250 Hz

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Fusan

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How come to make my mixes sound life-like I have to cut out 250HZ by around 7db? Do we hear this frequency in everyday life because it doesn't seem that way?
 
Fusan said:
How come to make my mixes sound life-like I have to cut out 250HZ by around 7db?
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generally, no. although i don't really understand your question: what do you mean with "my mixes sound life"? and why cut out 250Hz by around 7dB? why not 212Hz by 4dB or 40dB?!

Fusan said:
Do we hear this frequency in everyday life because it doesn't seem that way?
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Of course you hear 250Hz in everyday life.


what do you mean? i cannot follow you.
 
moses said:
generally, no. although i don't really understand your question: what do you mean with "my mixes sound life"?.
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"to make my mixes sound life-like"

moses said:
and why cut out 250Hz by around 7dB? why not 212Hz by 4dB or 40dB?!
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I think he is saying he has a "problem frequency" specifically @ 250hz.



moses said:
Of course you hear 250Hz in everyday life.
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I would guess (without knowing any other information) that most of his problem will come down to his recording environment (both room and monitoring system)
 
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I can only imagine a cut of 250Hz that large is over compensation for poor room acoustics (i.e. standing waves etc) OR a poorly recorded instrument.
or both.

We most definitely experience 250Hz in everyday life. Between 20Hz to 20,000Hz is the generally accepted range for human hearing, but, this range decreased from the high end pretty rapidly due to aging, and other life damaging things. Below 300Hz we 'feel' as apposed to hear. As sound there is more omnidirectional. I can only imagine the recording is poor, or if its a sample or pre recorded thing that is not the issue, then the room you are working in is the problem.
 
If you're cutting 250hz in all of your mixes, then your monitoring room may be the problem. Try mixing at lower volume levels before cutting 250hz. Also try listening to your mixes on different speakers.
 
Most would probably argue that if you have to cut *anything* by 7dB there's a serious, serious problem somewhere. Whether it's your recording/mixing environment, broken gear, etc., it needs to be addressed.
 
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It just sounds cluttered up unless I cut around 220-250 once i've made that cut it's like i can hear all the high end better too. After applying this cut I tried my mixes on my small Hi-Fi, my large Hi-Fi and my mp3 player and they just sound so much betta and balanced. I know cutting that much dB is a possible problem but i'm sorry to say that it works.

And this lead to my question about 250Hz in everyday life. Because my mixes naturally give out this frequency so much I thought that this frequency was picked up by the human more than other frequencies if ya get me it's hard for me to word...
 
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The most sensitive frequency area for our ears are around 3Khz, give or take. This is the fundamental frequency our voices are percieved at as well, theres no coincidence here.

Cutting 220-250Hz works because there is a problem in the first place. Be it recording, room, or both. Sometimes a vocal gets a little 'fat' around there, OR, an acoustic guitar that is distant wouldn't need this frequency in such abundance, therefore a small narrow cut might work. Try cutting that region from instruments that dont need it, this is often more useful than a huge cut overall the entire mix.

Also, cutting below this i.e. by high passfiltering at around 80Hz on instruments that do not NEED so much dominant low end may help clear up the sense of 'mud, and allow the higher frequencies to sing.
 
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wlouch said:
I can only imagine a cut of 250Hz that large is over compensation for poor room acoustics (i.e. standing waves etc) OR a poorly recorded instrument.
or both.
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wow i was thinking the exact same thing......its the only thing i can think of that makes sense
 
No idea. I just record in a small room and record onto my M-Audio Firewire Solo. I'm gona get an RME AD/DA soon but I don't know if that will make any difference but if i dont apply that cut then it's dullness
 
Well it sounds to me like your getting too much natural reverb from your small untreated room... If your current room is your only option i would strongly reccomend looking into getting a dynamic mic.
 
Fusan said:
No idea. I just record in a small room and record onto my M-Audio Firewire Solo. I'm gona get an RME AD/DA soon but I don't know if that will make any difference but if i dont apply that cut then it's dullness
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Sounds like you do have an idea. You're in a small room with no broadband treatment right? So you're probably in an acoustic nightmare. Before you drop $ on a new interface look into proper broadband treatment, you'll get far more out of that than you will from a new interface no matter how good.

Go to these sites to make an informed decision on acoustic treatment:

www.gikacoustics.com
www.realtraps.com
www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.htmlhttp://www.e
 
My guess is that you are mixing everything the same. In the process you're doing some high-pass filtering and some low-pass filtering and you're building up frequencies in this general area where you feel the need to eq for clarity-sake.

Light eq goes a long way over filtering.

So it is true that if you have to do a lot of eq at some point, something is not right. You will have cases where extreme eq might be necessary and beneficial but for the most part, if you have to, that should be a tip-off that something is not right.
 
sleepy said:
My guess is that you are mixing everything the same. In the process you're doing some high-pass filtering and some low-pass filtering and you're building up frequencies in this general area where you feel the need to eq for clarity-sake.

Light eq goes a long way over filtering.

So it is true that if you have to do a lot of eq at some point, something is not right. You will have cases where extreme eq might be necessary and beneficial but for the most part, if you have to, that should be a tip-off that something is not right.
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thats kinda what i was going to say. no matter how bad your room is, with a low budget setup eq can distroy the allready low quality you are using. learning about how to eq something will prbobly be the hardest thing to learn correctly. most of this being because of the room and monitors you are using mixed with the confusing low quality recording equipment.

try to take every step as sereously as you can. from the mic-mic pre-interface into the program. get it as clean as you can without touching the eq or compression. building a house on sand will annoy you when you wonder why the foundation is sinking.

and most of all dont dive into mixing right after recording. people that do this should have more exp in the field to understand the most simple logical solution. take a step back and let yor ears rest before you mix.
 
sellinbeats said:
take a step back and let yor ears rest before you mix.
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An important general point, take breaks as periodically as your schedule allows. As the ears get tired, you begin to hear nuances that are not infact there, amongst other sonic differences. Monitor at low levels also, this allows longer sessions without fatigue setting in.

Back on topic, get some of those websites and consider hiring an acoustician, you wont regret it :)
 
But even the drums on my hard drive sound clutted and when I add sounds from Reason the same thing. I record vocals as best as I can but when I play it back on systems it's just there that low mid range dullness. I'm clueless
 
As it's been sugested a few times before. There is one common element in all of your sound sources. That is they are all being listened to in the same room.... The rooms acoustic properties may only be one of a few problems but a good chance it's one of the big problems.
 
Fusan said:
But even the drums on my hard drive sound clutted and when I add sounds from Reason the same thing. I record vocals as best as I can but when I play it back on systems it's just there that low mid range dullness. I'm clueless
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The problem could maybe be your samples that your using along with alot of other things.
 
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