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Topic: Reducing high frequencies w/ Electri-Q also raises mids; any idea why? (Read 2395 times) previous topic - next topic
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Reducing high frequencies w/ Electri-Q also raises mids; any idea why?

I've decided to try to remaster some of my favorite albums since companies are not willing to do it or they do it poorly.

I'm currently using REAPER and have been working on thrash band Vio-lence's "Oppressing the Masses"

In particular, there is one track where the hi-hats are a bit overzealous and drowning out the guitars.  I am trying to give a little more backbone to the guitars while at the same time subtly trying to tame the high hat while still trying to make it sound natural.

I've experimented with several types of different EQs and found this to be the best

http://www.aixcoustic.com/index.php/Electri-Q-FULL/13/0/

I am currently using the free version.

I've separated the track into Left and Right audio and have cut some frequencies in order to achieve the result I want.  I've become very exact, and for the left channel I put at 14.3 kHz, cut the gain completely, but only with a bandwith of .040.  For the right, it's around 15.4 kHz, complete gain cut, also at bandwith of .040.

It's really helped tame that high-hat which I was hoping it would.  However, at the same time, it seems to have considerably raised the guitars.  It sounds as if I raised the 700Hz to 1khz range by a decibel or so which is what I wanted in addition to cutting the annoying frequencies from the guitars.  However, I thought this was really strange since I didn't touch the mid-range at all. So I put all of the adjustments I made, back to zero so there should be no modification of the sound.  I then did an AB comparison with the original.  They should have sounded exactly the same, but the one I originally modified and returned to zero, still had a bump in the mid-range.  It wasn’t until I deleted the FX completely from that passage and then did an AB comparison that they were both the same.

I’m wondering if this is the EQ’s fault?  Reaper’s? something going on in my head??
anyone ever have something similar happen?

Reducing high frequencies w/ Electri-Q also raises mids; any idea why?

Reply #1 –
It's not REAPER itself...  REAPER won't alter the EQ by itself...  It only does what you tell it to do and applys the effects you select.  You might be making a volume change without knowing it...  I don't use REAPER that much, but there are level controls for individual tracks, as well as a master level control, and the plug-in might be affecting the level too...

I don't know anything about the plug-in you're using.  It looks like it has a lot of features & options, so it might be dong something "funny".

Quote
I've become very exact, and for the left channel I put at 14.3 kHz, cut the gain completely, but only with a bandwith of .040. For the right, it's around 15.4 kHz, complete gain cut, also at bandwith of .040.
That is a "notch filter" or "band reject filter".    Any parametric equalizer should be able to do that, or most audio editors have various filters built-in, in addition to an equalizer.

You've done the hard part by identifying the problem frequencies.    It shouldn't be too hard to try some other equalizers/filters to cut the same frequencies.  REAPER's included EQ (ReaEQ?) can probably do it.   

Filters are not perfect, not even digital filters...  There are compromises, and depending on the filter design, you can get an upward "bump" in the frequency response.  i.e. There are filters designed for "maximum flatness"  in the pass-band and other designs that aim for for "maximum steepness" in the cutoff band.    This might be what's happening with the plug-in you are using.  But,  the bumps/ripples should be closer to the notch frequency, nowhere around 1kHz...  and  I don't understand why the EQ is changing the sound with it set for "no effect".

Reducing high frequencies w/ Electri-Q also raises mids; any idea why?

Reply #2 –
Sounds like a bug in the EQ plugin you're using. As DVDdoug indicates, you're not doing anything exotic. A standard parametric EQ is all you need. It should not be difficult to find an alternative plugin.

FWIW, mastering engineers rarely make the kind of extreme modifications you're doing here. Unexpected artifacts tend to result from such settings. Extreme settings can be useful to exactly locate the problem but to correct it, consider using wider bandwidth and less gain or cut.
 

Reducing high frequencies w/ Electri-Q also raises mids; any idea why?

Reply #3 –
thanks for the responses.  I have been experimenting with Reaper's "in house" VST and it seems to be working very well in terms of sound quality.  It's just a pain to create the bandwith (you have to put a point on each side of the frequency you want to affect specify where it should be.).  But looks like it was the software's fault like you guys indicated.