You’ve probably seen our frequency to note chart already but often times when a mix is “muddy” or “needs more clarity” what frequencies do you adjust to tame or fix those problem areas of your mixdown?
What is “Mud” in a Mix?
Muddy frequencies often will make speech unintelligible, and make your sub or bass frequencies not as impactful, and lacking of definition. These frequencies are commonly around 200-400hz on bass sounds, with 250hz being my normal cutting frequency to start notching at.
If your tracks are suffering from too much “boominess”, then you’re probably looking at issues below 200 around the 80-120 hz range. If your mix is sounding too “boxy” then you probably have too many mid-range frequencies from 400 hz up.
Notch or Cut Frequencies
When you use a notch filter or EQ to help cut and carve out frequencies in the mix, even small adjustments of 2-4 decibels around the specific peak frequencies can help clean things up. Be sure to adjust the resonance so you aren’t cutting frequencies that further dull out your mix. With the advancements of plugins and processing power of computers, producers are able to achieve cleaner mixdowns in faster time with reduced mud. hese days, there are a plethora of plugins like Soothe2 or Sonnox’s Claro that help you intelligently clean up your mix and fix muddy frequencies.
To fix a mud frequency in your mid-bass range, Soothe2 has a preset designed specifically for this. When working with Soothe2, I recommend setting the quality of the engine to something that your computer is better equipped to handle by turning down the oversampling.
Use this knowledge to help nail those mixdowns and get a better master as a result of fixing mud frequencies.