Anyone do this? (an EQ question)

S

Shiny Rhino

New member
I'm just wondering how people approach this scenario. You have a song that has an opening guitar for the first while, then the drums and bass etc come in together. So do you automate your guitar's eq to change when the other instruments come in, or cut the track in two at the point where the instruments join in and eq the 2 separately?
 
That would totally depend on the song itself. I would assume you have a particular song where this is an issue? Post it. Maybe we can suggest some options. :)
 
Nope, no particular song. I tend do the latter, just wondering how other people approach it. Every so often, I wonder if the way I do things, (which is generally intuitive for me), is the way others do it too. I just like to check my methods so I'm not missing out on a better way to do things. It's not a "song dependant" thing for me, because I will always EQ guitar differently when bass guitar is present. Again, may just be me. I'm referring to when a guitar is featured in the production vs when it's accompaniment though. Not just because the Bass is dropping out for a few bars, so we're clear.
 
So do you (automate or split)?
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Either way is perfectly valid and both are forms of automation to some extent. I probably split objects and crossfade (Samplitude has object-based editing on a single timeline) more than automating just because one is near instant and requires less tweaking. But if the need for automation is there, there you go.
 
That's cool man. It depends on the particular project at hand, but even when I spend time in pre-production working with arrangements and grasping tone ideas, I am thinking of tracking individual parts so that they already have the qualities a particular section of a song needs. I do not really limit myself to eq'ing a part of the song to work, tho there are exceptions when mixing projects recorded by others.

If you are dealing with a single track/group, and wish to get a different feel from it on choruses or whatever, place those pieces on a different track. Approach them differently and see what you come up with.
 
Massive Master said:
Either way is perfectly valid and both are forms of automation to some extent. I probably split objects and crossfade (Samplitude has object-based editing on a single timeline) more than automating just because one is near instant and requires less tweaking. But if the need for automation is there, there you go.
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Totally know where you're coming from. And I agree. I'd record a stereo acoustic guitar track when it was planned to be the featured instrument, and then record a single miked, "less-bodied" sounding acoustic, when it was intended to be used as accompaniment to the rest of the mix when possible. My original scenario assumed one acoustic take for the song, which I totally failed to be clear on. :)
 
Any and either is valid and neither is wrong. It all depends of on what sounds best, of course!

We had a song recently where this was exactly the case. The intro guitar was meant to sound filtered, distorty and band-limited as if coming throug a radio. I put it on a different track. I sometimes think that's the easiest option because you have individual control over it' without bothering with automation.

But yeah, what ever works for you.

Cheers :)
 
Doing it for an effect or some specialty case would be a good reason...but I honestly can't say I've ever split/EQ'd any track differently at different points of the timeline.
I find that if you set your EQ for the overall song where most/all of the tracks are going...there's not much need to have a different EQ on a given track at some specific point.
I mean...the EQ differences would not be that extreme to require two sets...at least I've not run into that situation as yet that I can recall.
 
Just thought I'd add that if you left the intro guitar with it's low-cut on (if that's what we're talking about), when the bass and drums kick in they will have more impact because of the contrast.
 
I've done it when it's supposed to sound blatantly different, but not when it's just because the bass or whatever hasn't come in yet. I actually like when something sounds just a little "wrong" alone and then sits perfectly when the accompanying instruments join in after a few measures.
 
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