describe what you're trying to say. It's the equivalent of telling a car mechanic you need your car fixed and saying "the doo-hickey is squeaking, and the whatsitsbobble is leaking whosywhatsit."

In your head it makes perfect sense, but no one else is going to understand you.

Go look up definitions of basic audio terms so you don't need a translator for us to understand what you're trying to say. Then there won't be any issues understanding you, and no (as you so eloquently put it) "ego fights."
 
MrWrenchey said:
We don't all have ego fights, you just don't know how to use appropriate audio jargon to describe what you're trying to say. It's the equivalent of telling a car mechanic you need your car fixed and saying "the doo-hickey is squeaking, and the whatsitsbobble is leaking whosywhatsit."

In your head it makes perfect sense, but no one else is going to understand you.

Go look up definitions of basic audio terms so you don't need a translator for us to understand what you're trying to say. Then there won't be any issues understanding you, and no (as you so eloquently put it) "ego fights."
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I just re-read what I wrote and no, there is absolutely nothing wrong in related to my use of audio terms in that post. So that's just forget it, the argument didn't work. But what would have worked had been to try to help OP more than I tried, by explaining what in your help will help him MORE than what's in my help, objectively speaking, not subjectively disrespectfully author orientedly...
 
Steenamaroo said:
Makes no sense. ^^
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I think what it means is, if you have too much bass rumbling in a track/instrument and you want to turn that track up to hear some of the higher frequencies, then the bass frequencies can become a problem as you turn it up, therefore, a high pass or low shelf can help enable you to turn that track up without a problem of low frequency build up.

In summary, use eq to remove or shape problem frequencies to enable you to set the track at the desired volume in the mix.
 
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