Cutting Lows for Recording:

Gene H. Brown · Post by **Gene H. Brown** » 13 Nov 2003 6:04 pm

Just wondering if any of you ever cut your Lows when doing recording or when being miked on the bandstand? I play through a Peavey Nashville 400 with a Mod and a sho-bud with a BL710 pickup and I find, for me anyway, that when cutting the Lows back quite often seems to make the steel blend with the vocalist a whole lot better and doesn't seem to bury or make the steel sound out of porportion to all the other instruments on the session, such as piano, lead, etc. I have also found, for me anyway, that when miking it on the bandstand , it seems to cut through a whole lot better, although you sometimes do have to cut the highs a little to compensate. How do you all feel about this, is this a senseless approach or do some of you do the same?
Gene[This message was edited by Gene H. Brown on 13 November 2003 at 08:49 PM.]

Alan Kirk · Post by **Alan Kirk** » 14 Nov 2003 6:26 am

Gently cutting back on the lows that aren't necessary for a given instrument or track/channel can go a long way to cleaning up a muddy recording or live-sound mix.

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[This message was edited by Alan Kirk on 14 November 2003 at 06:32 AM.]

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 14 Nov 2003 7:56 am

Ditto, do it all the time.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 14 November 2003 at 07:58 AM.]

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 14 Nov 2003 3:41 pm

Be careful of anything below 250Hz. Especially anything below 90Hz. It's great to have a big fat warm tone by yourself or loud on stage but in a recorded mix, there isn't much that belongs down there. The beefy part of the steel tone just wont translate in a mix or thru a small speaker where most music gets listened to. Unless the recording features the steel as the main instrument, dont be afraid to thin it out a bit. You've got to put on a different hat and listen to the steel as a mix component as an engineer would, not as a player would hear it. You'll hear that most pro recordings dont have much meat down there except for bass and bass drum. Vocals and guitars often have very little below 180Hz. General rule though and remember there are no rules.

Brad Sarno

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 14 Nov 2003 4:00 pm

Unless it's drums or bass, the 80hz cut button is always pressed. Like they said before, the cumulative buildup over a dozen tracks with data in that range on all of them is real messy.

JB

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DroopyPawn · Post by **DroopyPawn** » 15 Nov 2003 4:45 pm

I suggest recording with NO eq at all. Then you can "fix it in the mix". You can always remove the lows later. But if you later decide you want more lows, you simply can't raise what's not already there.

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Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 15 Nov 2003 4:58 pm

Absolutely
No board eq
Lows boosted less than I use onstage -- go for 'a little fat' instead of 'waaaay fat'
Give the producer what you think it sould sound like EQ-wise, realizing the frequency ranges of voices and other instruments. The bass and kick drum pretty much soak up the bottom and anything you'd add there is basically mush anyway. Let them have the waaaay lows.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Rich Paton · Post by **Rich Paton** » 17 Nov 2003 2:31 am

Just like is heard and adjusted for by a Front of House and/or monitor mix engineer at a concert, I believe that if you listen to your lows and make adjustment(s), you'll probably notice that there is a point (sometimes called the "Knee Point"), where the sound will change from acceptable to mudded or tubby (unacceptable).Finessing the low end around that point is what I go for when mixing, and as mentioned, even a bit too much low end can really tax any system's limits. It is really quite simple to adjust for once you know what to listen for and do it a few times.

Gene H. Brown · Post by **Gene H. Brown** » 17 Nov 2003 12:26 pm

I read in one of the posts here on the forum where someone said Franklin didn't use any lows at all when recording. This sounds sort of way out of line to me, considering the nice full rich sound he gets on most recordings. What say you guys anyway?
Thanks
Gene