Frequency Band Terms

Very easy to fall into the trap of everything being about Frequencey level. Now for the fun part, the rabbit whole of audio and descriptive language. Not everybody means the exact samething when you use words like tight and warm, so you have to listen and adjust, spend 3 days doing a mic demos with a recent recording school grad!

This is a great idea, honestly. Lets define the terms so we're all speaking the same language. I'm off to record something right now, but I'll get back on this thread...

People are describing dynamics as well as frequency when using terms like "tight low end".

"Tight" generally refers to quick transients with somewhat rounded peaks. 

"Low end" generally means everything below 250hz as far as I've learned.

"Flabby" or "round" might describe slow dynamic changes in the low end.

Something like "Crisp highs" would be fast/accurate transients in the high end, which is generally considered anything above 5K-ish.

However, something like "scratchy highs" might describe a high end that is full of distortion, which is not locked to frequency or dynamics at all.

But then you get into terms like "mud" which can mean dynamics that are too slow for the program material, low frequency distortion, OR can mean an imbalance in the frequency spectrum that creates overwhelming mids/lows..

The most fun was in the old days when somebody would say they had a hum, I would have try to vocalize a 60hz. A buzz and often a feedback hum to find the problem.

Thank Svart.

Let's take "tight low end".   So, for example you have a kick drum where the player may be playing evenly and then have  natural spikes due to a more intense striking of the beater during a section of the song. This more intense striking produces a louder sound.  And the kick drum has frequencies that I would say are naturally rounder 80hz or less and naturally more punchy @100-220 Hz.

So, assuming the term "quick transients" and "rounded peaks" applies to a compression setting,  are you talking about a compressor set with a  low threshold, a long attack, and a light ratio where the hardest hits get the most action? Thus "quick transients" are most kick hits that get no or light compression, and "rounded peaks" are the harder hits that get more compression as they go farther beyond the threshold.

FWIW: I've heard the term "tight low end" applied to the usefulness of GML 8200 EQ. Would you care to comment on that?

Thanks for your thoughtfulness.

Roughly speaking, this is what I think of when I hear these terms.

Tight low end = GML or SSL bell or sometimes Pultec trick. Tighter also = fewer harmonics or distortion, like solid state vs tube Pultec or different port designs or driver capabilty on speakers.
Loose = low shelf and sometimes with harmonics

Crisp highs = higher Q around 8-12khz. You can really hear this on a Pultec with the bandwith control too.

Smooth/sheen equals low Q bell or gentle shelf around 12-16khz.
Then you have "air" range

Low mid = 250-450
Mid = 600-3500
Depending on the timbre of the sound, people often break these down into boxy/cardboard frequencies (like 360-500), mud (400-600) then honk (800-1200) then the attack/really annoying mids (1500-3000).
But 600-1600 harmonics are useful on lead guitar and bass for example, for getting them to be heard. Like Queens of the Stone Age guitar sound or a bass through an overdrive.

High mid = 4k-7k (I just think of where snares, guitars, and vocals can be lifted to push through but sit well)

I'm going to quickly call dibs on the "RGO EQ calling thingy standard"

Um...that's not the RGO Standard Calling Thingy, but thanks anyway...

I don't consider *effects* part of the sound unless I make them part of it, so it's not really a compression thing.. But it could be.

Think of the kick drum, tuned to 50hz, but without any kind of dampening..  BOOM BOOM BOOM, etc.

Now add some light dampening and the frequency is still 50hz, but the dampening reduces the ringing which changes the dynamics of the drum.  Now it's more like WHACK, WHACK, WHACK..

You can change the beater to a hard beater and get more of a TACK TACK TACK sound.

But what will really bend your noodle is realizing that by changing the transients, you are also creating a crude mechanical EQ too.

Since you are limiting the amount of time a vibrating surface vibrates, you are limiting the amount of harmonics being generated, and by doing that you are selectively filtering out certain ones.

In the dampened kick with a hard beater, the transient of the beater is so fast that it produces high frequency vibrations.  As those drop in frequency, the dampening and the weight of the head reduce their powers.  Since the impact of the beater moves the head a considerable distance, it gives power to the vibration that is tuned by the tension of the head..  So now you have a TICK from the beater and a BOOM from the head moving..  Your kick drum sound.

The rest is just tailoring your dampening to create less or more resonances for a "tighter" or "looser" sound!