madjaymz said:
I am new here, and i couldn't find any thread already discussing this, i hope this is the right place to post this.
Could any of you guys give me some pointers on EQ for each instrument (drums, bass, guitars, vocals). I have gotten things to a point where they work and nothing is distorting, i am just looking into other options. what frequencies work best to cut or boost for what instruments? any help would be greatly appreaciated!
Let me start off by saying that the best EQ is no EQ at all. You should always be striving to get the proper tone through mic choice and technique rather than "fixing it in the mix"
Secondly starch is correct, you need to decide what elements of the mix you want to emphasize and use the EQ to bring them out or back. For example if you are making a hip-hop album the treatment of the kick is going to be totally different than on a rock or jazz album.
That said, I'll give you a few areas worth starting to play with.
For Kick:
If you want a cleaner/slappier kick try cutting the area around 200-300Hz. Add a bit around 3-5K. If you want a more vintage sound use a shelving EQ at around 100Hz, or shelf around 85Hz for a "bigger" kick and more punch.
For snare:
Snare almost always needs top, try boosting with a shelving EQ at 10K. Also try a slight cut around 650 to get rid of a "boxy" sound. You may want to add a bit around 250 for body, 100 for "fatness". Also try adding a bit between 2k-5k for "snap" and/or 1k for "smack".
Toms:
For transparency reduce the area around 250, add a bit around 5K. For a more vintage sound, leave them alone. Floor tom possibly add a shelf around 100Hz.
Cymbals:
Use the best condenser mics you can afford, and leave them alone (my first choice) or add a shelf around 10-12K for "air". You may also want to play around with the same frequencies I mentioned for the snare since you are very likely going to be picking this up in the overheads to a great degree.
Guitars:
This can really vary, I assume you mean distorted electrics. Most people add a bit around 2.5-3K for bite. This can get nasty though depending on how they were recorded. You really want to shoot for a good mid sound. This can vary anywhere from 500 to 1K boost. Alot of people also boost around 100Hz for a bigger sound or use the proximity effect of a mic to boost this. I would suggest taking a look at a Neve 1073 and see where the fixed freqs are. This pre is one often used for recording/mixing guitars so these fixed freqs will give you a good indication.
Vocals:
Again very little EQ if possible and alot of variance depending on the singer. Most suggestions include 12K shelf for "air", around 5K for presence. Find the fundamental frequency of the vocalist by sweeping a parametric and seeing where the largest boost comes from. Then play with either cutting or boosting multiples of this freq.
Bass:
Geoff Emerick (Beatles engineer) suggested to mix everything without the bass guitar and bring this in later. I think that this has a lot of merit. Most fundamental frequncies of instruments are competing for that low midrange to low freqs. I would say that the majority of beginner mistakes are how to produce a good clean low in a mix. You should EQ the bass with the entire mix up, or at least with the kick in order to see how it will "fit". You may need to boost around 500 for a warmer/punchier bass, or 1-3K to make it stand out. Try 8K for presence, and 85-100 shelf for more bottom.
All of that said, I'm sure that there will be many other suggestions, some contradictory. Try them all and then use what's appropriate and sounds best for the material. Don't use your eyes or a formula, use your ears and taste.
