HPF & LPF In Mixing & Mastering, Hey Bob Katz...

[M2E]

Mixing

When you guys are mixing or when you mastering guys get mixes from bigtime mixers, do you notice heavy HP or LP filtering going on in the final mix?
Do you mixing guys HP or LP your mixes before sending it to mastering and at what Hz/kHz and do you do it at 6, 12, 24, 30, or 36db or even lower?

Mastering

Also, do the big mastering guys like Bob Katz, LP or HP filter the final master and at what Hz/kHz and do you do it at 6, 12, 24, 30, or 36db or even lower??

Reason being is that a friend and I had put a Jay Z song into Pro Tools and pulled up the PAZ to see what was going on and noticed a big drop after around 14khz to 15khz, but, it still had that shine and air.

If there's any Hip Hop/R&B mastering guys here, do you notice alot of mixes coming to you with energy in the 10 or 20 to 30hz? Do you HPF it off or do you work with it. Is there alot of CD's that have energy that low but, sound great and not muddy but, clear and punchy?

Thanx

M2E

[MASSIVE Master]

I'm not Bob, and I hope Bob will forgive me for answering a thread with his name on it. But it's Christmas, so I'm hoping he's feeling the spirit of things.

The short answer is that you do things in two ways that achieve the same goal - (1) You do what sounds good. (2) You do what the mix asks.

Sometimes they need a cut. Other times a gentle rolloff or shelf that doesn't have a hard cut. Sometimes both. Sometimes it's on the high end, sometimes the low, sometimes both, sometimes neither. The frequencies are dependent on the mix.

There are a lot of was to skin that cat - But the cat decides which. And it's really the same for mixing or mastering. Or tracking for that matter.