EQ Vs Filter

Tekcap · Post by **Tekcap** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:27 pm

Some great answers here! I tend to use filters on all of my seperate tracks. I roll off frequencies I dont think are neccesary on all my percussion and sounds. I dont really use EQ but I understand that it can be usefull. I just dont really boost frequencies yet because Im not sure where to boost and by how much.

Stomper · Post by **Stomper** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:47 pm

I dont really use EQ but I understand that it can be usefull. I just dont really boost frequencies yet because Im not sure where to boost and by how much.

Magic Frequencies:
Bass: Bottom at 50-80Hz, Attack at 700Hz, Snap at 2.5KHz
Kick: Bottom at 80-100Hz, Hollowness at 400Hz, Point at 3-5KHz
Snare: Fatness at 120-240Hz, Boing at 900Hz, Crispness at 5KHz, Snap at 10KHz
Toms: Fullness at 240-500Hz, Attack at 5-7KHz
Floor Tom: Fullness at 80-120Hz, Attack at 5KHz
Hi Hat and Cymbals: Clang at 200Hz, Sparkle at 8-10KHz
Electric Guitar: Fullness at 240-500Hz, Presence at 1.5-2.5KHz
Acoustic Guitar: Fullness at 80Hz, Body at 240Hz, Presence at 2-5KHz
Organ: Fullness at 80Hz, Body at 240Hz, Presence at 2-5KHz
Piano: Fullness at 80Hz, Presence at 2.5-5KHz, Honkey-tonk at 2.5KHz
Horns: Fullness at 120-240Hz, Plercing at 5KHz
Voice: Fullness at 120Hz, Boominess at 240Hz, Presence at 5KHz, Sibilance ("S") at 5-7KHz, Air at 10-15KHz
String: Fullness at 240Hz, Acratchlness at 7-10KHz
Conga: Ring at 200Hz, Slap at 5KHz

note that some of these magic frequencies ment for acoustic recordings (piano, guitars, ect) but work well for synth sounds.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:53 pm

Stomper wrote: Kick: Bottom at 80-100Hz, Hollowness at 400Hz, Point at 3-5KHz

dont write off the most important kick drums in the history of electronic dance music ! 52 HZ

Tekcap · Post by **Tekcap** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:03 pm

52hz!
I tend to roll off anything under 60hz on my kick drums! dohhh

Stomper · Post by **Stomper** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:06 pm

steevio wrote:
Stomper wrote: Kick: Bottom at 80-100Hz, Hollowness at 400Hz, Point at 3-5KHz
dont write off the most important kick drums in the history of electronic dance music ! 52 HZ

To be honest, didnt know that.
i usualy boost the 80-100Hz and the kick sound good to me, other times i use UAD Helios emulation wich is an awsome eq for kick and snare and there i have no choice but to boost the 50Hz.

52hz!
I tend to roll off anything under 60hz on my kick drums! dohhh

Too much man.
roll of everything under 40.

s.k. · Post by **s.k.** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:29 am

dont roll off anything

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:12 pm

s.k. wrote:dont roll off anything

i'm inclined to partially agree, although it doesnt do any harm to roll off inaudible frequencies below 20HZ.
it seems to be a misconception that its common practice to roll off the bass and top at certain specific frequencies, this is crazy, it totally depends on the frequencies in the tune. every tune has a different spectrum profile, and sometimes you need to boost certain frequencies to beef up a weak bottom end. theres no magic frequencies IMO.
an old recording studio trick is to pull out frequencies around the 300 HZ area with a notch, as these frequencies tend to muddy up the sound, are tiring to the brain, and are masking higher mid definition, but i think this is more relevant to 'dense' music such as rock or say hard trance, whereas you may write a minimal tune that has a sub harmonic of one of the sounds around that area, and by pulling it out, you leave the tune sounding empty and cold. if you're not using many frequencies, its sometimes dangerous to pull out frequencies which conventional wisdom says are bad.
always trust your ears first, before applying theory.

s.k. · Post by **s.k.** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:34 pm

yeah, thing is all these 'rules' floating around the net are written mostly by rock engineers... they have little to do with the way 'our' music is produced. its a totally different ballgame.

steevio, with the 52Hz i guess you mean the 909 kick? thats about G#1 right. i just wanna point out that producers who make their own kicks from scratch rarely work with tones/semitones, and would rather use straight Hz values. the reason behind this is that if you set 52Hz or 48.2Hz as your fundamental, it becomes tedious to calculate the upper harmonics, while if you set it at a firm 50Hz, you can track harmonics up to say 12 800 Hz in a snap. if you analyze the 909 you will also see that it doesnt hit G# so firmly.

and another thing, one shouldnt automatically assume that the lowest frequency of the kick is the fundamental. that is true for some kicks but not all. very often if the kick's tail is at G1, the kick itself would be at C2. meaning, if the lowest tone is at about 50Hz, it does make sense to boost at around 75Hz or so. that is, if you use an EQ on your kick at all. i wouldnt.