I'd pay for this advice. EQ'ing Direct Input Guitars!

[aaronglass]

Okay, here's the deal.

Joey Sturgis records all of his stuff (TDWP, OM&M, etc.) direct input with similiar hardware that I have. I was wondering, since I have his "tone" (which can be found here)

How do I go about getting it to sound good in a guitar/bass mix? The real problem that lies within me is the EQ settings given on the tone page. I honestly don't know what the heck "high pass" "low cut" or whatever, is. I am working with logics default eq.

The eq settings specified for the track are these...

Channel EQ settings:
EQ (always): Highpass 50-100hz, Lowpass 12khz
EQ (threadplate cab specific): cut at 800hz, cut at 4khz
EQ (suggestions): Boost between 300-400hz, boost 5-8khz for clarity


NO CLUE what any of that means. It may as well be in egyptian. I'm guessing I'll just record two tracks for each guitar, and apply the eq to the 4 tracks in the end right?

If someone could go as far as sending me a screenshot of what the eq should sound like, I'd be in love with you. Haha, and if someone sent me the Logic EQ settings save file, I'd just go ballistic!

Thanks for putting up with my newbishness!

 

[Track Rat]

Sorry bro but there ain't no cookie cutter EQ settings. Things like that are like spices in cooking. It's specific to the dish and done to individual taste.

 

[Lt. Bob]

Sorry bro but there ain't no cookie cutter EQ settings. Things like that are like spices in cooking. It's specific to the dish and done to individual taste.

^^^^^ this ^^^^^^

Having seen many threads like this, I'm gonna tell you that you're just gonna hear the above from everyone.
You can't just set his EQ settings and expect it to sound the same. For one thing, all these settings can vary tremendously depending on your own personal playing style ..... how you hit the strings ..... where on the guitar do you pick the strings ...... how hard ..... how much of the pick ...... on and on.

As for what the EQ's mean ........ google it. It'll take you approximately 10 seconds to find plenty of explanations and this is stuff you NEED to know if you're gonna do any worthwhile recording because, as Trackrat said, those EQ settings are gonna be pretty useless to you ..... you need to understand how to tweak them yourself.

 

[miroslav]

I honestly don't know what the heck "high pass" "low cut" or whatever, is. I am working with logics default eq.

The eq settings specified for the track are these...

Channel EQ settings:
EQ (always): Highpass 50-100hz, Lowpass 12khz
EQ (threadplate cab specific): cut at 800hz, cut at 4khz
EQ (suggestions): Boost between 300-400hz, boost 5-8khz for clarity


NO CLUE what any of that means.


..........................




If someone could go as far as sending me a screenshot........

Rather than just mimicking someone else's settings from screen shots and forum tips...it might be worth your time to actually learn what that terminology means and how those settings affect tones.
Then you might be more inclined to find your own tone rather then copying dial settings and buying the same gear just so you can maybe sound like someone else.

 

[c7sus]

Okay, here's the deal.

Joey Sturgis records all of his stuff (TDWP, OM&M, etc.) direct input with similiar hardware that I have. I was wondering, since I have his "tone" (which can be found here)

How do I go about getting it to sound good in a guitar/bass mix? The real problem that lies within me is the EQ settings given on the tone page. I honestly don't know what the heck "high pass" "low cut" or whatever, is. I am working with logics default eq.

The eq settings specified for the track are these...

Channel EQ settings:
EQ (always): Highpass 50-100hz, Lowpass 12khz
EQ (threadplate cab specific): cut at 800hz, cut at 4khz
EQ (suggestions): Boost between 300-400hz, boost 5-8khz for clarity


NO CLUE what any of that means. It may as well be in egyptian. I'm guessing I'll just record two tracks for each guitar, and apply the eq to the 4 tracks in the end right?

If someone could go as far as sending me a screenshot of what the eq should sound like, I'd be in love with you. Haha, and if someone sent me the Logic EQ settings save file, I'd just go ballistic!

Thanks for putting up with my newbishness!

Highpass means everything above the cutoff frequency goes through, everything below is removed from the signal. Lowpass is the opposite-- everything above the cutoff is removed and everything below is passed.

So he is saying remove frequencies below 50-100Hz and above 12kHz. Pretty much any low-end rumble and high-end hiss.

The rest of the settings are dependent upon both the Q (width in octaves or fractions of an octave) of the filter and the amount of rolloff or boost applied to those frequencies.

 

[grimtraveller]

I'd pay for this advice

How much ? And in what currency ?

 

[cobaltaudio]

In fairness,

I've seen some of the top professional engineers around put in eq before they've even heard a note. However, I'm not sure it's anywhere anywhere near as specific as the above, and the key fact is that it's just a starting point and they always change it in some way or another as soon as they have heard it. They can only get away with it because they seriously know what to listen for. I don't do it!

I have never ever seen a professional engineer set eq levels first like that and not change them, because it's not one size fits all.

When I was starting out, the best piece of advice I was ever given was:
"In your head imagine precisely what you want the instrument to sound like. Then listen to the real instrument and pick out how it differs from your expectation. Does it sound better? Does it lack clarity or punch? What? Then and only then start matching what you hear to what you expected to hear with eq and dynamics etc."

Works for me every time.

 

[aaronglass]

@c7sus,
That's what I'm looking for, thanks!

Thanks everyone, and cobaltaudio thats a very good but simple tip. I'll give it a shot!

 

[VESSEL2020]

rather than just mimicking someone else's settings from screen shots and forum tips...it might be worth your time to actually learn what that terminology means and how those settings affect tones.
Then you might be more inclined to find your own tone rather then copying dial settings and buying the same gear just so you can maybe sound like someone else.

this.............................................. ^......................................................

 

[aaronglass]

I'm not trying to copy a sound, think of it as just getting set off in the right direction. I didn't buy the hardware to SOUND LIKE JOEY STURGIS. I bought it to have an affordable way of recording guitars that stilll sounds good. I didn't even know who the hell sturgis was before buying the UX2.

 

[Guitargodgt]

I don't see any problem making this visual. Presets do nothing anyway, besides it's much easier to just see what people mean when they say "cut, boost, lowpass, highpass, shelf, roll off, etc...

Although, I'm surprised your eq doesn't have these filters labeled. None of these are set to those settings, simply visuals to show what each are.

Parametric filter (shown as a boost, if it dips down it's a cut):

High Shelf:

Low Shelf:

Low Pass Filter (sometimes people will say "roll off the high end at 12Khz" or the like, this is the kind of filter they mean):

High Pass Filter (same deal people will say "roll off" or "dump the low end mud" etc... when referencing this filter):

Notch, an extreme cut with a very high quality (Q) setting:

Bandpass (I kind of doubt the eq your using will have this, but you can achieve this with a low pass and high pass filter):

That said, fallowing those EQ settings isn't going to get you J Sturgis tone or even anything close. He has stated on numerous occasions that the pod tones he does vary from song to song and even from verse to chorus.

 

[aaronglass]

Thanks a TON for this man! I'm not looking for Joey Sturgis tone..just some knowledge. Lol

 

[Guitargodgt]

Yeah you are gonna have to play with it. Even if I had posted a visual that was fallowing those guidelines, they still wouldn't really work that well because my eq is different, I have no idea what Q settings were used, how much to cut, how much to boost, the guitar, etc...

To many variables.