Hi guys,
This is another attempt of mine to find out the answer for my question.
the below picture is a classical music track with some violins in it. ( Hollywood soundtrack )



If take a close look, you see that some harmonics are emphasized and the harmonics in between them are almost removed ( Such a clean spectrum! )
My question is how is such thing achieved?
Is it achieved with a certain tool? certain EQ? Or purely by using something like RX? The problem is editors like RX don't give the option to select harmonics of a certain musical note( Probably there is an option I am not aware of?) Cause without having option to select musical notes you have to select stuff based on frequency manually and it doesn't snap to any scale! ( Such a workflow killer )
I had previously asked a question about removing harmonics from a sound and people offered melodyne but obviously melodyne does not give us such degree of precision to be able to achieve something like this spectrum! ( Just take a look at high frequencies and how certain harmonics are a bit louder and emphasized! )
The reason I said it is a hollywood soundtrack is because probably someone from there or anybody who has experience lurks in the forum and can tell us about their workflow to achieve such clean harmonics in their sounds.
Help me find the answer.
Thanks in advance

 

it's totally normal for an instruments' sound to have louder overtones in one range than in another. even for a range of overtones in the middle to be scooped relative to the overtones on either side of it. like put a bassoon, oboe or clavinet up on a spectrum meter and check it out. some synthesizers have the ability to shape this directly, it's pretty interesting to check out if you ever have the opportunity.

if it werent like that all instruments would sound the same except for volume envelope.

in general though, if you have something like a snare drum or crash cymbal and an overtone is popping out in an audibly extreme way, one would usually use a narrow band eq to notch it out. or perhaps a narrow band dynamic eq to squelch the frequency gradually as its energy increases. that way the overtone is still there, but the eq sets its amplitude back to something more usable in a mix context.

there's also a plugin now called Smart EQ that can follow an overtone around as its instrument changes notes. so if your bass guitar has its third harmonic popping out too much on a D note, when you change to C, the plugin can follow that overtone around. whereas a normal eq will only treat ONE frequency, regardless of what the instrument is doing. bonkers.

there's a number of other ways to intentionally shape the harmonic balance of a sound. how the musician plays the actual sound (in the case of these violins you presented, are they bowing near the bridge or close to the neck? that kind of thing). the balance can be altered artificially with harmonic enhancing plugins like Halcyon or izotope's multiband exciters. both of those are pretty amazing for this and do things that are way different than what an eq can do.

sorry if im misunderstanding the question, it's early here... :D

 

I am aware of why instruments sound different and their harmonics relation.
But still none of your explanations justify the silence between harmonics. I am pretty sure certain harmonics of the instrument have been separated. This is not EQ for sure( Even the EQ you mentioned, which follows harmonics and I have tested it before, wouldn't do such thing ). Just take close look at the silence between harmonics. My question is, how did they get that silence and separated certain harmonics? Is it done with RX or any other tool? Is not it pretty time consuming and I have also explained that some people offered melodyne but that does not have such precision. I still have not gotten my answer. However, thanks for your explanation.

 

Timbre (the different spread of harmonics/overtones) is what differentiates instruments, sounds, voices, etc from each other. Your voice's timbre changes even when you get a cold (or tonsillitis, like I have now).
They all have different peaks (harmonics) and valleys (no harmonics), depending on their size, mass, material, width, depth, etc. It's natural.

Look into the natural harmonic series (and the foundation of the western 12 tone equal temperament system). Look into the timbre of different instruments, your voice, saw wave, square wave, etc.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2019

From what I understand oeksound soothe can do this, a bit different then notch eq'ing in that it analysis a problematic resonance and removes it on the fly instead of a more static dip.

You're talking about snapping rez's to a certain scale and I'm wondering why you need that? If it's that problematic wouldn't that mean the instrument isn't working and you need to select a different sound? Why are you trying to force this sound in such a drastic way?

