Love this Colt! You should do a video talking about low passing, since I believe a lot of amateur producers/engineers are afraid to low pass stuff, or even forget about it. I love that Manny trick of low passing everything but the HH, for example. Thank you so much for your videos man, and please don't call yourself an idiot!!! You are NOT. Cheers from Mexico.
Newer full time mixer here 🙋🏻♂️ I’ve never thought of doing this because you’re right, I’ve been afraid to. But I would absolutely love to hear more on this too. Especially since most of my work is more warmer folk/indie stuff that really aims to have less high end presence and more low and mid range vibe overall. I’m usually mixing the record and hitting the two-bus with some sort of high end filtering, and I’m sure this isn’t really helping me get the “best” result possible. But even just from your comment- I’m looking forward to trying it on my next mix and see how I can filter out some unecessary stuff on individual elements for separation and creating that vibe before the mix bus. So I guess, thanks! And also a video would be cool too Haha
@@SpencerAnnis Love this man, try it out and have fun! Colt has a great point in this video, if you can't visually see it on an analyzer, it's honestly better, in my opinion, to leave it untouched. But I've found more clarity and consistency in my highs thanks to low passing stuff I would not have done couple years ago. My first plugin on almost every channel is the bx_2098, and in the case of most channel strips, you are using your ears more than your eyes. So try it out, you would be surprised how much of that top you don't need. I love the HP and LP filters on that bad boy. Cheers!!!
I used to high pass a lot of things, but these days I mostly use shelves to reduce low frequencies. For me this has yielded much better results most of the time
I love that you are stating to test it out for yourself. I notice a lot of people have misconceptions about processes just because they have got an opinion about something without actually trying it. Not every process works on every mix and there are more methods to achieve something. If we are open minded we can learn, if we think we know the only way then that is the only way for us. I’m a very hands on person with mixing and don’t really care about the physics behind it however knowing the physics behind it solves problems which otherwise would take me ages to tackle. Something like the Fletcher Munson curve and the Harman Target learned me a lot, also psycho acoustics and room reflections, phase cancellation and standing waves all are very helpful to understand how we perceive sound on which we make the right or wrong decisions. This understanding can be pivotal in deciding how and where to place different elements in your mix for optimal balance and clarity. While technical knowledge and understanding theories are crucial, mixing is, ultimately, a creative endeavor. Embrace the challenge, experiment with your mixes, and continually learn. 😀
The relationship between phasing and filtering is something I didn't grasp for a long time and made a huge different when I started educating myself. Still learning new things! Good video!
Perfect timing. Thank you. The how/why of high pass phase issues has been bugging me, and almost everybody talks about it, without actually explaining it...! Much appreciated :)
I don't even remember how or when I discovered this, but I'm glad you pointed out that multi-mic instruments require linear phase EQ. I remember hi-passing overheads and hearing the snare mic go out of phase and somehow figured out that linear phase EQ's didn't create this issue - this was many years ago before I had much grasp on phase relationships haha. Solid info mate! Anyone mixing drums needs to pay attention to this detail!
Made me think about Dave Rat with using aux sends for the subs to take away everything that doesn’t belong in the subs. He even used a dual PA system one for drum and guitar and one for bass and vocals. Amazing guy 😊
It took me years to find my place with high passing - eventually realised that 1) all that real low 20 - 30Hz stuff throws overtones into the 80 - 120Hz region - and that's always better without them, and that as a rule of thumb there's a point of low end below which the track doesn't have any discernable information, where the sound is more like a tumble-dryer (do you guys call them that - a clothes dryer) going wohwohwohwoh. Linear phase HPF can be really useful but mind the curve - I've had definite ringing when I've gone too steep - sometimes better to buss the tracks and use a min phase filter on them together. Best. A.
Great video Colt. Can you give a quick little guide for the slope you typically use for highpass? Is it typically the same across the board? (24, 18, 12, etc) Or, is it more by given instrument type? Or, do you do it by bandpass crossover point between other instruments you may be low passing to carve each out? thanks!!
Great vid. For all out there I'd say don't underestimate how good autoing off filters can be for breaks. Sometimes it's necessary *to* make it sound untouched. Kind of like passing guitars so that they don't sound out of place in the mix, when there's a 2 second break of just guitar, taking the filters off can make a big difference for the vibe of it. This probably applies a lot to metal, idk about other genres.
great information as usual, the big difference that I see in your videos that you really know how to explain things and the thought behind you mix decisions also can't wait for the room video
Shelving has worked better than high pass on more bass heavy tracks for me.. I'm not over here producing full albums though, I'm just making beats. Exceptions would be on a vocal track or acoustic guitar.. I'm definitely high passing those if there are conflicts/mud.
