Hey all, noticed something a bit odd today when I was applying a high pass filter sweep over a snare drum. I have my snare drum sitting at -10 db, but as I begin to cut low frequencies I end up actually losing headroom, and it ends up sitting at about -3.61 db(well by it, I mean the drum rack that the snare and filter are sitting in). I am quite confused how I appear to be losing headroom, even though I am removing frequency content.

Attached two relevant photos. For reference, my snare is the second element in the drum rack, and the eq is on the drum rack as opposed to on the snare.

1st screenshot is of the filter disabled and the rack metering at -10.10 db(side question, anybody have any idea why this is metering lower than the snare, since nothing else should be in the signal chain).

2nd screenshot is of the filter enable and the rack metering at -3.61 db.

Quote from: Khron1k on March 23, 2016, 11:47:30 pm

Quote from: Marrow Machines on March 23, 2016, 12:22:34 am

You gotta know your tools if you want to answer that question for yourself.

I don't see how the question is a matter of knowing you tools or not.

It's in fact the difference of how tools work that you need to understand. So UNDERSTANDING your tools is a big part of using your tools.

Other wise, if you knew exactly what your eq was doing, you wouldn't of asked the question in the first place, let alone the second question that you quoted me on.

I don't see how you can not think that it's not when it clearly is the problem.

For a concrete example, let's say someone gives me the blanket advice of high-pass all kick drums at 100 Hz and low-pass all kick drums at 2 kHz. Do they mean?
a) The passband is from 100-2000 Hz.
or
b) The stopband should be from 0-200 Hz and 2 kHz-infinite, which would put the passband closer to something like 200-1500 Hz.

Not that it is a huge deal, I just want to be sure I'm speaking the same language as other folks.

I still assert that my question is unrelated to my my knowledge(or lack thereof ) of my tools. As can be clearly seen from my question, nowhere do I ask how to configure my EQ to place a passband across a frequency range(quite a trivial task). The question stems solely from my pursuit to communicate effectively with others and to remove ambiguity.

What Marrow is getting at, I think, is that the lesson from all this is that you shouldn't be taking "blanket advice", but instead understand what you're trying to achieve with said advice, and how the EQ gets you there. If we take the example of high-passing all kicks at 100Hz, if your kick's fundamental is at 100Hz, you most probably do NOT want to cut that frequency.

Thanks, Ark! Yeah, I totally understand what I should be trying to achieve with said advice. I'm just quite new to the producing community, so I just wanted to make sure I am speaking the same language as those in it.

Hmm, seems like this post has gotten into a bit of a debate, and as a result has seemed to have gotten me even more confused :/

For a concrete example, let's say someone gives me the blanket advice of high-pass all kick drums at 100 Hz and low-pass all kick drums at 2 kHz. Do they mean?
a) The passband is from 100-2000 Hz.
or
b) The stopband should be from 0-200 Hz and 2 kHz-infinite, which would put the passband closer to something like 200-1500 Hz.

Not that it is a huge deal, I just want to be sure I'm speaking the same language as other folks.

Hey, Marrow Machines, sorry it appears that there is a misunderstanding somewhere.

I'm not looking for the software to actually do the correction for me, just to do the detection of where it is occurring and what frequencies are causing all in one pass, since bouncing back and forth seems to be an inefficient workflow.

Awesome, thanks! Yeah I think I have found myself gravitating towards a very similar workflow

Awesome, thanks all! So that means when folks are cleaning up say a lead synth, and say that they get rid of everything below 300 Hz, that actually means that they are just placing the -3db point somewhere around 300 Hz?

I'm really digging the arpeggio that is going throughout the track! May just be the fact that I am listening on crappy laptop speakers, but I didn't notice much of a bass layer. Besides that though really solid start

Yeah, I saw that the other day. I have been all about the Monstercat label lately, they are churning out some really solid stuff