EQ - where do I start?

sgia

sgia

New member
Hello,

It took me a while to realize, but I don't know what the hell I am doing with this, thus posting here in the Newbie section.

My software works fine, my recorder is great, levels are perfect, mics, instruments, etc. all good, (been doing that for some time now with live sound).

I have the tracks recorded as I want them - dry, ready to be mixed.

So, I copy those puppies over from my recorder (zoom R16) as individual tracks to my software (trying Reaper and Steinberg), add a bit of reverb perhaps compression on the vocals, pan the guitars out a bit left/right -

And now I have a bunch of tracks all together that sound like Sh**.

Don't kill me, but how do I begin to make it sound like a song?

I have tried, as posted here somewhere:
"set lead vocals at the desired level, increase each track until there is some cancellation..." etc

So enter EQ, and with this I come to my questions:

1. Having identified "problematic" tracks relative to the lead vocals (see above), how do I know WHAT to reduce in the EQ?
2. How do I know what frequencies the instrument/other vocal is EVEN USING, so I can identify "overlapping" in comparison to the lead vocals?

It would seem that most EQ plugins are inadequate for this task (to few bands), as trial and error has resulted in larger chunks of the sound being excluded, which makes it all thin and tinny. Inversely, an EQ with 40 bands becomes a game of almost infinite possible settings.

Any help would be appreciated.

SG
 
Pick a track or two where you hear an area or areas out of balance- worst case the better for this.
Set up a parametric eq band with a medium width (Q 1 or 2.. half octave whatever, it's not crit at this point.
Start moving that eq around, boost might be easier to hear, do some with cutting too.
The idea is as you go and use eq's you start connecting the sound of given frequency ranges with the freq numbers.
After a bit, you'll listen to a track or combinations in a mix of tracks and start to know about where to look, what to do.
Your tuning skills just go up from there.

The graph/poster thingy is a good beginning guide but notice how things overlap. It’s normal, and doesn’t mean they should be prevented from overlapping.
At the point(s) where they lump up into problems, fight to be heard etc, the trimming goes.
Often getting rid of tone imbalances on the individual tracks means less fixing needed on other tracks.
 
In a nutshell: set all faders to unity and press play. Pan instruments to the left and right, then play with the faders. Listen, listen, listen until you're sick of the song. When you find a problem, then it's time to solo out the offending tracks and apply eq to get rid of the offending frequencies.

It takes practice and good ears and you only get good ears by practicing.
 
Thanks for that.

Would perhaps a frequency analyzer help?
I had a look at Voxengo SPAN, but could not figure out why adjusting the EQ did not make the frequency dynamics on the screen change.

I guess that is another thread.

Thanks for the comments, I'll have a go!

SG
 
Many newbs think they can eq with a GUI - the answer is no, you eq with your ears. You hear that 2 instruments are competing, you remove some of the frequency from one of them and listen that it still sounds like a trombone, for example. If your eqing has ruined the trombone's sound, then try removing less from it. And so on, ad nauseum, that's what you have to learn how to do.

SPAN won't eq for you, it'll just show you the sound.
 
sgia said:
Would perhaps a frequency analyzer help?
Click to expand...

Nope, you have to listen. Sometimes if you hear a problem and can't quite pin it down a spectrum analyzer can help, but you can get yourself in trouble mixing with your eyes.

Guidelines are helpful but you have to customize your settings to the recording in question. Here's one common eq tip, cut a little 3kHz-ish from the instruments to keep them from stepping on vocals.
 
I see what you mean by mixing with your eyes. SPAN might be a good informational guideline until one is familiar with the approximate frequencies of different sources, but listening tells you the real deal.

Thanks for the tip about 3Khz, that was a good place to start. I was able to reduce on the guitar, and the vocals just kind of "woke up", literally like a blanket had been removed from the speaker.

On my way,

Thanks again
SG
 
sgia said:
SPAN might be a good informational guideline until one is familiar with the approximate frequencies of different sources, but listening tells you the real deal.
Click to expand...

It's the other way 'round. Visual aids won't help much until you associate sounds you hear with frequency numbers. You have to have at least an approximate idea what the problem is before you even look at the analyzer. I don't even use them in the studio, but for live sound I would use a real time analyzer to precisely identify feedback that I already hear but can't quite pin down by ear.
 
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