 

Yes. Film music does mostly only consist third-fifth chords. Therefore - if not much reverb is used - there are only the harmonics of the more or less dry instruments in a very clear scheme. Mostly there are just very basic chords octavated through the instruments. They simply do not need contrapunctual techniques. Way to difficult and not relevant for the audience.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2019

I am sure you guys have no idea what that spectrum is showing. You just make theories and I bet none of you can make such clean and balanced spectrum in your mix. I didn't ask you about sound timbre, harmonic series and so on. Don't teach me about sound. Answer my question. My question is not about sound timbre or a magical plugin. I am asking how have they scooped space between overtones? If you don't know the answer. There is no urge to reply.

 

I am not forcing any sound in any drastic way. I bet there has been lots of processing on the spectrum you see. All I want to know is how the space between overtones has been scooped( It IS scooped, you see a obvious silence between partials!)
In addition, I did not ask about film composition. Stop digressing from main question. Stop offering plugins you have rarely used.

 

Considering the tone of your reply to the other members I would think twice before trying to help you out.

 

Feel better soon Baxter. Hot tea, etc!

 

Considering the users recommendations I am worried thread will be closed due to digression and discussing on unimportant things like "YOUR" comment. I have the right to defend my question, since some folks are already forcing an answer on me which is clearly not what I asked for. If you already had an answer you would have said something but instead you decided to discuss the tone of replies. WHY? Dude, forum is a text-based environment, I wonder how you know what my tone is? By reading my words? Stop man.

 

What you're looking at in the spectrum isn't showing you clean vs dirty. It's showing the strength of the signal.. strong vs weak. Reading left to right reveals the signal strength over time.. nuance. Bottom to top reveals the signal strength from frequencies low to high.. harmonic strength.

If you look at the upper right side of the image you posted.. Any one of those lines could represent a harmonic that is pleasant on, or painfully rings your ears. There's no way to make a visual determination of that without being able to hear the audible content in accord with it.

 

Dear dbmuzik, I am not asking about whether that sound is pleasing or not. I am asking about how the mixer has made space between harmonics by eliminating certain harmonics. Let me give you an example, Consider we have sound A which has lots of harmonics in its spectrum. How can we choose arbitrary harmonics from that sound with high precision and eliminate the one ones we don't like? How is that done? I am wondering how mixers make space in their mixes since an EQ can have HF,LF, Notch, and other types of rudinmentary filters. NO EQ can make and maintain clear space between arbitrary harmonics while eliminating the others in a evolving piece of music.

 

Wow, dude! Chill.
Do you want me to teach you about silence? That's what it is - silence. The "scooped space" between the overtones is silence. The brighter colors shows amplitude.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2019

I ignore you. Hopefully, you will find somewhere else to teach audio stuff.

 

So, to be very clear here.



You see? Very defined harmonics with space in between. Seems to be a very clear "mix" (with what this has nothing to do of course). You know whats going on? Eight violins are playing a c4.

I have told you everything (and more) you need to know right here:

And this is exactly whats going on in your picture.

Is this now clear?

 

Here is a part playing piano. You guys are saying this piano only had those certain harmonics in the first place and no extra harmonics of the raw sound has been removed from it. As you can see, mixer has made individual harmonics which might be pleasant to ear, louder. How is that done? With EQ? No!

 

Probably the example spectrum I have given in my first post is not driving the point I want to make.
See the above one I've posted recently. Clearly, some harmonics have been chosen carefully by the mixer.

 

I do not know how this sounds. I can not make a conclusion of whats going on with a spectrum analyzer. This can be everything.

 

Are you asking why the mixing guy boosted around 400Hz to 3kHz? Maybe to enhance the honk, nasality and presence in the piano.

Are you having a bad day because you can't figure out how to simply express your problem/question to us?

Don't flip us off because YOU are having a bad day. Quite a few of us here are professionals and know what we are talking about.

 

Last edited: Apr 24, 2019