Frequency is a measure of the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. You will hear this a lot from pro engineers and producers often. Yesterday I mentioned that the kick drum and bass guitar usually share the same frequency range. I am taking the time to learn about frequency because this is important to the mixing process. Since I know where the range of a kick drum is on a frequency chart, I can adjust the kick without affecting my instruments in higher ranges. The more sounds and vocals sit in proper frequency range the better the quality of the mix.
In Hip Hop a strong percentage of a beat relies on the kick, bass, snare and vocals. When mixing we’ll need to pay attention to the ” frequencies” in order to hear each sound clearly as possible. Here are some very helpful tips and charts which we can all study to learn more about sound frequency.
Finding sound frequencies in Fl Studio 8 using the “Fruity Spectroman” and a “Fruity Parametric Eq2″.
Load up a few instruments into Fl Studio. Maybe add a kick, hat, clap, boo bass, and fl keys/piano. Assign them to separate channels. Add one Fl Spectroman ( use “spectrograph” view) and one Fl Parametric Eq2 to the Mixer “Master Channel” Make a four bar loop using all the instruments. Now solo each instrument and look at the spectroman. The frequency of the the selected channel will “bounce” on the meter in the approximate frequency range of the sound. Look at the Parametric Eq 2 to see the measures in hertz. The following pictures will give you an idea of this technique:
Kick:
From this picture I can see the majority or main impact of my kick ranges from the lowest end of the hertz scale 50 hz to around 70hz.
Clap:
From this picture I can see the majority of my clap is between 100 hz and 200 hz
Bass:
From this picture I can see the majority of my bass ranges from the lowest end of the hertz scale 50 hz to around 130hz.
Piano:
The majority of my piano is between 200 hz and 500 hz
Hat:
The majority of my hats are between 5-10kHz
Now you have some basic ranges for a few instruments..
More on drum frequency….
Drum Production and Eq, Cool tips on mixing drum frequencies
Propellarhead Reason:
Eric Hawkins shares eq tips:
Frequency Chart:
Sound Frequency Chart:
Link to a very nice online interactive frequency chart
Happy Beat making 2 All
Pz Til later
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Thank you for the info. Kinda need that.
No problem stop back often..more to come
thanx mstris
Hey to you mali reid thanks for leaving a cooment ..please come back often
good info ms.Tris, tha frequency charts def. come in handy ya kno
What’s up J.V. I am glad you can use the info..makes it all worth searching for..come back often, and subscribe so you’ll stay updated …
I created a beat that has a piano in it. When I add the Parametric EQ 2 and the Spectroman,the frequency does not fall in the 200 to 500 Hz range. It’s actually in the same range as the Kick. I tried tweaking some of the knobs and sliders but I could not get it in the correct range. How do I do this?
Hey Anwar.. You probably played the notes in the lower range of the piano. If you’d like to keep the notes in that range you will have to use a boost and cut technique. Boost a little on the piano and maybe cut a little from kick or the other way around. This may make room for both sounds… OR try moving your piano notes up and octave on the piano roll…
Hope this helps..hit me back of you don’t understand…