Hey guys,
what do you think about raising the high frequencies after compressing the whole mix? at the stupid audio engineer school they said: if you lose frequencies in the audio path (e.g. through compression) it doesn't sound good to raise them again with the eq because you try to raise something that is not there anymore and it only results in more high frequency noise. do you guys do it anyways?

i know this is kind of an old subject but i'm still curious what solutions you found or if you say fuck it and let some highs go for smashing compression.

You can't cut or boost frequencies that aren't there. But if you use a compressor, you won't have lost frequencies (unless you've used a multiband compressor) as the compressor only changes the dynamics or amplitude. It'll have just made the frequencies quieter, rather than removed them.

BUT.............

Screw it anyway, if it sounds good use the EQ after the compressor. Who cares?! LOL. What they are teaching you may be true for live recording etc, but when it comes to beat making, be as creative as you can! I teach Music Technology so teach similar theories, but still like the throw the rules out the window sometimes, by adding compression AFTER reverb, recording at low volumes to normalize so the noise floor is boosted too, etc.

stupid audio enginneering school

yo, might wanna chill on the compression, and individually work on each sound, do it with speakers, a little bit of compression never hurts but, maybe boost the high just a little before compression. multi band compressors, do make a world of difference for microwave beats.

thanks for the reply preqwal. you are right. there are no rules. but people tend to say my beats have not enough highs. that's why i think about this compression/eq issue stupid people


when i use vinyl sim on the whole mix i'm pretty sure it cuts some highs. that's why i'm also searching for an hardware alternative. any recommendations?


i learned some good stuff too but yeah, it was stupid

do you use the presets? any suggestions? i learned what all these faders are supposed to do at the stupid audio school but i get lost with the multiband comps. too many decisions...

just tweakalize it till it sounds good,

generally the multi band compressor will compress the entire audio spectrum, it usually will have 3 bands, low , medium and high, and it allows you to boost the signal and mess with all the other parameters for each range. it's kind of like an equalizer on steroids, this should help solve the missing highs, because you just boost the highs, the best sounding one ive come across is built into flstudio. so load your entire beat into there and play with it. (if you have it)

adobe audition also has good compressors with multi band functionality.
using an exciter can really sizzle your highs, but i heard somewhere, that it's not very exciting, and youll just have a mess of highs garbalizing your mix.

i also find , if you multi band compress each track or instrument, your mix will sound better than any pro mix out there,

if you are confused how they work, i recomend playing with the one built into flstudio, it will give you a good idea of what is going on, im shure there is probably tons of free vsts out there aswell that do the same thing.

cosign, when everything is compressed yet, try this!

gotta try this!!!
thank you tape smoke for the good advices. i have fruity and audition and will play around with it tonight...

i forgot to talk about the limiter for each band, but it's pretty straight forward, be carefull when blasting the frequencies though, because to much of anything isnt good.

I started to do this aswell, it's crazy how my beat sounds better. when I get back home i'll try to show you the difference it,s plain stupid.

and i'm using the ghetto apple audio unit (AUmulticomp or some shit like that)

OG404 mfx that cut highs no matter what: vinyl, tape echo, djfx/bpm loop

Thanks guys!

the djfx too? never noticed it. good hint kel. used that one a lot

default pitch cuts highs too, without altering pitch.