EQing

itsme1234

itsme1234

New member
Ive always had trouble when it comes to EQ.

Can someone tell me if there will ever or should ever be a point in a mix when 2 sounds occupy the same frequency range? or should they all always be serperated in a mix?

I hope I made this question understandable enough. Thanks in advance
 
There will almost always be more than one sound in any given frequency range. If you have a vocal track and a guitar track, they are going to overlap in frequencies. It's a matter of using eq sweeps to find the frequencies that are too pronounced or that build up too much between the tracks, cut those frequencies. Boost frequencies that best contribute to the characters of each instrument.
 
what are the most common frequencies to cut when clean up your vocals and i pretty mono to so when i rap a tone stands out that i wanna cut or compress but when i do my vocals sound muddy and too low and what frequencies will make my vocals stand out after i compress or cut
 
treofspades said:
what are the most common frequencies to cut when clean up your vocals and i pretty mono to so when i rap a tone stands out that i wanna cut or compress but when i do my vocals sound muddy and too low and what frequencies will make my vocals stand out after i compress or cut
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Anyone able to translate that? I'll settle for any known language.
 
treofspades said:
what are the most common frequencies to cut when clean up your vocals and i pretty mono to so when i rap a tone stands out that i wanna cut or compress but when i do my vocals sound muddy and too low and what frequencies will make my vocals stand out after i compress or cut
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There's not really any standard frequencies - every situation is unique. I hate those EQ recipe sheets. The best way to figure it out is to use a parametric/swept EQ and sweep up and down to find out where the mud is and where the presence is and where the brightness is. EQ according to what you find to make it sound the way you want.
 
RAMI said:
Anyone able to translate that? I'll settle for any known language.
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Haha believe it or not that's a actually a question ;)

When he raps, a certain frequency stands out, so he cuts it. But then his voice sounds muddy and low. He wants to know what frequency to cut or how to compress it.

Have fun :)
 
guitaristic said:
Haha believe it or not that's a actually a question ;)

When he raps, a certain frequency stands out, so he cuts it. But then his voice sounds muddy and low. He wants to know what frequency to cut or how to compress it.

Have fun :)
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I'd want to hear an example from the OP, the problem could well be a room resonance in which case EQ won't be the long-term cure. It would be good to know what mic is being used too - so many cheap LDCs have brightness but lack presence and air.
 
That wasn't the OP. The OP is actually able to put a proper sentence together. The jibberish was asked by someone else hi-jacking the thread.
 
to answer the original question - before all of the languages came into play, yes there are times things will occupy the same frequency range. In fact that happens all the time. When it gets to be a problem is when the sound that should be dominate is muddy and hidden. So, you may have to cut in the less dominate sound to make the other stand out (i.e. cut guitar to make the vocals stand out). This can be a big problem for a lot of people because they don't want to sacrifice their precious tracks for the good of the mix (I am one of those people too).

The better option is to practice A LOT unitil you can record vox and guitars (or whatever you're shooting for) with the range you want. My acoustic tracks don't generally step on my vocals anymore, but that took a lot of practice to get right.

So pretty much what the first person to answer said (isn't that usually the case)!
 
moresound said:
He may be related to James Brown. :D
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RAMI said:
....I have no frickin' idea what that meant...........
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I saw a documentary a couple of years ago on James Brown and I was glad it had subtitles ! You couldn't understand anything he said ! Sometimes, I closed my eyes and listened. It was as though he came from Azabijahan......He certainly sang alot clearer than he spoke !
 
itsme1234 said:
Ive always had trouble when it comes to EQ.

Can someone tell me if there will ever or should ever be a point in a mix when 2 sounds occupy the same frequency range? or should they all always be serperated in a mix?

I hope I made this question understandable enough. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
There usually is a time when two or more instruments occupy the same range but just because they do doesn't mean you have an EQ problem.

Alot of mud in mixes is from the arrangement of the song and/or the musicians wanting to be playing every note, chord and measure.

When you have two instruments occupying the same frequency in phase the louder one will usually be the one you hear. You can use panning to a degree for separation or you can change the arrangement.
When you have two instruments occupying the same frequency out of phase at the same volume they cancel each other out and you hear nothing.

There's lots of variables to consider and EQing isn't always the answer.

Another situation is where you have muddy vocals. Without getting into a long explanation about it, the mud could be from something as simple as using passive crossovers in your speaker system. Passsive crossovers can have phase issues between speakers causing mud right at the frequency range where vocals usually sit. Sure, EQ will help but a better solution is to use active crossovers.

Get yourself the book Mastering Audio, the art and the science by Bob Katz. It comes with a frequency chart covering all the instruments and showing you the ranges they reside in. Plus a huge amount of awesome info that will help with your Eq'ing, listening skills and understanding of what's happening in all that processing going on in productions.
 
grimtraveller said:
I saw a documentary a couple of years ago on James Brown and I was glad it had subtitles ! You couldn't understand anything he said ! Sometimes, I closed my eyes and listened. It was as though he came from Azabijahan......He certainly sang alot clearer than he spoke !
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I didn't mean that I had no idea what HE meant. I was saying that I had no idea what I meant when I said "aren't we all?"

I have almost every James Brown recording, and my drumming has probably been influenced by him more than any other artist.
 
I thought that was what you meant but I used your quote to link into the bit about James' hard to understand speech. I still find it fascinating.
 
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