What does the low cut button do on an audio mixer? In this article, we’ll explain what the low cut button does, when you should use it, and where you can typically find it on a mixer.

Quick Answer: The low cut button rolls off frequencies below a set threshold (typically 80 Hz – 120 Hz), giving you cleaner audio that doesn’t cause rumbling in the subwoofer.

Low Cut Vs. HPF

Mackie ProFX10v3 Audio Mixer

While the low cut feature is common across audio mixers and audio software, you’ll find it called many different things. Low cut, low cut filter, high pass filter, and HPF; all of these buttons do the same thing, just with minor tweaks in how they go about it.

Where Is The Low Cut Button On An Audio Mixer?

You’ll almost always find a low cut or high pass filter button near the top of any channel strip that has an XLR microphone input; you don’t typically find them on channels that only have line-level inputs.

What Does The Low Cut Button Do?

The low cut button does exactly what its name suggests; it cuts and removes the lower frequencies from your input source. The frequency the cut begins at varies by manufacturer, but it’s generally somewhere in the 80 Hz – 120 Hz range.

Why is that useful? In practical terms, the low cut button removes the input source from the subwoofer. Between 80 Hz – 120 Hz is typically the crossover point between a sub and a mid or high speaker. The low cut removes and low rumbling from your input source.

When Is The Low Cut Button Used?

We use the low cut button for any microphone that isn’t being used on a bass-specific instrument. We use it on literally everything apart from kick drums, bass guitars, and some synths and pianos.

It’s so common that they give you a low cut button on each channel strip instead of forcing you to manually turn down the low frequencies using EQ to clean up your audio.

Low Cut Button Equipment Pricing

Low Cut Button Topics

  • 0:00​ – Introduction
  • 0:18​ – Pricing & Specs
  • 0:36​ – Low Cut Terms
  • 0:51​ – Location Of Low Cut Button
  • 1:13​ – Low Frequency Cut
  • 1:38​ – What Does This Mean?
  • 1:59​ – When Is It Used?
  • 2:40​ – Low Cut Demo
  • 3:17​ – Final Thoughts

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