eq settings

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Tedstigers

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I recorded a CD at home using the Boss BR-8 digital recording studio. The overall mix sounds ok, but there are spots in the recording where the lows are too low. Small speakers can't hold some of the bass drum kicks or the heavy palm muting. Can I fix this by setting the eq levels for the individual tracks? I have that capability but I am not sure where to set the gain (-12-+12dB) or the frequency (40-1.5kHz). I would appreciate any help whatsoever. Also, you can hear my music if you want at http://www.mp3.com/TwoFisted
 
Just boost and sweep for the correct Freq. When you find the problimatic one,
cut it as needed.
 
I did that when I mixed the CD, and everything sounded ok. But when I burned the copies I could hear a few problems. I think I new set of headphones or moniter speakers would be a good first step, but generally speaking, is it standard procedure to cut back on the drums and guitars in both the freq range and output?
 
No.
Eq is a comlex thing and of course you can't mix on a bad set of monitors. EQing would be almost useless.

I shouldn't be doing this becuase I heard 20 sec's of the song on the Lo Fi
setting, and this is not the way to advise eq settings but I'll gamble here that if you cut your Kick drum (this is a least what you claim is causing the problem) at the lower mids aroumd 250-400 you might solve some of the problem.
If you kill the lows you'll lose your power thump I think you would want in this song.
Try it, and write back.


[Edited by Shailat on 08-21-2000 at 15:59]
 
"Just boost and sweep for the correct Freq. When you find the problimatic one, cut it as needed."

Sounds so simple, but what's this about? I'm EQing in software. Can the above only be done with an external mixer?
 
try to mix with something other then headphones. They can really throw you off- something that sounds right in headphones will most likely be a flop when you start playing it on other systems. Lots of times, you will usually get that flooded boomy sound. What you could try doing until you get a pair of monitors, is just get a pretty good cassete deck and mix directly to that first. just go right from the recorder to the cassete deck. Then play that mix around on a lot of systems, you will be able to find some flaws that way.

as far as the spots that are too low-it will be hard for you to judge exactly how much eq you will exactly need because mixing without monitors can throw you off a bit. I wouldnt boost any frequencies, i think most of the time you should cut. id say play around with the parts you think are flawed, and then test it on the cassete mix. keep trying and mixing down. eventually through trial and error youll hit on the one that you like :)
 
dobro said:
"Just boost and sweep for the correct Freq. When you find the problimatic one, cut it as needed."

Sounds so simple, but what's this about? I'm EQing in software. Can the above only be done with an external mixer?
Click to expand...


This is something that has me wondering too - do you need an external mixer to sweep the frequencies?

Malgo
 
alot of direct x eq plugins will allow you sweep frequencies as the song is playing. it can be done without an external mixer.
 
Malgo - the answer's no, you don't need an external mixer to do this. You can do it in software. Someone showed me how with Cool Edit Pro, which is what I use. What's your software?
 
I'm using cakewalk pa8 and soundforge - somebody told me as well actually (in the cakewalk forum) after this post that you can do it in cwpa by accessing the parametric setup screen through the console view - then boost and sweep as the song is playing - that seems to be a good way to do it -i don't know if you can do the same in sound forge - anyway i will have a go - it seems like it might take a bit of practice :) Cheers - Malgo
 
most the waves plugins allow a sweep i believe.... im still trying to get use to doing it on the pc though... but seems u can pull some really good things off...
 
MUDDY BOTTOM END

When these chaps mention the word 'sweep' I don't think it's in the same context as a software filter sweep - somewhat cliched now in many forms of dance music. On a mixing desk, you have a variable, or a 'swept' mid range. This allows you to sweep in on problematic frequencies and then boost or cut it. A different technique altogether.
Anyway, concerning your muddy lows, most mastering engineers simply roll off everything below 40-50hZ - even though these subsonics are almost inaudible they can take up precious air-space in your mixes. Coming back to software, Soundforge has a variety of lo-cuts that should sort this out - look under PROCESS-EQ-PARAGRAPHIC. Cheers.
 
amnesty:

So what kind of sweeps are the chaps referring to, then, do you think?

"Anyway, concerning your muddy lows, most mastering engineers simply roll off everything below 40-50hZ - even though these subsonics are almost inaudible they can take up precious air-space in your mixes."

"Air space?" What's that?

I bet I can hear 39 Hz. Ooooo, I'm feeling light and snappy and full of aggro. :)
 
The Cheesy Filter Sweeps...know them? Oh, and 'air' is simply all the inaudible supersonic frequencies above 20k or so that give space to a piece...There's a hell of a lot that can be felt but not heard - apparently Phil Spector had the habit of putting things such as acoustic guitars so low in the mix that they were not heard, transparent, so to speak- it all adds to the space and depth. Man.
 
some advice

there is too much low end in these examples. The guitars are causing the problems. The lows on the guitar need to desperately be cut. They are covering the same area as the kick.....(100-200 hz area). also watch the panning of the instruments since instruments with the same frequencies will mask each other and create a muddy mix. Try to "carve" a place in the mix for EACH instrument present by using a "3D" landscape which includes front to back and side to side. Not everything can be loud. Vocals need to come up more also. they are the Melodic part so should be the featured part. Also try doubling the lead vocal to help it stand out and sound fatter. Hope this helped you out.
 
don't discount the room...

if your monitoring sounds fine but then the CD sounds significantly differently in other environments, then your room needs attention.

if you're going to use headphones to mix and master, get several pairs from different vendors, don't rely on just one good set. get a mix of types and listen using all of them.

-kp-
 
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