eq

[hipknot01]

do you have to have eq? isnt it just for fixing mistakes? if something sounds good then why add eq?

[bennychico11]

Originally Posted by hipknot01

do you have to have eq? isnt it just for fixing mistakes? if something sounds good then why add eq?

72 posts and he's got it!!!!!!!!
Next you can try and tackle the question "what's the meaning of life?"



seriously though, you're 100% right. A lot inexperienced people overuse EQ...a lot. If it sounds good to you already, don't touch it. However, don't listen to just that individual sound. How does that track sound with all the other tracks? Sometimes you need to EQ an already good sound even more just to get it to fit in with the other tracks. This is one reason why a lot of engineers refuse to solo instruments when they're EQing, comressing or anything else. No one is ever going to hear that track soloed...it needs to sound good with everything else as a whole.
Think of EQ as just any other effect. It's only needed if you want that particular effect at that time. You wouldn't add a chorus effect to track if it didn't fit this song, right? Right.

[petermiller]

I usually only eq something that has a problem, I try to use mic placement as best as possible to aquire a sound. Sometimes however it is needed to find a place in the mix for something. if you solo a track and it sounds great, great!! but if it is stepping all over something else you may need to adjust things so they can live together, thus EQ

[DrJones]

Originally Posted by bennychico11

72 posts and he's got it!!!!!!!!
Sometimes you need to EQ an already good sound even more just to get it to fit in with the other tracks. This is one reason why a lot of engineers refuse to solo instruments when they're EQing, comressing or anything else. .

Is called "carving holes". EX. Kick drum vs. bass. Kick-roll off 80hz and boost at about 4k. Bass-boost @60 hz. Something like this only works if the kick and bass already sounds really good. You will notice that you get a really tight attack on the kick and a nice deep end on the bass w/o any muddyness or freq. bleed thru. There are no rules on amount its when your ears tell you when it sounds right!

[DrJones]

Oh I forgot! EQ is used to sweep, add or subtract, certian freq. so that you can mix multiple instruments with close freq. ranges w/o "mudding" the mix. that is what the example above is. Hence "carving holes".

[LeeRosario]

well think about it for a second. The idea behind an "equalizer" means to equalize or balance something out, right?


If you really think about it for a second, it makes you go, "Ahhhhh".