Batch processing this many loops is not an ideal process, some (even acoustic sounding) drum loops will have kick drums with useful zones that stretch right down into the sub octaves - that being said you can most probably get away with a 12db/oct HPF sitting at around 20-25hz on all your loops. Applying a High-Cut is somewhat more intrusive, risking affecting air frequencies that may benefit songs to boost at the production or mixing phase. That said a gentle high shelf attenuation (1-2db) sloping off around Nyquist should be safe enough.

 

I don't get why you would be so hang up on that. It's not a big deal. People talk in superlatives, and if that piqued your interest you could just try it and see for yourself. I never thought I had this much authority to the point I would have to come armed with evidence for what is, just like everyone else does, an opinion. It was not even the point of the thread, it's just a throwaway statement.

Maybe I should rephrase it to quell your spirit? "And you also get Arbiter that can work as a very good de-esser highly capable of taming any sibilance in a very transparent manner, in comparison to most other de-essers I have tried over the years, that either automatically find (and also misses) sibilance, or is simply a dynamic band with a volume threshold that can have varying degrees of success depending on the vocal". lol

 

De esser is a multiband / dynamic EQ ... with a single band on "presence" freqs

 

Use gentle 2-pole or even 1-pole filters. That's 12dB/oct and 6dB/oct filters. They give you the least phasing. High-pass filters, even most gentle ones get rid of DC offset, so the sample is centred properly around 0dB, which is always good, especially when you cut samples at 0-point and don't like clicking artefacts that produces.

I tend to generally use 2-pole High-pass and 1-pole Low-pass filters most of the time, but not a rule. Sometimes you have to use stronger filters to address that rumble or harshness in highs without affecting other frequencies which may be more important.

 

Last edited: Aug 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM

150 hz on drums until bass disappears.. u dont need high cut..

 

So, should I gather from this discussion that it is not wise to batch-EQ drum samples, or most other samples, unless there is a problem with them?
Because, as @clone said: "you cannot really put back the information you cut."

That makes sense to me, as it allows the most varied use of the samples for any genre or purpose, while removing anything potentially limits the use.
I see plenty of sample packs that are treated for different uses... ("lo-fi" being a big thing)
But it seems kind of a waste as they are useless for anything else, and those treatments can be done with greater control using plugins.
Unless you are working with hardware or need something really fast, it just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Presumably not all of your >1000 drum loops were played on the same kit, recorded and processed on the same gear using the same settings, have the same amount of cymbal build up and mud at the same frequency.

So maybe TEOTE, DSEQ, Smooth Operator, Soften or some other "spectral balancer/compressor" that dynamically adapts to the content makes more sense here than static low-passing / cutting the same amount of mud at a fixed frequency.

For hi-passing, I'd go with a gentle filter like SineWave suggested, just to get rid of DC offset.

Yes, all filters do, not just lpf/hpf. FIR filters cause pre-ringing. IIR filters cause phase shift. Analog is IIR, digital can do both. Pick your poison. For myself: FIR for the master bus (because FIR has more predictable impact on compressors/limiters imo), IIR almost everywhere else (because your other plugins (reverb, delay, distortion, ...) use filters anyway, and those are pretty much always IIR).

 

Simple answer - Do not do it.

You say you are:

Harshness could be anywhere between 1-10kHz. It's simply not possible to batch EQ files to remove it if it exists. Every different context that they're used in will present a different outcome due to the arrangement and masking of other instruments. What seems like harshness in isolation may turn out to be much needed presence or transient information in a mix. Rolling off the high end as default removes the air frequencies that may also be needed.

Mud isn't sub and low frequency, it's low-mid 150-350Hz. The problem with this area is generally low-mid build up as most instruments have their fundamentals in this area. That's a balancing act and again depends entirely on context which instruments are dominant in that area. It's very doubtful that you're experiencing a low frequency issue with most instruments, including drums and bass, unless you're boosting lows.

Artifacts? What artifacts? There's mutiples of things that could be considered artifacts. I can't comment on removing them if I don't know what they are. If you're talking about unwanted sounds from recordings or transfers then that's absolutely something that can only be dealt with on a case by case issue. If you're talking about compression or denoising artifacts such as chipmunks then you need to seriously think about your sourcing...

In short forget it. Do your EQing in the project if necessary. Having said that, the only thing that is potentially useful, as SineWave mentioned above, is applying a DC offset filter at 20Hz - but be aware that this could still result in phase shifts that cause the file to clip if it is already normalised anywhere near 0dBFS so reducing the gain prior to applying the filter may be necessary (in which case we're back to individual cases again).

 

cut at 432hz if you want your drums to be mystical and sacred.

 

forgive me but thats a stpd approach , i would never do that .
a 1000 loops from different sources and different genres ?
best advice in this thread are not going steeper than 12db or do little shelf and use linear phase .
all this foster posts about recording genre guidelines on single acoustic drum varietyzs which just may change by genre in there or mix approach are not adequate .
you tell nothing bout your genre and the loops .u use relative terms like mud and so on , artifacts bla bla which may have nothing to do with uneccassary top end or low end freqs.

i say pick a few which u wann use and run them thru smart algos each on their own .just for fun try dx revive on a loop .

 

I've done fairly intricate batch processes on stuff that I know (say, to quickly "master" some rehearsal recordings), but processing a thousand random loops? Format conversion if needed, then a really low hi-pass to get rid of DC and normalize at most.

 

Agree that TDR Special filters bundle is a must have, and that Arbiter is not only one of the best de-essers, but also one of the greatest plugins of all time. Its so incredibly smooth and transparent even with steep processing. just an incredible plugin.

 

I thought that was 420

 

This might be useful to someone out there, cheers! :