The Funk Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I'd like to get back to an engineer who's working on some live recording for me. There's a particular popped note that's buried in the mix and I'd like a bit of a wide-ish EQ boost around that note. Trouble is, I have no real idea of that note's frequency. I'm sure I've seen lists posted on these forums indexing various standard bass guitar notes and their frequencies. Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 [url="http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html"]Frequencies[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bythesea Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 [quote name='Stewart' post='561148' date='Aug 5 2009, 01:55 PM'][url="http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html"]Frequencies[/url][/quote] I was trying to view that page but it won't load for me. There is also [url="http://groups.google.com/group/alt.guitar.bass/msg/b31962d90cd0f9dd"]this[/url]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 It won't work. All that will happen if you boost the fundamental frequency of that note is you're get a load of extra rumble/thump. Those charts of fundamental frequencies are best ignored. If you have a multitrack recording your best bet is to loop that section of the soloed bassline and sweep a parametric EQ to bring out the necessary overtones to make it leap out of the mix. Then add automation to just bring that EQ in before the phrase and take it out again afterwards. You could also add some additional gain. If you don't have a multitrack recording then either overdub that note and mix it in, or forget it! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 [quote name='The Funk' post='561141' date='Aug 5 2009, 01:48 PM']....I'd like to get back to an engineer who's working on some live recording for me. There's a particular popped note that's buried in the mix and I'd like a bit of a wide-ish EQ boost around that note. Trouble is, I have no real idea of that note's frequency....[/quote] Surely that's his job? You just tell him which note and the rest is down to him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPAC Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Interesting, page four of this PDF link lists them. [url="http://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf"]http://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 [quote name='chris_b' post='561266' date='Aug 5 2009, 04:31 PM']Surely that's his job? You just tell him which note and the rest is down to him![/quote] Aye, that is his job (and he's actually pretty good at it) but I'd just like to have an idea of where it is for my own knowledge. I take Alex's point as well about boosting fundamentals but surely the overtones have their own frequencies and there must be a chart of those somewhere as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wulf Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Multiply. The overtones are the fundamental x2, x3, x4 etc. Therefore, your open A string has a 55Hz fundamental and overtones at 110Hz, 165Hz, 220Hz, etc. I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that the second overtone is particularly strong in the timbre of most basses, which is why you can follow the line even on a speaker that starts to significantly drop off below, say, 80Hz. FWIW, playing harmonics involves touching the string so that lower frequencies are cut but the higher overtones continue, which is why they become progressively quieter and harder to sound as you work up the series. Wulf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 [quote name='The Funk' post='561798' date='Aug 6 2009, 10:49 AM']I take Alex's point as well about boosting fundamentals but surely the overtones have their own frequencies and there must be a chart of those somewhere as well?[/quote] They are, as Wulf said, simply multiples of the fundamental - however they get so closely stacked as you go higher that you'll never be able to EQ precisely enough to get one note but not another. Bear in mind that with a typical slap sound the tone of the pop is in the 1-3kHz region, yet the fundamental of that note is likely to be around 100-200Hz so you're looking at the group of harmonics from the 5th to the 30th, plus there's a bunch of non-harmonic percussive energy even higher. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 Excellent. Thanks for that guys. The engineer's going to have a tough time because the bass, keys and guitar are doing tasty things all over the place frequency-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 [url="http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm"]http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/re...ain_display.htm[/url] Is it just one note played once, or one note played several times? If it's buried in the live recording mix it's likely to be buried in the live sound too. You may be able to hear it from your cab on stage, but will the audience? If it is very important to the song, you might have to play with the arrangement or more specifically what the other musicians are playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wulf Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 [quote name='TimR' post='563860' date='Aug 8 2009, 09:53 PM']Is it just one note played once, or one note played several times? If it's buried in the live recording mix it's likely to be buried in the live sound too. You may be able to hear it from your cab on stage, but will the audience? If it is very important to the song, you might have to play with the arrangement or more specifically what the other musicians are playing.[/quote] That's a good point. Mixing is well and good but arrangement is a better long term solution. Even on the mixing side, it might be better to bring down what is clashing with the target bass note rather than try to boost the note via EQ. The former approach creates space for it to shine naturally; the second risks distorting it by unbalancing the frequencies. Wulf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 The recording was multi-tracked and my bass track was EQd by the recording engineer (not the live engineer) in my absence. The feedback I have for him is that on one song one note of the bassline is too quiet compared to the rest. The rest is up to him but I'd like to have an idea of how best to deal with it for when I engineer demo recordings myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 [quote name='The Funk' post='564733' date='Aug 10 2009, 10:12 AM']The recording was multi-tracked and my bass track was EQd by the recording engineer (not the live engineer) in my absence. The feedback I have for him is that on one song one note of the bassline is too quiet compared to the rest. The rest is up to him but I'd like to have an idea of how best to deal with it for when I engineer demo recordings myself.[/quote] If it was just a case that you played the original note slightly quieter and if it's a digital recording then you can just open up the WAV file in whatever wave editor you use, find the note and increase the volume of that one note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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