Yeah great video as always! I am 100% with you on this but sometimes I start with a high pass on everything and the reintroduce whatever I need to as I go through the mix. To me this helps with initial balance of the track, it also informs how I might pan something too.
Sometimes if you know something you still go off track so thanks for the refresh! Also have you tried the TDR filters? The low cut allows you to cut the low end but maintain the energy with sub harmonic. So easy to use & sound amazing 😊
Thanks Colt. What about using low and high shelves instead of cuts, regarding how the phase gets affected? Also, what affects your decision on the slope of the cut filter?
It's really hard to not high pass but I find that when there is a lot of mid frequency harmonics in a sound e.g. brass, I don't feel as much of a need to high pass. I'm only one minute in though so keen to hear your take on it
Sorry I forgot to add this in my first comment. But what you said about using linear phase EQ's on multi-mic'd instruments is of course spot on and can be a crucial piece of information to have. But I just recently learned, and it makes total sense now that I know (a duh momemt), that in order to keep the phase intact linear EQ's should also be used on any and all parallel tracks when filtering is used. Of course I never used to do this and still completed good mixes, but once I started implementing this practice it made a very noticable change! Of course Im certain you know this Colt. Im saying this in case someone else comes upon who doesnt know. Thanks again bro.
Well said Colt. I’m glad you brought up the phase issue. Although, I think you meant to say to use the Linear Phase eq when EQ-ing those individual channels. Isn’t it true that once you’ve grouped all your kicks , you can then use regular EQ to make fine tuning adjustments…., right?
I try not to use linear phase on anything that is transient heavy like drums as pre-ringing totally messes with the transient response. I’ve discovered that by using a zero phase low pass on a sub kick when blended with the other mics, somewhere around 100 Hz, you can actually reduce some of the frequencies in the kick sound that you were going to be carving out with EQ anyway, because most of the phase change happens at the frequency that you selected
One thing I think is worthwhile to mention is that it can be pretty hard to get your monitors and room to reproduce low end accurately. If there are nulls and peaks (like most untreated rooms will have), trying to mix the low end is pretty much guesswork. My previous room had an amazing low end by pure chance (the walls would just let the low end through), so I thought it's a walk in the park. But no, my current space was quite bad until I spent the time finding the optimal listening spot, set up some bass traps, and finished it off with room correction software. And it's still not as good as my previous space, so I check the low end on a pair of planar magnetic headphones that can actually reproduce the lows in a linear fashion.
When would you use the Natural Phase option? I've always been under the impression to use that on all Multi-mic'd sources (drums, etc), and Linear Phase on things like the Master Bus
Years ago, one of the audio lie detector systems I was playing with, used that low frequency content! It supposedly used that low frequency to measure the stress in the vocal! We used it on the nightly news. Not sure if it really worked, but it appeared too! Just a thought...
A few questions come to mind here (for recording drums only) I use Sound Radix Auto Align to correct my phase. Now when I use Auto Align as the very first plug in and then highpass you say its basically screwing up the phase again? So would it be better to first use a dedicated highpass plug in (or a dedicated EQ) to highpass and then use Auto Align as the second plug in in the chain? Or is it better / the same to still use Auto Align first and then just use linear phase eq instead of a regular EQ? And why not just use linear phase for everything?
Hey Colt. You seem to finally be happy in your room! 🙂 That's great - to quote a stupid tv show - "I love it when a plan comes together..." Onya, bloke. Cheers Kim from Perth Australia
I mix metal, pretty much exclusively. And I am always AMAZED, not only at how many tracks are high passed, but how much some of the tracks are high passed on some videos Ive seen. And many of these people do it on every song, almost as a rule! Like I see some people always HP their guitar tracks at 100Hz or even up to 120Hz!!! I see the same thing done with the lead male vocals! Of course I know and understand that sometimes its necessary, but not every time. I personally never HP my main guitars, and rarely lead vocals past 80Hz. I know why this is done and why it became a trend in metal. But I personally don't mix like this and don't care for the sound of this style of mixing. Just my opinion. Great video man!
