What Does A Low Cut Filter Do?

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Jude2010

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My mic as one of these switches

but how do i use it and what is it for

an example would be good

thanks
 
Just what it says. Low Frequency Cut.

It will reduce the level of low frequencies. On a mic this is often used to reduce rumble or stage vibrations

You may also see the words Cut-Off frequency. This is the frequency where the level is down 3db. The level keeps dropping below this frequency.

Low Cut and High Pass are basically interchangeable.
 
It does exactly what it's name says: when it's in the on position it filters out some of the lower frequencies picked up by the mic.

As far as when to use it, use it when it gives you closer to the sound you actually want to record. That is, when you want whatever your recording to sound less bassy, turn it on. Or if you're having a problem with vibrations from the kick drum or from the semis driving down the street out front causing bad low frequency rumble to sneak into your recordings, turn it on.

OTOH, if you need or want to pick up as much bass as you can, turn it off.

G.
 
so for vocals would it be useless :S
Not necessarily. Use it when you need it or want it, don't use it when you don't. It doesn't matter what you are actually recording at the time.

G.
 
so for vocals would it be useless :S

It would help with proximity effect, which is a bump in the low/mid frequencies when your voice is very close to the mic's element. That said, I've found I don't use low-cut filters on mics very much these days due to the availability of EQ plugins that take care of it for you. In the old days, you had a limited # of hardware EQ's so you'd want to address any low-end rumble at the micrphone itself rather than wasting an EQ channel. Plugins solve this issue and also give you additional flexibility in how much low-end you leave or remove from the signal.

If you're not sure, I'd just leave it off so you can get as much of the signal as possible. If you hear rumble during playback or mixing, just activate a low cut/high pass EQ filter on that track within the software and you're good to go.
 
so for vocals would it be useless :S

Also called a rumble filter.... useful for keeping lots of low incidental noises that can crop up under control... if you're in an environment that has that sort of noise, try using it...
 
so for vocals would it be useless :S

No, vocals is where you would generally find a low-cut filter most useful, as you would be hard pressed to find any energy below the cutoff in the human voice...
 
I'm with bdenton. It's very useful for vocals. There is little if any useful energy that low for vocals.

If you're going to EQ it out later do it with the cutoff. Then you're only recording frequencies you actually need and will allow you to track with more useful "energy"
 
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