Eq-ing

[fredrik_h]

I'm going for the obvious here, but it's worth to point out once again as I see/hear people (including myself for that matter, I have to kick myself many times for this) fucking up their tracks totally from the beginning and then they spend hours and hours on trying to make the mix solid with eq. (which is doomed to fail most times)

the best way is always to program the sounds from the beginning so they won't need much eq'ing at all. try to avoid eq as much as possible and then correct the minor thingies when you master the track later. (on the whole final mix that is)

ofcourse, there is some basic things you can do, like cut a bit on the reverb-tails and all those classic things... but spend some time while constructing the elements of the tracks, sure - it's a bit boring sometimes - but it's well worth it in the end.

[tsod]

what software you use tsod?

hmm standard things.. cubase, battery,... and eq's im mostly using the waves ones, and for frequency monitoring voxengo span

[Ryszard Blvck]

try to eq sounds seperately in your headphone ....

just to clear things up.... NEVER eq with headphones on....golden rule no. 7 in Dr. Blvck's big book of scrappy mixing....

i know your talking from a 'trial and experiment' point of view to get an understanding of what happens with the sound, sohrab.....i just needed to point it out ; )

[sohrab]

thanks for correcting me,Im just an amateur

[augusto palma]

the best way is always to program the sounds from the beginning so they won't need much eq'ing at all. try to avoid eq as much as possible and then correct the minor thingies when you master the track later. (on the whole final mix that is)

totally agree with you fredrik...sometimes we can spend too much time defining a sound or freq, but I can say that the final results pay, I personally use T-Racks for my final mastering...And while I'm arranging the tracks I use tools like compressors, gate or almost unnoticeable reverbs (if i want that kind of rumbling deepnes )... sometimes I use EQ for some kind of synth pad or bassline, but that's all...I prefer to maintain it nice & clean and add the boost & might via T-Racks at the final stage.

[kenada]

Well theres been a lot fo good things said here, and also some misinformation.

So heres my take on EQ.

1) Get your original sounds as close to perfect as you can. if your using a synth, tweek the parameters within the patch, if it's a sample make sure it's high quality with no "extra sounds" included, by extra i mean pops clicks, air, anything other than the exact sound you want.

2) Have a space for everything and have everything in it's space. This means that 2 sounds should no be competing for the same air/frequency at the same time. If you have 2 or more sounds going for the same space this will make that muddy or cluttered sound im sure we've all heard in our productions.
A good rule of thumb is as follows -

Bass - 50hz - 300hz this goes for your kick and bassline, sometimes you may have the kick sitting lower than the bassline, often is the case when using the 808 kick, so in this case the kick would be focused at 70hz with the bell curve of the eq rolling of down to 50hz and up to about 90 - 100hz. Then your bassline would be sitting just above that so the focus may be 120hz and it would roll off down to 100hz and on the upside to about 250 or 300hz.

Low Mids - These are sounds like a deep dteroit style synth/pad or a rhodes type sound. These want to be sitting anywhere from 300-800hz, so as to not interfere with your bass or any other sound in the track you may roll off frequencies below this. and only accentuate small notches of frequencies above.

Mid Range - This is where vocals sit, many drums and congas/claps etc. This is the part of the frequency range that will cause you the most trouble. As every sound in your track will in one way or another cross through this frequency range. It's from about 800hz up to about 2khz. The best thing you can do in this range is to notch frequencies out, or in other words create a sharp narrow bell curve to eliminate unwanted or crossover frequencies out of this range.

Highs - 2khz to 15khz. A big range, what sits here is your hats. cymbals and high range synths will be sitting like arps etc. having this range bright and airy will create a shine to your music, and really make it stand out. Anything above 16-17khz roll off, as when played at loud volumes they can be distressing to the listener.

This is just a rough guide, the best advice I can give you is to experiment, for instance the next track you start, focus on having everything sitting in it's place, and layer sounds into your mix that way, if something doesn't fit or it becomes muddy in a certain frequency range, try using a notch to cut out a frequency from that area, and 9 times out out of 10 this will work.

So remember to boost the good frequencies of a sound, cut the frequencies that interfere with other sounds.

I hope this has been of some assistance.

Scott

[kenada]

Oh and as far as software goes, I use Soundforge 8 with the waves bundle.

For final eq I use the waves Q10, and for frequency analysis I use Waves PAZ analyser.

And all my tracks are written using Reason 3 solely.

[Robot Criminal]

something useful maybe:

RECOMMENDED EQUALIZATION FREQUENCIES
BY ROBERT DENNIS
ADMINISTRATOR, RECORDING INSTITUTE OF DETROIT

50Hz
1. Increase to add more fullness to lowest frequency instruments like foot, floor tom, and the bass.
2. Reduce to decrease the "boom" of the bass and will increase overtones and the recognition of bass line in the mix. This is most often used on loud bass lines like rock.

100Hz
1. Increase to add a harder bass sound to lowest frequency instruments.
2. Increase to add fullness to guitars, snare.
3. Increase to add warmth to piano and horns.
4. Reduce to remove boom on guitars & increase clarity.

200Hz
1. Increase to add fullness to vocals.
2. Increase to add fullness to snare and guitar ( harder sound ).
3. Reduce to decrease muddiness of vocals or mid-range instruments.
4. Reduce to decrease gong sound of cymbals.

400Hz
1. Increase to add clarity to bass lines especially when speakers are at low volume.
2. Reduce to decrease "cardboard" sound of lower drums (foot and toms).
3. Reduce to decrease ambiance on cymbals.

800Hz
1. Increase for clarity and "punch" of bass.
2. Reduce to remove "cheap" sound of guitars.

1.5KHz
1. Increase for "clarity" and "pluck" of bass.
2. Reduce to remove dullness of guitars.

3KHz
1. Increase for more "pluck" of bass.
2. Increase for more attack of electric / acoustic guitar.
3. Increase for more attack on low piano parts.
4. Increase for more clarity / hardness on voice.
5. Reduce to increase breathy, soft sound on background vocals.
6. Reduce to disguise out-of-tune vocals / guitars.

5KHz
1. Increase for vocal presence.
2. Increase low frequency drum attack ( foot / toms).
3. Increase for more "finger sound" on bass.
4. Increase attack of piano, acoustic guitar and brightness on guitars (especially rock guitars).
5. Reduce to make background parts more distant.
6. Reduce to soften "thin" guitar.

7KHz
1. Increase to add attack on low frequency drums ( more metallic sound ).
2. Increase to add attack to percussion instruments.
3. Increase on dull singer.
4. Increase for more "finger sound" on acoustic bass.
5. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers.
6. Increase to add sharpness to synthesizers, rock guitars, acoustic guitar and piano.

10KHz
1. Increase to brighten vocals.
2. Increase for "light brightness" in acoustic guitar and piano.
3. Increase for hardness on cymbals.
4. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers.

15KHz
1. Increase to brighten vocals (breath sound).
2. Increase to brighten cymbals, string instruments and flutes.
3. Increase to make sampled synthesizer sound more real.