please don't destroy me.

[darkcubus]

alright. i've searched this forum for an answer to this. i'm wondering if you guys can answer what i think i already know. please don't destroy my very existence for asking this.

would i get the same result from eqing something once as if i were to eq it twice in a row?

or reworded.

would i beable to reach the desired result the first time with precise eqing? or! would i beable to further what i'm going for by eqing what i just eq'd.

i know the more times you eq the more the wave degrades. also i know there would be a difference if i were to eq then compress or something then eq again which would probably be too much depending on what i'm going for.

i am truly a pre-noob. if i were to work hard enough and gain enough knowledge and skill then possibly maybe i would become a noob.

p.s. please don't destroy me.

[reshp1]

No, not a dumb question (certainly not compared to some we've had lately) Yes you can eq more than once to get the desired result. You are correct that EQing each time adds some distortion and coloration to the signal, but also keep in mind that single extreme eq adjustments distort/color much more that light adjustments. I tend to prefer EQing just once, but depending on the gear it maybe better to EQ a little at a time, or maybe it doesn't make a difference.

[darkcubus]

ah cool, that does make sense. thanks for the mega fast response too. with all the fiddling i do i seem to come up with questions that baffle me in the process.

[metalhead28]

I think that would make sense to me if you were talking about perhaps doing a cut with a wide Q and perhaps coming back with another EQ with a more precise, narrow cut or something along those lines. However, I'd say that if you've got to do the same thing multiple times then you are dealing with something that wasn't tracked right to begin with.

[David Katauskas]

Yes, you can do this, however, dropping 5 db at a certain frequency, then adding those 5db back with another eq session does not result in the original exact sound.

Cutting does just that...it cuts the frequency. Boosting the frequency actually has to fabricate/emulate that boost.

Somebody help me here...not sure how to explain.

[easychair]

Originally Posted by darkcubus

. also i know there would be a difference if i were to eq then compress or something then eq again which would probably be too much depending on what i'm going for.

.

That's actually a pretty common practice, though not in the way you might be thinking. Many times "corrective" eq is used before compression, such as rolling the low-end off a vocal track. Then the compressor, then eqing for your mix.

[darkcubus]

good, good replies! thanks to all.

[noisewreck]

What you suggest is also a common practice in electronic music as part of the sound design process, where you may EQ some sound, sample it, process it some other way (distort, filter, phaser... etc), EQ some more and repeat.

Another reason I can see for this is when you're using a low-cut or hi-cut part of an EQ and you find that the frequency rolloff is not steep enough, then you can gang a couple of them. Another, related reason would be with hi- or low-shelf EQs, as some with Q controls introduce too much resonance around the cutoff point, then you may need to stack them to make smaller, non-resonant cuts.

How this may affect your overall sound though depends on the EQ unit, whether it is a neutral sounding one, or whether it colors sound just because it's being passed through it.

In the end, let your ears be the judge.

[glimmer_doll]

Originally Posted by easychair

That's actually a pretty common practice, though not in the way you might be thinking. Many times "corrective" eq is used before compression, such as rolling the low-end off a vocal track. Then the compressor, then eqing for your mix.

that's what i like to do...unless i'm recording barry white or something...