I'm not claiming to be an all-knowing expert in such things (yet ), but from my experience it's a result of both mixing and mastering. The cutoff you're seeing at around 16k-17k Hz generally denotes the upper limit of hi-hats and/or shakers...any high sound that repeats a lot. Too much high freqs with these instruments can be painful to listen to since they're playing constantly, so I roll them off pretty sharply in the mix. Other parts can be fine at such high frequencies...filter sweeps, efx, etc, as long as it's not constant, you'll still want to roll them off somewhat tho if it sounds bad!

The rest of the question is taken care of in the mastering process. The secret to not dulling the sound with all this rolling off of high frequencies is adding "transparent highs." A pro mastering house most likely accomplishes this with a Pultec equalizer, which can both add and subtract frequencies at the same time. For the rest of us, the Waves RenEQ and Voxengo GlissEQ are both decent at adding pleasing high frequencies. You can't just use any EQ to do this however, as most will just sound harsh if you increase the high freqs. The last step for me is rolling off everything starting around 19khz so I don't get much content above 20khz.

And finally you can take everything I say with a grain of salt, since I haven't released any new tracks demonstrating all of this stuff yet! ...the tracks in my sig are old and crappy am learning all this stuff just the same as the rest of you!

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quote:

Originally posted by Karl Hi,, I've noticed in just about every tune I've looked at when I view it through a frequency analyzer, from about 17000 to 20000Hz is just about all cut out. Is this done through using EQ's while making the tune or Mastering after? When I make a tune the analyzer is just about level at about 36Db from 0 to 25000Hz. I've tried cutting the very high frequencies using EQ but this just makes the tune sound empty and doesn't really alter in the frequency analyzer. I'm really struggling with this one, and i think this is what is holding me back from making a decent sounding tune, so any help would be appreciated.. I'm using reason by the way.. Thanks...

I'm not totally sure what you're talking about here, but it seems that you've been looking at spectrum analysis of mp3's(even the 320kbps have this cutoff in them). Packing gets rid of the unnecessary high frequencys to save space, but it still keeps the necessary ones. You might have noticed that in the spectrum there were parts where some high freq material still exist, for example on high hats. It's like having a gate-effect on the high frequencys. Go buy CDs

Or maybe we are talking about totally different things here. Some examples, like screenshots etc would be nice and ofcourse info about the source material you are refering to..

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Last edited by -mk- on Jun-10-2006 at 03:40

Hah, i stand corrected on rolling off stuff above 20khz... damn mp3s messing with my mind, I should know better than that
If you're working with RenEQ for example tho, I just realized that some really super high frequencies it seemed to be adding were actually supposed to be there. Doh.

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Thanks for the reply's guys, here's some screen shots..

This one is what mine looks like

And this is what others look like (In this case I've used Aria Dido AvB mix)

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quote:

Originally posted by Karl Hi,, I've noticed in just about every tune I've looked at when I view it through a frequency analyzer, from about 17000 to 20000Hz is just about all cut out. Is this done through using EQ's while making the tune or Mastering after? When I make a tune the analyzer is just about level at about 36Db from 0 to 25000Hz. I'm using reason by the way.. Thanks...

What do u use to view the frequencies in Reason ?
It doesn't have a seperate frequency analyser but something can be used for the same purpose ?

quote:

Originally posted by funkysouls What do u use to view the frequencies in Reason ? It doesn't have a seperate frequency analyser but something can be used for the same purpose ?

You can't do it in Reason.

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you can use the vocoder...as a kind of frequency analyzer...

you only have to double your signal with a spider and send one as modulator...then it will start analyzing the modulator signal if you get what I mean...if not I will make a rns...

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quote:

Originally posted by Karl Hi,, I've noticed in just about every tune I've looked at when I view it through a frequency analyzer, from about 17000 to 20000Hz is just about all cut out. Is this done through using EQ's while making the tune or Mastering after? When I make a tune the analyzer is just about level at about 36Db from 0 to 25000Hz.

In general, you don't need any sound information over 20kHz; some would say 16kHz.

They're simply not as audible to the human ear; 25,000 Hz is completely inaudible, and these frequencies may even profoundly irritate and wear out your ears after listening to them for extended periods of time.

Of course, we don't really know what these frequencies *do*, and some important harmonics for things like violins and hi-hats are contained in the very upper bits of the sound spectrum, so it's all up to you really to decide which way to go with your sound.

quote:

Originally posted by Karl Thanks for the reply's guys, here's some screen shots.. This one is what mine looks like And this is what others look like (In this case I've used Aria Dido AvB mix)

those screenshots are from Audition

Karl you're shure those are original copies, i.e. vinyl rip, cd ??
It really looks like compressed audio. I record my mixes in Audition and I've never seen such a (high freq) empty song

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Those super high frequencies should be irrelevant unless you're producing for your dog.

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I think you were spectrum checking a vinyl rip or something. Vinyl rips lack high freqs most of the time.