LFE
Definition
Low Frequency Effects — the dedicated subwoofer channel in surround and immersive audio formats (the “.1” in 5.1 or 7.1.4). Designed exclusively for low-frequency special effects content, not as a supplement to existing bass instruments.
Context
The community reached near-universal consensus that LFE should be avoided or used extremely sparingly in music mixing. Calibration levels vary wildly across playback systems, the LFE channel can be completely absent on some systems, and most automatic downmixing ignores it entirely. If LFE content is needed (primarily in film mixing), generate new content rather than routing existing bass — Alan Meyerson’s technique of pitching down by half an octave, or using the Lowender plugin, are recommended approaches.
Source
Author: Gerhard Westphalen — Date: 2023-12-09 — Channel: atmos-talk “LFE is the low frequency effects channel. It’s there for low frequency effects. Not for anything else. It only exists so that you can get effects loud enough… Calibration levels vary wildly even in ‘properly’ calibrated spaces. That kick you sent to it might be 10 dB off from how you mixed it.”
Source
Author: Bryan DiMaio (quoting Bob Katz) — Date: 2024-07-10 — Channel: atmos-talk “Bob Katz: ‘DO NOT USE the LFE as a correlated supplement in low frequencies to an existing bass instrument — that is absolutely bad AND UNNECESSARY practice… Remember that 99.99% of playback systems use the same woofers for LFE as for bass management. So there is nothing to gain.‘”
The 10 dB LFE calibration offset originates from the original 5.1 channel 70mm magnetic soundtracks, where the LFE was recorded -10 dB below reference to avoid distortion and prevent partially erasing high-frequency content on shared magnetic tracks (Ross Fortune).