@@ColtCapperrune so I might have missed this in the video, but do you high pass the overheads (and other drum mics) too if you HP the kick? One more question too: liner phase EQ on all single tracks in the drumkit or just on the drum bus(es)? I find I have been high passing just the 'low' instruments, and HP'ing to taste so I am sort of patting myself for not being too far out of the ballpark 🤘
Colt! Love the channel! And i just have a small point to make on hi passing.... 😅 By using a linear phase eq you are adding pre ringing. Linear phase eqs work by delaying the signal before its supposed to hit, this keeps the phase linear but the transients get slided back in time! I recommend you (and everyone here) not use linear phase eqs on low end instruments because these instruments commonly carry the rhythm of the song, and linear phase eq changes the timing of the transients. Some people say they cant hear pre ringing, but some do. You might as well keep the timings the same for that small % of people who can hear pre ringing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Funny enough high passes make me literally nauseous, I have to do multiple low shelves in serial. I can often hear aggressive high passes on certain mixes.
The vocal track probably has been high-passed before and also probably he boosted with an analog EQ with a very wide bell or shelf affecting up to the low mids of the vocal. Then it makes sense. But still he could just as well have boosted 100 Hz with a different EQ...
Love this Colt! You should do a video talking about low passing, since I believe a lot of amateur producers/engineers are afraid to low pass stuff, or even forget about it. I love that Manny trick of low passing everything but the HH, for example. Thank you so much for your videos man, and please don't call yourself an idiot!!! You are NOT. Cheers from Mexico.
Newer full time mixer here 🙋🏻♂️ I’ve never thought of doing this because you’re right, I’ve been afraid to. But I would absolutely love to hear more on this too. Especially since most of my work is more warmer folk/indie stuff that really aims to have less high end presence and more low and mid range vibe overall. I’m usually mixing the record and hitting the two-bus with some sort of high end filtering, and I’m sure this isn’t really helping me get the “best” result possible. But even just from your comment- I’m looking forward to trying it on my next mix and see how I can filter out some unecessary stuff on individual elements for separation and creating that vibe before the mix bus. So I guess, thanks! And also a video would be cool too Haha
@@SpencerAnnis Love this man, try it out and have fun! Colt has a great point in this video, if you can't visually see it on an analyzer, it's honestly better, in my opinion, to leave it untouched. But I've found more clarity and consistency in my highs thanks to low passing stuff I would not have done couple years ago. My first plugin on almost every channel is the bx_2098, and in the case of most channel strips, you are using your ears more than your eyes. So try it out, you would be surprised how much of that top you don't need. I love the HP and LP filters on that bad boy. Cheers!!!
I used to high pass a lot of things, but these days I mostly use shelves to reduce low frequencies. For me this has yielded much better results most of the time
I love that you are stating to test it out for yourself. I notice a lot of people have misconceptions about processes just because they have got an opinion about something without actually trying it. Not every process works on every mix and there are more methods to achieve something. If we are open minded we can learn, if we think we know the only way then that is the only way for us. I’m a very hands on person with mixing and don’t really care about the physics behind it however knowing the physics behind it solves problems which otherwise would take me ages to tackle. Something like the Fletcher Munson curve and the Harman Target learned me a lot, also psycho acoustics and room reflections, phase cancellation and standing waves all are very helpful to understand how we perceive sound on which we make the right or wrong decisions. This understanding can be pivotal in deciding how and where to place different elements in your mix for optimal balance and clarity. While technical knowledge and understanding theories are crucial, mixing is, ultimately, a creative endeavor. Embrace the challenge, experiment with your mixes, and continually learn. 😀
The relationship between phasing and filtering is something I didn't grasp for a long time and made a huge different when I started educating myself. Still learning new things! Good video!
Would love to see lots of juicy details about the acoustical reasons behind your design decisions in the room 😜👊
They are coming!
@@ColtCapperrune you da bomb man!
Can you explain natural and dynamic phase? I saw it on fabfilter Q3 and Fabfilter MB. You do great job!!!!!
Perfect timing. Thank you.
The how/why of high pass phase issues has been bugging me, and almost everybody talks about it, without actually explaining it...!
Much appreciated :)
I don't even remember how or when I discovered this, but I'm glad you pointed out that multi-mic instruments require linear phase EQ. I remember hi-passing overheads and hearing the snare mic go out of phase and somehow figured out that linear phase EQ's didn't create this issue - this was many years ago before I had much grasp on phase relationships haha. Solid info mate! Anyone mixing drums needs to pay attention to this detail!
