# Orchestral High-Pass



## SwedishPug (Feb 19, 2019)

People on this forum have been so helpful so far, I greatly appreciate it! 

I've heard that setting a high-pass EQ of 20hz on all of your instruments can reduce muddiness and increase overall volume of the final mix - what are people's experiences with this within the orchestral context? Is authenticity lost or is it a worthwhile thing to do?


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## ryans (Feb 19, 2019)

I would think of 'mud' as being somewhere in the 150 - 400 Hz range... 

That said I typically highpass everything, orchestral or otherwise.. at 50 Hz or higher. Exceptions are bass, low percussion, synths or instruments with low fundamentals (eg. piano).

Ryan


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## Rob Elliott (Feb 19, 2019)

While a final 20 hz hi-pass on your final group stems is not a bad idea - I generally look at each instrument/section differently. Flutes would take a much higher hi-pass than say low wds/strings. It really has to be case by case - track/cue by track/cue.


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## JohnG (Feb 19, 2019)

I almost never do that unless there is noise in the samples. Which there can be.

An oft-used related tactic, though, is to filter the send to your reverb. You don't need to reverberate _everything_ in the sonic spectrum. 

Some people shrink drastically the frequency range on the reverb send, some just a bit.


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## Divico (Feb 21, 2019)

+1 to Robs post. A low highpass like 20hz can free up headroom on your masterbus. On most instruments id go much higher


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## HotCoffee (Mar 5, 2019)

I also highpass most things, except for low bass and low drums unless they go insanely low. In any case, it's a per track/sound/instrument thing and I sweep (usually starting at 30Hz) until I hear a change in character, then pull back a bit (given I don't want to thin out the sound of course). I always check the result both solo and in context and adjust accordingly if needed. I almost never highpass the master out.

I think highpassing is quite necessary when there is a lot going on in a mix.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Mar 5, 2019)

I high pass when there's problems (noise) and on any tracks that don't have any information below a certain range anyway. But I don't do it blindly by default.


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## averystemmler (Mar 6, 2019)

I still struggle with mixing low end myself, but I do think it's unwise to do anything in a mix (or composition, really) without well-considered reason. There are a lot of variables in music, and I've always been eventually disappointed by rules of thumb.

I recommend figuring out a convenient way to A/B changes in your DAW. The ability to instantly toggle between two states and pick which one you prefer is a marvel of the modern world.


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## David Enos (Mar 7, 2019)

Had a scoring engineer tell me NEVER to do blanket things like this without a reason, i.e. noise, low rumble. Instruments produce sound out of their normal range.


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