Do high pass filters ruin your mixes? Fixing Bad Music Production and Mixing Advice EP.2

I'm fixing more bad music production and mixing advice. Honestly, I enjoyed this one and can't wait to move on to more interesting topics soon!
I'm making this video as a response to the critiques I've received online for sharing some helpful and widely used EQ techniques. Remember that it is always easier to straw man an argument and debunk it than to make a compelling case in the first place. Monitor the phase on your EQ if you are concerned.

As always, I hope you found this video useful or interesting in some way!
If you enjoy my videos, you can buy me a coffee here

0:00 - Introduction
0:20 - Good advice
1:12 - Bad advice
1:35 - Where the bad advice comes from (Audio Example)
4:20 - Can you hear the difference? Full Mix Example
5:20 - Plugin Doctor and some social media advice
6:45 - Thanks for watching

The mix was Cruise Control by Jason Jass.

🎧 My Plugin (Reviver) Free Trial:

[inthemix]

Let me know which one you thought had the high pass filter at 4:20... I'm still waiting on a winner.
Edit: still waiting on a correct answer. I will reveal the answer in my next video.
If you enjoy my videos, you can buy me a coffee here



0:00 - Introduction
0:20 - Good advice
1:12 - Bad advice
1:35 - Where the bad advice comes from (Audio Example)
4:20 - Can you hear the difference? Full Mix Example
5:20 - Plugin Doctor and some social media advice
6:45 - Thanks for watching

[vincentaugustus]

Was a little worried when I saw the thumbnail, but I am glad you used the clickbait properly and got people to the “correct” conclusion. Lots of crazy info on this topic

[eklipseRomania]

We obviously need more musical MythBusters like you and Dan Worrall

[ivansoto]

A & B sound the same to me for the most part. Which brings up an interesting point. Like 99% of the people listening to your music isn't gonna hear the difference either, or even care or know what a little phasing or pre-ringing is/sounds like.

Listening on E8XT's

[Wheatly_Portal]

This is very pro behavior in music. Worrying that a filter can slightly change the accoustics, and thus phase in the sound, which can cause some thigs to be unheard, is insane to me to even fathom. Yall are really creative fr fr.

[IuliusCurt]

Yes, that! Thank you for saying it. This whole tight schedule content creation that eventually need to create problems to solve is constantly pushing beginners off track

[lesdodds]

I can only thank you. After a 15 year break from my hobby doing music with Orion Platinum that was discontinued. I bought FL Studio. Things had moved on alot. Fl studio certainly has. You've made my learning curve so much easier with your excellent presentation and style. I'm really enjoying my hobby once again. Thank you so much. Awesome tutorials. You've a great talent 👌

[SKMPMusic]

A had the high-passed filter and B hadn't because A sounded more balanced than B as B had some low rumble going on that might have been messing with the frequency's overall balance. A was much balanced compared to B after lowering some of the very low (almost inaudible but can be heard if you have the ears) frequencies from the mix. That gave the mix a bit more room too. A sounds high passed to me..🎧🎵

[alastairgames_]

Mix A has the highpass enabled. Mix B has more low end in the very sub frequencies. I'm listening through my dedicated sub!

[DeepanshuRishi]

A was original and B was High pass filter. To me, the difference was in listening the kick in context of the whole mix. In A the kick felt like it was playing separate to the other sounds of the mix, whereas in B, the kick sounded more included with the other sounds of the mix, so I believe the sub frequencies were cut in the B.

[DaneBryantFrazier]

This is aside from the video, but would you be able to do an updated tour of your studio including the lighting, how things are placed, etc.? I noticed right straight how you always have a calming sort of theme to your studio and is something I'm trying to create a sense of for my new studio. Thanks in advance!

[Weaverbeats]

i'm never gonna use vocal compression because when i compressed my vocals by 40 or 50 db they sounded distorted squashed and unnatural.

[DJPastaYaY]

Glad you made a video about this. This has been something on my mind for a while now!

[osky]

This person is professional, as a beginner the video is very easy to follow. I managed to make 1 EP of lofi music with standard chords and following this guy's mixing tutorial, at least it worked in my case. Thank You

[djdippa]

The end of this vid is so so true, I have found vids on YouTube that question my whole music and then obsess over fixing it when it was actually fine and I spent hours wasting time.

[Jenceno]

4:50 if any highpass was applied, it was on mix B; while mix A is the original. i can hear the volume of the bass that plays with the chords decrease slightly. it is hard to tell for sure after it was uploaded to a platform like youtube if it applies any compression to the video

[ChrisCaaa]

I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear you say this, I love a high pass and I've been paranoid about using them since I heard about the phase problems.

[andreafaraboli]

Hello and thank you for the advice, very helpful. I've started using them to consistently publish my songs on my YouTube channel.

[IconicPhotonic]

2:57 This is a perfect example of what a highpass filter is - it differentiates a signal, just as a lowpass filter integrates a signal (I know, big scary calculus...) I generally agree with your conclusions and this is presented fairly, but the old advice I remember receiving was to highpass everything except for bass instruments, which is much more sensible than HPF everything. If you know that you are filtering below the lowest fundamental of a given instrument, it really doesn't do any harm, and you really can clean up some noise (rumble) that may have bled into the recording. Obviously, still a tool that should be used appropriately.

[djjelgui]

A is the original and B is the one where the high pass is applied, you feel that the kick is less strong, and the other elements, including the mids and highs, shine through better in the mix, this is because even though it wasn't a brutal cut but the fact that the kick is "cleaner" ends up making room for other frequencies, bringing a cleaner sound