Made me think about Dave Rat with using aux sends for the subs to take away everything that doesn’t belong in the subs. He even used a dual PA system one for drum and guitar and one for bass and vocals. Amazing guy 😊
It took me years to find my place with high passing - eventually realised that 1) all that real low 20 - 30Hz stuff throws overtones into the 80 - 120Hz region - and that's always better without them, and that as a rule of thumb there's a point of low end below which the track doesn't have any discernable information, where the sound is more like a tumble-dryer (do you guys call them that - a clothes dryer) going wohwohwohwoh. Linear phase HPF can be really useful but mind the curve - I've had definite ringing when I've gone too steep - sometimes better to buss the tracks and use a min phase filter on them together. Best. A.
Great video Colt. Can you give a quick little guide for the slope you typically use for highpass? Is it typically the same across the board? (24, 18, 12, etc) Or, is it more by given instrument type?
Or, do you do it by bandpass crossover point between other instruments you may be low passing to carve each out? thanks!!
Great vid. For all out there I'd say don't underestimate how good autoing off filters can be for breaks. Sometimes it's necessary *to* make it sound untouched. Kind of like passing guitars so that they don't sound out of place in the mix, when there's a 2 second break of just guitar, taking the filters off can make a big difference for the vibe of it. This probably applies a lot to metal, idk about other genres.
great information as usual, the big difference that I see in your videos that you really know how to explain things and the thought behind you mix decisions
also can't wait for the room video
Shelving has worked better than high pass on more bass heavy tracks for me.. I'm not over here producing full albums though, I'm just making beats. Exceptions would be on a vocal track or acoustic guitar.. I'm definitely high passing those if there are conflicts/mud.
Good explanation Colt!💪🏾🤘🏾
Yeah great video as always! I am 100% with you on this but sometimes I start with a high pass on everything and the reintroduce whatever I need to as I go through the mix. To me this helps with initial balance of the track, it also informs how I might pan something too.
Can't wait for the room video!
Sometimes if you know something you still go off track so thanks for the refresh! Also have you tried the TDR filters? The low cut allows you to cut the low end but maintain the energy with sub harmonic. So easy to use & sound amazing 😊
Thanks Colt.
What about using low and high shelves instead of cuts, regarding how the phase gets affected? Also, what affects your decision on the slope of the cut filter?
It's really hard to not high pass but I find that when there is a lot of mid frequency harmonics in a sound e.g. brass, I don't feel as much of a need to high pass. I'm only one minute in though so keen to hear your take on it
Great vid! Quick question:does the linear phase need to be both the individual AND buss, if say you have kick mics going to a buss?
Sorry I forgot to add this in my first comment. But what you said about using linear phase EQ's on multi-mic'd instruments is of course spot on and can be a crucial piece of information to have. But I just recently learned, and it makes total sense now that I know (a duh momemt), that in order to keep the phase intact linear EQ's should also be used on any and all parallel tracks when filtering is used. Of course I never used to do this and still completed good mixes, but once I started implementing this practice it made a very noticable change! Of course Im certain you know this Colt. Im saying this in case someone else comes upon who doesnt know. Thanks again bro.
Stoked for the updates!
Well said Colt. I’m glad you brought up the phase issue.
Although, I think you meant to say to use the Linear Phase eq when EQ-ing those individual channels.
Isn’t it true that once you’ve grouped all your kicks , you can then use regular EQ to make fine tuning adjustments…., right?
I try not to use linear phase on anything that is transient heavy like drums as pre-ringing totally messes with the transient response. I’ve discovered that by using a zero phase low pass on a sub kick when blended with the other mics, somewhere around 100 Hz, you can actually reduce some of the frequencies in the kick sound that you were going to be carving out with EQ anyway, because most of the phase change happens at the frequency that you selected
One thing I think is worthwhile to mention is that it can be pretty hard to get your monitors and room to reproduce low end accurately. If there are nulls and peaks (like most untreated rooms will have), trying to mix the low end is pretty much guesswork. My previous room had an amazing low end by pure chance (the walls would just let the low end through), so I thought it's a walk in the park. But no, my current space was quite bad until I spent the time finding the optimal listening spot, set up some bass traps, and finished it off with room correction software. And it's still not as good as my previous space, so I check the low end on a pair of planar magnetic headphones that can actually reproduce the lows in a linear fashion.
When would you use the Natural Phase option? I've always been under the impression to use that on all Multi-mic'd sources (drums, etc), and Linear Phase on things like the Master Bus
What happens to phase if I high pass, then bounce to audio? Will I still have phase issues on the new audio part?
Very informative video! i get the concept now!
