tubedude
New member
He Sjoko, Sonus, Bear, whoever else....
We have some decent threads going on mixing, getting hot levels during tracking, mastering, etc, but I want to get into mixing a tad bit deeper, and tread on the complimentary EQ topic and Eq-ing in general. I tend to have a good ear for mixing and getting a nice wide sound, but more often than not I'm tracking heavy chunky guitars over thick bass lines and kicks, and I end up with alot of freqs bashing each other, and therefore, alot of mud. I'm sure this is true for many.
I'm gonna post SOME of the notes that i've taken over the last 6 months (yes, i keep notes, a separate page in a notebook for damn near every subject, very helpful) and we can discuss them, praise them, bash them and hopefully, add to them.
1) More often than not, cut EQ instead of add. Reduces phasefunk. Words to live by?
2)kick vs. bass- dip apprx -4db @ 400hz (all freqs and db levels are apprx from here on) and +3 @5khz on the kick, and +2db @400hz on the bass guit. This makes some room for both to breathe. -2db between 150-300hz on kick also.
3)Guitar- apply high pass filter and cut everything below around 80-100hz or so. +2db at 3khz.
4)snare- +3@7khz, +2@100khz to increase snap and fullness. Dip @ 800hz to add some extra room for bass frequencies.
5)Toms- Make sure ringing freqs arent competing too much, cut mids 2-4 db above fundamental. Many other notes on these, may post them later.
6)overheads- low cut at about 300hz, add at about 10khz to increase sizzle
7) hats- hi-shelf boost around 8khz, steep low cut at about 100-200hz.
My notes are huge, and these are just a few things to get a discussion started. Alot of the freqs I mentioned go hand in hand with a similar boost or cut on another instrument, although I didnt list everything for sake of writing a book. Keep in mind that some of these may just be starting points, and they arent religious by any means. I find it does help to get alot of the humdrum out of tracks where its not needed (like hats)
I'd like to get some ideas from everyone and try them out. I have some good EQ links written down somewhere, I'll post them soon.
Hopefully I just started a fire.
Peace,
Paul
We have some decent threads going on mixing, getting hot levels during tracking, mastering, etc, but I want to get into mixing a tad bit deeper, and tread on the complimentary EQ topic and Eq-ing in general. I tend to have a good ear for mixing and getting a nice wide sound, but more often than not I'm tracking heavy chunky guitars over thick bass lines and kicks, and I end up with alot of freqs bashing each other, and therefore, alot of mud. I'm sure this is true for many.
I'm gonna post SOME of the notes that i've taken over the last 6 months (yes, i keep notes, a separate page in a notebook for damn near every subject, very helpful) and we can discuss them, praise them, bash them and hopefully, add to them.
1) More often than not, cut EQ instead of add. Reduces phasefunk. Words to live by?
2)kick vs. bass- dip apprx -4db @ 400hz (all freqs and db levels are apprx from here on) and +3 @5khz on the kick, and +2db @400hz on the bass guit. This makes some room for both to breathe. -2db between 150-300hz on kick also.
3)Guitar- apply high pass filter and cut everything below around 80-100hz or so. +2db at 3khz.
4)snare- +3@7khz, +2@100khz to increase snap and fullness. Dip @ 800hz to add some extra room for bass frequencies.
5)Toms- Make sure ringing freqs arent competing too much, cut mids 2-4 db above fundamental. Many other notes on these, may post them later.
6)overheads- low cut at about 300hz, add at about 10khz to increase sizzle
7) hats- hi-shelf boost around 8khz, steep low cut at about 100-200hz.
My notes are huge, and these are just a few things to get a discussion started. Alot of the freqs I mentioned go hand in hand with a similar boost or cut on another instrument, although I didnt list everything for sake of writing a book. Keep in mind that some of these may just be starting points, and they arent religious by any means. I find it does help to get alot of the humdrum out of tracks where its not needed (like hats)
I'd like to get some ideas from everyone and try them out. I have some good EQ links written down somewhere, I'll post them soon.
Hopefully I just started a fire.
Peace,
Paul