Do you use a mic's built in high pass?

[TBman]

The AT 2035 mics that I use have a 80hz high pass feature which I never use. I'll just do it while editing. I won't get a chance to really test it out until the weekend so I'm just wondering what the advantage of having this built in feature.

[rick-slo]

No, don't use it when recording. Can equalize post recording. Only reason I could see using it is if you are recording something with so much low frequency energy that creates a clipping problem in the mike preamp. That said you could try it if you are recording quite close up and getting a lot of proximity effect.

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by TBman

The AT 2035 mics that I use have a 80hz high pass feature which I never use. I'll just do it while editing. I won't get a chance to really test it out until the weekend so I'm just wondering what the advantage of having this built in feature.

It depends on what I'm recording and what the HPF characteristics are (freq, slope). Generally, not for something full range like my guitar where there's sufficient distance and a good shockmount, but I might have it on the SDC if I have a 2nd one and it's closer to the bridge (would have to check and see where they are set, actually!). Like @rick-slo I might use it on some things or places. Drum overhead is one where I really just don't want additional LF content, or a guitar amp in my small room, where the SM57 in front of the grill is getting the LF.

Never hurts to try it both ways and see if either setting makes things easier to mix!

[ChuckS]

I wouldn’t use it, unless as Rick said you are trying to compensate for proximity effect. 80hz seems a bit high for a HPF for acoustic guitar (it would be down 3dB at 80Hz) and 80Hz is quite low for proximity effect compensation. A pair of my preamps have an adjustable HPF, and if I use it I set it around 50-60Hz.

[jim1960]

I'll only use it if I have to. I'd rather control how much low end I roll off in post.

[Gordon Currie]

The biggest reason to have a HPF on a microphone is to guard against overloading/clipping a preamp. Once it is clipped it will always be clipped (although there ARE some advanced DSP solutions that can rebuild the waveform).

I use them more often in a live situation as there are no do-overs live.

Even with recording, I would use them depending on the instrument or application. For example: mandolin, definitely - any low bass picked up by the microphone is going to be non-musical or bleed from another instrument. Why create work for myself later (e.g. 'don't forget to filter out rumble from the mandolin track...')?

I am ALWAYS taking out low bass on guitar tracks, and I have NEVER regretted using a microphone roll off switch.

[Bob Womack]

Mmmm... It depends.

Bob

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

The biggest reason to have a HPF on a microphone is to guard against overloading/clipping a preamp. Once it is clipped it will always be clipped (although there ARE some advanced DSP solutions that can rebuild the waveform).

I've never heard this before. Are you sure you aren't describing what a pad switch is for?

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I've never heard this before. Are you sure you aren't describing what a pad switch is for?

Yes, a pad switch on a mic can certainly tame overs. A LF rolloff switch can do the same in certain situations.

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I've never heard this before. Are you sure you aren't describing what a pad switch is for?

I'm sure. A pad reduces the entire signal by the same amount. A high pass filter reduces only a certain range.

Pads are typically 10 dB or more.

High/Low pass filters typically reduce by a much smoother amount like 3 dB, maybe as high as 6 dB.

Ironically, with analog tape, light overloading was easy to ignore as tape overloads so differently than a digital converter.

[keith.rogers]

It's nice to have a HPF on your preamp too.

Honestly, if you're recording with peaks of say -10dB or even less, and watching the meters, it's hard to imagine even subsonic information clipping your AI without you hearing *and* feeling it. But, it doesn't hurt, and in live situations, it's probably a good idea if the rolloff isn't going to eliminate content you'd really have a hard time pulling back in.

My digital recorders all have HPF settings and a limiter, but the sends and mics have no switches, so there's that. At home I just checked, and guess what, it's on for both LDCs and one of two SDCs I've used recently. No switch on my mics, though that one is going through a preamp with a HPF set on. It obviously hasn't bothered me! (But, in some defense, these are mics that might get tossed in a bag and set up on a raised noisy stage at any time, so probably pro-active on some part.)

[KevWind]

I don't on the mic, I do in mixing.

[Brent Hahn]

I almost never use it. The almost, which may apply to some people here, being cajon. When you mic a cajon, there's an enormous difference between "at" the hole and "in" the hole. You can sound check a group and have the cajon sound perfect. Then the band goes onstage for their set, the cajon player sits down, scoonches back just an eentsy-weentsy bit, and the mic is now IN the hole. KaBoom! The variable filter on a Sennheiser 421 dynamic has a halfway setting on the filter that will retain the thud without getting you blown up.

[FrankHudson]

I always use it when doing spoken word vocal which is presented in a music context. I used to work in a broadcast network and that was the general practice there for air work too. I suppose I could just EQ cut afterward, but that's my report.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Mmmm... It depends.

Bob

^
This. It always depends.