2 min read

High-Pass Filter

Cleans up the very lowest, mostly-inaudible rumble — the deep sub-bass that you can't really hear but that can muddy the sound and waste your speaker's effort.

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How it works

Below the lowest notes you actually hear, recordings often contain subsonic rumble — handling noise, wind, room rumble, or just very deep energy your earbuds can't reproduce anyway. It does no good and can make the bass feel loose, or make a small speaker strain.

A high-pass filter lets the higher frequencies "pass" through while progressively removing everything below a cutoff point you set. It runs first, before all the other effects, so it cleans the signal up front. ("Butterworth", the type used, just refers to the smooth, well-behaved way it rolls off.)

What you can use it for on your phone

  • Tighten up boomy, loose bass on earbuds or a small speaker.
  • Stop a phone or Bluetooth speaker wasting power trying to play sub-bass it can't.
  • Remove low wind or handling rumble from voice memos and recordings.

How to use it

Set the Cutoff to the lowest frequency you want to keep — raise it if you hear boom, or if your speaker can't do deep bass anyway. Choose a Slope: 12 dB/octave removes the low end gently, 24 dB/octave removes it more firmly. (Advanced interface.)

Why it helps

Clearing out inaudible rumble frees up loudness "room" and stops your speaker working hard on sound you can't hear — which can actually make the bass you do hear tighter and cleaner.

Settings explained

  • Cutoff — The point below which sound is progressively removed (10–120 Hz; default 20 Hz, near the very bottom of human hearing). Raise it to cut away more low end.
  • Slope — How steeply it removes the lows below the cutoff. 12 dB/octave is gentle; 24 dB/octave is steeper and more decisive.
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