[jeremiahmoore]

Yes - MaxxBass is a good idea.


A little more info: my director did a screen test of our mix, which I did not attend, and had distortion problems which I traced to excessive energy in 10 to 30 hz. It sounded good on my Genelec 7070 (mixing in small room), but bottomed out in the theater. So I'm trying to figure out how much to dial back, and at what frequencies.

One issue I'm dealing with is the size of my room doesn't allow these frequencies to fully develop. But the other issue is that my system has lots of headroom and extends to about 15hz, whereas cinema subwoofers are spec'ed with a higher 30ish hz rolloff

Sometimes composers are using samplers and synths that can generate enormous amounts of energy at very low frequencies, the kind of sound that sucks up the amplifier headroom in all but the most heavily spec'd sound systems.. and I'm thinking about how to contain my mixes to the technical constraints of ordinary theater systems, hence my questions.

What I'm getting at is: For folks who mix on a cinema stage regularly:

- how much low frequency do you allow in the track?

- Do you High-pass your LFE channel below, say, 30hz?

- Do you High-pass your mains at some frequency, say 40, 50, 60?


I'd really like to feel free to be creative including with low frequency energy, but have safeties and checks in place to know that I'm not exceeding the capacity of the medium, especially as directors get excited about the LFE channel. (yes I keep it contained, but sometimes it's fun to let loose.)

Yes I know about getting the mix into a proper stage to make tweaks, but generally stages are well calibrated and have good gear. This distorted test screening gave me a scare, and I don't want to have that happen again.


As I have to ship this particular fix, I'm going to highpass the LFE here at 35hz, and the music tracks > mains are getting some gentle shelving starting at 80hz, a little maxxbass on certain moments, and a little less Lo-Air, which is generating subharmonics in a few moments.


-jeremiah