EQ Specifics

[tbowen]

Ok I would like some expert to fill me in on the eq specifics like as in: What frequinces to boost for what sound. Like I heard if you boost the 80k range you get more bass sound. And so on. If there is a pic ro anything anywhere that gives it to you in every frequinceeee that would e great. Or does it just start at 1k and that is highs and then it goes down? Please help me out I am very new to eq's.
-thomas

 

[The Green Hornet]

TBOWEN:

I'll try to keep it simple because I'm not an expert; I have been running a home studio for ten years but it's a long learning curve due to the ugly manuals that come with black boxes.

First: I have a Yamaha MD-8 and it has three band EQ. I find that by tweaking the mid-range EQ a tad, I can bring some clarity and brilliance into female vocalists.

Once in a while I boost the low end EQ on my bass track for a more gutsy thump. This, of course, is determined by my ears.

Second: For the most part, leave the EQ in the up/down even position for most recordings. You can, however, make the drums/cymbals zing a bit by upping the high end EQ JUST A TAD.

Finally, spend a couple of hours working with the EQ on a vocal, on bass, on drums, but don't over-use the EQ.

Green Hornet

 

[Eddie N]

tbowen ,

im no expert .. but i offer a lil help...

the human ear has a frequency response from about 20 hz up to 20,000 hz... the first band of an eq usually starts at 60 hz and the last ends at 20khz...usually home stereo systems dont pick up frequencies below 60 hz so its left off the eq.. you can get a frequency response of under 60 hz in car audio systems though... anyways.. depending on the amount of bands ( the lil levers you can slide up and down ) , the more control you have over the frequency response .. ie .. a seven band eq has more levers to tweak the frequency response than a three band... its basically broken into 3 parts... lows ( the first few levers ), mids ( the middle levers ) and highs ( your last few levers) ... lows would be your bass guitar , and that big round drum with the foot pedal ( i dunno the name ..hehe )... mids would generally be your vocals and snare drum , that sorta thing... and highs would be your cymbals , high hat and so on...but...they can overlap... you can get into the mids with your bass guitar , and a singer with a deep voice can get into the lows.. so its really a matter of screwing around with the levers and just using your ear... keep in mind that the lows in EQs go up in smaller increments than the highs... so you generally can make the song more " bassy " than " trebley " in your final mix.. so when i record.. i like to jack up the highs just a lil bit for insurance.. theres nothing worse than having a mix all lows no highs and not being able to do anything about it...

hope this helps a lil...

- eddie -