low frequencies in kick drums ??

[Paul Ellis]

Hi all , just a quick question to find out about kick drums for tech and progressive house . I'm trying to find out if producers ever use a high pass filter ,to cut off the really low frequencies which are present in most kick drums i.e 60hz -< . It just seems to me that these frequencies cause all sorts of problems when listening to them on laptops and budget stereo systems.

[River]

Yeah I always roll of anything bellow 50hz on the kick.

[dramirez]

Yep, i agree with River - always cut everything below between 40 and 50 hz on kicks as these are the really lo sub frequencies that can't be heard on small monitors but then cause all sorts of problems on a full range club system. Also even though you can't hear these frequencies they still end up eating up all your headroom so cut them!
This even applies to sounds like hihats and cymbals - sometimes they contain lo freqs which you may not be able to hear so lo cut right up to the point of being able to hear it make a difference to the sound.

[River]

Yeah good point on cutting the very lows everything, I've started using a channel strip in live with eq3's so I can sweep up and chop the lows/very highs on things.

The old vintage consoles had filters on every channel and I've found it helps clear up the mix and maybe more importantly forces me to think about what sounds fit In what frequencys as i'm building a groove.

[lugodaniel18]

how about on bass sounds?

[River]

Same story on bass, my kicks tend to be lower than the bass so I roll my kick of at 50hz-ish and then I'll roll the base of up to where ever the main body of the sound is to leave room for the kick to sit under it.

You can also stick sidechain compression on the bass to help them sit together so the bass volume drops every time the kick comes in, it can be quite subtle as well as the hugely over the top stuff on so many records lately.

[Rich_Chorus]

Hi everyone,
nice little community here and I'm a huge fan of Ramirez.
The lowend is always some kind of struggle for me, though things getting a bit clearer lately.
What slope are you all using most of the time for the lowcut?
Seems like a 12db cut with a tiny bit of resonance is giving me the most natural result, but I have no idea how this would translate to a club setting. So tell me all your lowend secrets. :D

[Paul Ellis]

thanks for all of your replies, much appreciated !! which leads me on nicely to basses which go really lo too as I have a really nice sub bass ,which goes right down there starting at probably 80hz then going right down to 30 ish slowly sloping down. Probably best cut this a little too then ??

[TheSqueezer]

If u use sub basses its nice to have some low end..thats why its a sub :D:D i cant advice you a right frequency to cut on sub basses, but do this, cut first on your kick and then cut on everything that might interfere with the low frequencies of the kick and the bass. Then with your kick and bass playing at the same time start to cut a little bit on the sub until you find the sweet spot of this elements. My advice to you its to do this last step with your ears and not your eyes, if you know what i mean!!
And dont forget also to cut on the final mastering to avoid some naughty bad frequencies that might have passed.

[Rich_Chorus]

If the sub's too low, why don't you play it in a higher key? If it's a sinewavy sub, it doesn't make much sense to eq it. You could just as well lower it's volume.

[Paul Ellis]

the thing is , I want to keep it as it is ideally , It is seperate to anything else in the track and sounds just as my track comes into the break . there are no other sounds when the sub bass kicks in . I just really wanted to know if having this very low sub in my track would lower the overall volume of the track???

[tomflynn]

Always trust your ears, that's why having good monitors is so important. I would offer some advice to your track but it can be hard without hearing it.