How to find the frequency of a sound

[Hi-Lo]

Maybe this is a really basic question but is there a tool I can use to find the main frequency of a sound I'm using (lets say a kick) in a beat? I know how to adjust with eq but since I switched to logic i'm trying to get into sidechaining for bassline and kicks and knowing exact frequencies would help. thanks

 

[veon]

you need something like inspector plugin
http://www.rogernicholsdigital.com/inspectorxl.htm

or any analyzer works.

 

[Formant024]

a single osc can have a frequency, I think you need to rephrase the question to; What frequency's bugging me ?

 

[Relic]

Formant I agree but thats my question too ...Do my ears just suck at certain frequencies?
Its usually low ends I have a real problem finding the best frequency to adjust them to depending on the song.
Its like projects that just lay there because there is somthing missing or somthing sounds muddy or whatever but do you have a technique in the listening that you do that helps you to be able to dicern what is what? (If that makes sense....)

 

[Hi-Lo]

no i know, i realize almost all sounds are not a single frequency, but still i thought almost all sounds had a fundamental or predominant frequency that was at least slightly higher than others. formant i hear what you're saying, but I actually wasnt so much asking because i find something's bugging me more that I think it would just be helpful to know how close the fundamental frequencies of say, my bassline and kick are, to make sure theres at least decent separation. i know i can do that with my ears just thought having a frequency analyzer would aid the task. anyway good lookin out on the help

 

[bigdmakintrax]

hmmmm?? well if you have two sounds that more than likely fall into the same frequency range as a low kick and bass, the equalizer is very helpful to separate what part of the fundamental in both sounds that you want to segregate in the mix if they are separated by channels with eq (this is why you should use some sort of mixer)...it would be kind of hard to always look for the bass to fall into the same range every time that is not the same range as the kick and vis versa...my 2 cents

 

[Relic]

no no I hear you but... do you just grab the eq and start to fiddlin with the thing and see if it seperates...
I guess the answer is obvious..If you cant hear it you cant hear it...Thanks, I "hear" that.
I wasnt lookin for a tech answer just wondering if there was a certain freq that you may normally boost or cut that makes it more obvious..

 

[bigdmakintrax]

well I know if you have Rbass or the waves plugs you can adjust the frequency graphically

 

[Dysphuncktional]

there are frequency charts online that are a nice guide and a great place to start your eq settings at for certain sounds, but like everyone said, every sound is different... you need to use your ears and some basic filter/eq knowledge...

and like formant said, find out what frequencys is bugging you for general eq purposes. grab your parametric eq, and adjust the q on on of the bands , give it a big boost, and move it around. boost the q to make it more 'narrow', lower it to make the curve wider...
obviously for finetuning frequencies you need a narrow band, so adjust it and then move it around slowly, certain sounds will jump out at you... thats how you can see what some of the dominating and lackign frequencies are...

for sidechaining purposes ill usually use a dedicated channel with nothin but maybe a hihat to trigger the destination compresor/gate... or if you want to use the signal to sidechain itself then yeah, use basic filter knowledge to get the sound you want out of there...

obviously if you just want to compress using the bass of the signal you use a low pass filter, if you want to use mids use a band pass, you want to use the highs use a high pass...

 

[MarkN]

i just load an EQ plug in set the gain to maximum and then sweep across the whole sound wherever you hear the difference msot is the main frequency area !

 

[Hi-Lo]

i just load an EQ plug in set the gain to maximum and then sweep across the whole sound wherever you hear the difference msot is the main frequency area !

awesome tip man, thank you

 

[breal]

i just load an EQ plug in set the gain to maximum and then sweep across the whole sound wherever you hear the difference msot is the main frequency area !

Also use a narrow Q when do it

 

[Dysphuncktional]

Are yall just blatantly repeating my post? or is it too long for yall to read so that yall missed that i said those exact same things?

 

[Relic]

Are yall just blatantly repeating my post? or is it too long for yall to read so that yall missed that i said those exact same things?

LOL, I read it...

 

[joeburnem]

Formant I agree but thats my question too ...Do my ears just suck at certain frequencies?
Its usually low ends I have a real problem finding the best frequency to adjust them to depending on the song.
Its like projects that just lay there because there is somthing missing or somthing sounds muddy or whatever but do you have a technique in the listening that you do that helps you to be able to dicern what is what? (If that makes sense....)

Same here. It's getting so that now, I don't even eq my drums (mainly kicks) & basslines. I just drop em in my mix. I might slightly eq the main mix.