EQ cutting and boosting

dobro

dobro

Well-known member
I've been reading what different pros say about EQing. This is the bit I find interesting: they nearly always advise cutting rather than boosting as a general rule, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty of dealing with particular frequency changes for particular instruments, there's lots of advice about which frequencies to BOOST.

Okay, I'm sure those boosts they're talking about have got pretty wide bandwidth and only involve a dB or two. Still interesting, though.
 
Dobro, one thing I've been trying is to get my boosts by cutting. I know it sounds weird but if you think about the response curve it will have peaks and dips. So I get peaks but try to keep them at or below the zero line. That way I can turn the track up and effectively get more useful frequencies in the heart of the mix. When it's all said and done it amounts to a boost just a queiter, relative one.

Than being said, I don't think there's anything wrong with a well placed boost, it can get out of hand if you start by boosting freqs in every instrument...real quick. If you start with cuts and be sparing with boosts a mix will end up with more space for freq-play...that sounds kinda freqey.;)
 
Yo Dobro:

I find that using my ears, and ears are all different, is an influence to my EQ boosting or cutting.

For example, I like a raspy, punchy bass line; now not every tune I do requires that sound; however, bluesy stuff, and funky stuff seem to need that type of bass, to my ears. So, I usually increase the lows on the bass, and tweak it until I get the sound I'm after.

You have to remember, I use the DX7 patches for bass lines; but, if I were to record a live bass, I might want the same sound.

I guess using EQ is all in the ear of the enginear [ha] or in the ear of the person who is paying for the mixing.

Summer winds,



Green Hornet :p :p :D :cool:
 
J-O: yup, I think you're right. Too much boosting, or too many boosts, and the sound gets degraded.

GH: summer winds indeed, but do those winds *sound* nice? LOL
 
Someone around here did a lil speach on "subtractive eq". Ive been getting into this lately, much better than boosting everything.
 
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