Years ago, one of the audio lie detector systems I was playing with, used that low frequency content! It supposedly used that low frequency to measure the stress in the vocal! We used it on the nightly news. Not sure if it really worked, but it appeared too! Just a thought...
A few questions come to mind here (for recording drums only)
I use Sound Radix Auto Align to correct my phase.
Now when I use Auto Align as the very first plug in and then highpass you say its basically screwing up the phase again?
So would it be better to first use a dedicated highpass plug in (or a dedicated EQ) to highpass and then use Auto Align as the second plug in in the chain?
Or is it better / the same to still use Auto Align first and then just use linear phase eq instead of a regular EQ? And why not just use linear phase for everything?
Hey Colt. You seem to finally be happy in your room! 🙂 That's great - to quote a stupid tv show - "I love it when a plan comes together..." Onya, bloke. Cheers
Kim from Perth Australia
I mix metal, pretty much exclusively. And I am always AMAZED, not only at how many tracks are high passed, but how much some of the tracks are high passed on some videos Ive seen. And many of these people do it on every song, almost as a rule! Like I see some people always HP their guitar tracks at 100Hz or even up to 120Hz!!! I see the same thing done with the lead male vocals! Of course I know and understand that sometimes its necessary, but not every time. I personally never HP my main guitars, and rarely lead vocals past 80Hz. I know why this is done and why it became a trend in metal. But I personally don't mix like this and don't care for the sound of this style of mixing. Just my opinion. Great video man!
12:49 When you pass that low what slope are you using? -6 -12?
Thanks, Colt👍🏻
I can't wait to see the Atmos rig in action!
@coltcapperrune
Why would you use anything but a linear phase eq?
Great vid. Thx!
They often sound bad to me..
Nice COIL shirt. Such underrated gear.
in order to have good phase relationship between the tracks you gotta print audio after high passing and then align the tracks so they're in phase
That would probably work great, however, a linear phase EQ works just fine for me. Good tip!
Would a plugin like Auto Align after the HPF work as well?
@@ColtCapperrune so I might have missed this in the video, but do you high pass the overheads (and other drum mics) too if you HP the kick? One more question too: liner phase EQ on all single tracks in the drumkit or just on the drum bus(es)? I find I have been high passing just the 'low' instruments, and HP'ing to taste so I am sort of patting myself for not being too far out of the ballpark 🤘
@@gabe60153 My thoughts as well! I need to test this
Low shelf ftw
Love that meat church hat!
Holy voodoo is my jam
Colt! Love the channel! And i just have a small point to make on hi passing.... 😅
By using a linear phase eq you are adding pre ringing. Linear phase eqs work by delaying the signal before its supposed to hit, this keeps the phase linear but the transients get slided back in time!
I recommend you (and everyone here) not use linear phase eqs on low end instruments because these instruments commonly carry the rhythm of the song, and linear phase eq changes the timing of the transients.
Some people say they cant hear pre ringing, but some do. You might as well keep the timings the same for that small % of people who can hear pre ringing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I just wanna say is often you can and should fix in the arranging, recording and sound choice/design phases.
Yooo, whenever I use a linear phase mode i the pro q3, it adds latency to that track - this is obviously quite annoying. How do you work around that?
Good honest info
Which filter do you like to hi pass with?
I pretty much low-cut everything. Depending on the instrument of course.
Thanks brother
I always use linear phase on anything in parallel.
Great video! My vocals sound much better when I high pass and cut everything below 40k. But my dog prefers if I raise it to 60k.
Funny enough high passes make me literally nauseous, I have to do multiple low shelves in serial.
I can often hear aggressive high passes on certain mixes.
There is a reason a low shelf is the default on most DAWs stock EQ
Is that right? Interesting..
@@sinewaves1631 Logic, FL Studio both do! Im sure many others as well.
high pass < high shelf
I high pass almost every channel BUT... I do live sound, not studio recording. Apples to oranges.
bUt wHaT aBoUt tHe pHaSe bRo
wE gOnNa TaLk BoUt It 😜😂
Tom Elmhurst boosted 20hz on Adele’s voice . I thought that was really interesting…
What EQ was he using when he did that?
I struggle to see how that makes sense… but what do I know 🤷♂️
The vocal track probably has been high-passed before and also probably he boosted with an analog EQ with a very wide bell or shelf affecting up to the low mids of the vocal. Then it makes sense. But still he could just as well have boosted 100 Hz with a different EQ...
Probably to activate it's harmonics which would fall in the low mids.
Skyfaw.... 😁
What if I like my kick gooey and tight?
JK man great vid as always