Hi-Pass Lo-Pass Filters in a mix

[mwd]

In our hybrid 2 piece band we utilize an original backing track mixed pretty well in our studio as our foundation. It contains drums, bass, some acoustic guitar, sometimes piano or organ.

We have a female singer we add live and I play thru my Fractal and croon on vocals here and there thru a VoiceLive 2 harmonizer. I also reserve 2 channels for my GR-55 which is used only on a couple of songs.

So into the X32 mixer is clean, simple and consistent. We go out to (2) QSC-KW153 powered tops and (2) QSC-KW181 powered bottoms. Sound is very pleasing yet I am always looking for areas of improvement.

An article here, last week, regarding using Hi Pass filters on guitar caught my eye. I tried a Hi Pass filter at about 35Hz on the backing track channel, which is the most full range, and I think it sounded a bit better but it may have just sounded different.

For those in the know do you think I would gain anything to clean up overall mix by using pass filters on a per channel basis since, realistically, I don't have that many channels in use?

And if so what would be the ranges of filtration?

Master track containing bass, drums, keyboard, organ, acoustic, etc.
Female Vocal Channel
Male Vocal Channel (via harmonizer)
Fractal Guitar Channel
GR-55 Roland Channel

Any tips, warnings, education, suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

 

[barhrecords]

I like to high pass all vocal and instrument microphones with the exception of: low tom, kick drum, upright bass.

I don't typically high pass DI sounds or backing tracks.

The point for me is remove rumble bleeding into open microphones.

12dB per octave at 75hz

Sometimes I add a mild boost at 100hz if it makes the channel sound thin with the HPF engaged.

For micing, low freq instruments, I like to use microphone isolation mounts as much as possible too.

For FOH I like to run the subwoofers on an aux channel so I can flip the phase if needed and control the main to sub level. Different rooms, different stages, different speaker placement all affect how the subs balance in the FOH.