How Do Subsonic Sounds Eat Up Headroom?

[grinder]

Full Mix: 20-40? I mean this sounds more like a cut list. These are all the extreme lows of each instrument...unless I'm crazy here...which is possible.

I think the reason I need all this extra help is because I'm kind of shooting in the dark without monitors. Sadly, I'm in a cramped San Francisco apartment with a roommate, so I've been mixing with headphones (gasp!), so I'm kind of mixing in the dark so to speak, but at the moment it's all I can do.

Now for damage control. I'm guessing that I'm better off re-mixing and eqing each track separately than just eqing the final mix. huh?

Yeah, they would be roll off frequencies.You're better off remixing then trying to fix it at the mastering stage.Actually, if it requires alot of eqing then you're better off retracking and getting it closer from the start.I've had to mix with phones too.And had to remix everything when I bought monitors.The headphone mixes sounded horrible through monitors.Oh well, beats not mixing at all.

 

[Speedy VonTrapp]

I tried a few combinations, but the one that's there doesn't look too bright on any of my monitors.... I had it as white text before and that seemed to have too little contrast on the blue...

Well, it's as I thought. On my comp at home, I see that it's a scrolling light blue text with the darker blue background.

On my computer at work that can't handle such "complex" web issues, (lol) I see just text sitting there, in the super light blue on top of the white background.

Sorry, BB.

 

[crosstudio]

that list was a pretty darn good low-cut list except that i always cut the synths and overheads somewhere above 80hz.

I can't think of any synth sounds i would want below 80hz, unless the song had a synth bass instead of a live bass.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Let's remember, subsonic is relative. Somebody picked 20 hz as an arbitrary cutoff point. Many peoplle, especially old rockers and acoustic engineers can't hear below 40hz. In my case, about 45hz.
It's not sound to *this* human's ear, and is therefore subsonic to me. Those low frequencies come with a lot of attached higher frequency harmonics, which also eat up headroom. There's lots of low frequency stuff on my own album that I can't hear. It's kind of like the planet Pluto. The gravitational effect is there, so I know there has to be a planet there, even if I can't see it. Those mid and high frequency overtones tell me there's a bass player in the house.-Richie

 

[LooneyTunez]

Kick: 30-80hz
Snare: 80-200hz
Toms: 70-100hz
Overheads: 40-200hz
Bass: 30-70hz
Guitars: 80-120hz
Keyboards/Synths: 30-150hz
Vocals: 70-200hz
Horns: 100-200hz
Full Mix: 20-40hz

Okay, I'm the one who made that list a while back, and it was in a thread concerning muddy mixes. The list is a very basic guide to rolloff/highpass frequencies used for individual intruments to keep away unwanted low-end build up. Many instruments share a lot of the same frequencies (especially in the low-end), and by rolling off these instruments you can keep the bottom end in check. Understand that highpass filters can go from a gentle rolloff (6dB/Octave), to more extreme cutoffs (24dB/Octave), and you'll have to play around to see what frequency/slope works best for different instruments (or the entire mix). In many cases, a 12dB/Oct HP filter will work well on instruments, but for an entire mix, a 6dB/Oct HP might be more appropriate (just to keep "subsonic" frequencies from sucking up your "dB Space").