Hearing the difference

L

Lomas

New member
So I've been starting to try to learn som EQ, and I've started out by looking at these general frequency charts just to get a starting point.

And I just can't hear the difference. I apply like 6 dB boost or cut and I just sit there thinking "ok...I can't here what that did to the track". To actually be able to hear something I have to boost or cut a lot more.

Is this something that comes with time? Shoul I invest in new ears, or am I expecting it to be too easy if I want to hear more of a difference?

In short: tell me it's a newbie thing and I'll gladly keep trying! Please :)
 
You're not used to subtlety yet - it'll come. With MP3 players & so forth that have mega bass boost and other compensation tricks you're used to hearing MORE.
Often, like with reverb, when you can actually hear it you've over done it.
You also need to have fairly flat response speakers/amp when monitoring/mixing.
 
rayc said:
You're not used to subtlety yet - it'll come.
Click to expand...


Exactly - just like playing an instrument or learning a sport, it takes a while for both your ears and your brain to learn how to critically listen. There are a few books out there which can help you, I suggest "Critical Listening Skills for the Audio Professionals", by F. Alton-Everest. It comes with a great CD, with lots of listening excercises relating to recognising frequencies and determining volume chances amongst other things. Great book!
 
Just keep in mind that the slight adjustments to different tracks have an affect on the total sound. Those small adjustments really help to clean up muddy or boomy sounding stuff. Sometimes EQing one track will make another track sound better (or worse.) Have patience, it takes a while to get the hang of how to get everything in balance so it all sounds right. A little cut or boost on two tracks (say 2 guitars for example) will help a lot to seperate the sounds so they don't slur together. Don't rush it, keep working with it and you will soon begin to hear the difference.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. Yeah I thought that it could be kind of like with reverb (if you can hear it...). I'll keep trying then.

Oh and I did try to crank it way up just to hear what it did, and I can hear it and it fits with the descriptions in the stuff I've read. It just made me frustrated that I couldn't hear a difference at all.
 
I think 6 db is quite a lot, I can't imagine anyone not hearing it... although I guess it depends on the frequencies you're boosting...
 
Your ears will have a much better and easier time judging on/off rather than slight chances in boost and/or frequency, so instead of changing the dB of your EQ, or sweeping thru frequencies, try using the bypass instead.

With EQ (as with verb), your ears adjust to it very quickly, so you may have over-boosted the highs, and your ears get used to it so that when you bypass it the track sounds dull, but when you come back after a few hours or days you listen to it and it sounds fucking aweful.
 
Ah...yeah I guess it's also about what you expect. If I'm expecting a big difference I'll think I hear nothing.

You know, it says "cut this and that to get rid of muddiness" but if I've recorded quickly with my 57 and the room would have to be a lot better to be called "ok", 6 dB of EQ might not really do what I expect it to do.
 
rayc said:
You're not used to subtlety yet - it'll come. With MP3 players & so forth that have mega bass boost and other compensation tricks you're used to hearing MORE.
Often, like with reverb, when you can actually hear it you've over done it.
You also need to have fairly flat response speakers/amp when monitoring/mixing.
Click to expand...

Good example, peolle love pushing the reverb up on everyhting and the result is often crap.

What is your monitoring chain like as well? I bought wharfedale 8.1 As a while ago as a good cheap monirtoring solutin and am really starting to see the limitations there (finally).

Daav
 
I've learned a lot about EQ by listening to stuff posted in the mp3 clinic, dragging the mp3s into Reaper and then applying EQ processing to them. Comparing how you hear a tune's EQ balance to how others describe it is enlightening. Was to me anyway.

A lot of it is getting used to your monitoring setup. And realizing that different EQs can sound totally different. One EQ may be barely noticeable with a 4 dB change while another is clearly audible with just a 1 dB change using the same type of filter.

Also very helpful to compare things you're EQing to reference tracks from commercial CDs that you like that are of similar musical style - as a point of reference, since one's perception can be warped by things like fatigue, repetition, mood...
 
I have cheap speakers for monitors. But while I was trying to learn, I did it with headphones on (mostly).

Maybe this EQ isn't very noticabel then. I use what I use because it was very easy to see what the different types actually do (band, shelf) and I've found that having a bit of graphics that show what is done ahs helped me a lot with understanding compressors, so I wanted to do the same with EQ. Maybe it's just not a good one. I don't even remember the name of it. Free plugin :)

And yeah, I'm starting to think my mood affects me a lot more than I thought before. Some days, everything I play on guitar sounds great to me. The next day it's dull and boring. The damn guitar has moodswings!

I guess the same goes for trying to mix...tricky shit.
 
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