frequency chart?

[chessrock]

Just wondering if anyone could help me out on this.

I've been having some problems, with my mixes, of being able to hear each instrument/track distinctly within the mix. In other words, everything just seems to blend together a bit too much.

I met an engineer at a party recently, who told me I should get in to the habbit of cutting some frequencies from my individual tracks. For example: using bass rolloff on vocals, accoustic guitar, etc. (another hint was to cut off everything below 80 when tracking guitar, as it gives the kick drum some extra breathing room).

The idea, apparently, is to cut off any frequencies that a particular instrument "doesn't need." Leave them for the other instruments that really need them.

Just wondering if anyone knows of a cheat-sheet I can get my hands on, so I know what frequency ranges a given instrument will generally occupy. Need to know which frequencies I will be safe to soften or rolloff for each given instrument, and which to leave alone. The guy I met at the party told me any beginner's guide to home recording should have something like that. Yea, right. Do you know how many "beginners guide"s are out there?

example:

Bass = occupies frequencies X to X
Guitar = occupies frequencies Y to Y, and sometimes Z.

And so on. Any suggestions?

[shootstyle]

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but.....

http://www.recordingeq.com/Subscribe/tip/tascam.htm


Bill

[zoetrope]

Try http://www.recordingeq.com/EQ/req0900/primer.htm (scroll down a couple screens)

Also:
http://www.bcpl.net/~musicman/freqchrt.htm

[chessrock]

Appreciate the links, fellas.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.


I will print out a copy or two and post them on the wall next to my mixing board.

Take care !

[Queue]

I've seen a number of compressor plugins that show graphically the input signal level and output signal level (after being processed by the compressor). Are there any EQ plugins that function similarly, showing graphically the frequency response pre and post eq?

I'd prefer DirectX, but guess I could always go for that VST->DirectX converter thingy.

Queue

[RWhite]

Good Links. Thanks for posting them.

[zoetrope]

I've learned a lot about eq by playing with the eq settings on Winamp while listening to various tracks, either my own individual tracks, or fully mixed songs. Bring everything down, then one by one raise each band and listen to what it does. Then zero them all and drop out one band at a time. You get a better feel for what this eq thing is all about.

[tubedude]

Frequency analyzer... use it to examine your own individual tracks and your full mix to determine where YOUR real problems are. A chart wont help too much, since every mix is different.

[Henrik]

Here's a shareware frequency analyzer (VST plugin for PC):

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...ehurst/fft.htm

I haven't tried it myself, so I wouldn't know if it's useful. Here are some articles links. Check out the Mixing section, many useful tips and tricks:

http://www.studiocovers.com/articles.htm

Cheers
/Henrik

[Queue]

Henrik,
Thanks. Guess I'm gonna have to break out that VST to DX converter....

Queue