exciter/enhancer before EQ, or other way around?

[fendorst]

Getting down to final stereo mix/master. I’m not really “mastering” it, as I don’t plan to duplicate or release the track. I just mean I’m making a final mix/master version of the file to save and move on to the next project. I’m working on a laptop DAW.

I want to apply to the stereo mix a hint of an exciter/enhancer type plug in, which I find adds a bit of sheen or air.

Also want to add a gentle midrange boost to the overall mix. Nothing dramatic, I’m not trying to do surgery at this point, the overall mix is good and individual tracks are EQ’d well. But overall the mix sounds a wee bit scooped, so I want to add some midrange.

Which should come first, exciter/enhancer or EQ? I’ll try it both ways for myself, of course. Just wondering whether there’s a general rule of thumb regarding the order of these two effects in a final mix.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[Waltz Mastering]

There's no standard, but I tend to put an eq before other processing.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I don't believe there's a general rule of thumb, you do what needs to be done how it needs to be done for that specific situation.

That said, though, my personal preference to try first is to not use an enhancer at all.

But if for some reason I would have to use one, my second preference is to put the enhancer last. I look at it literally; it's something meant to enhance an otherwise finished mix. If the enhancer messes something up to the point where it needs some corrective EQ, then either skip the enhancer, or go back and make the fixes in the mix before applying the enhancer.

Just one opinion, other folks may disagree. There is no perfect one size fits all answer.

G.

 

[fendorst]

my second preference is to put the enhancer last. I look at it literally; it's something meant to enhance an otherwise finished mix. If the enhancer messes something up to the point where it needs some corrective EQ, then either skip the enhancer, or go back and make the fixes in the mix before applying the enhancer.

thanks for both replies so far. my hunch was eq first, for the reason mentioned above.

i will revisit the individual tracks, specifically electric guitar and organ. i may have pulled the mids out of both thinking i was trying to leave room for the other. i may have gutted some mids on the bass track as well for the same reason, trying to leave room for the mid-range instruments.

at the moment, however, it's not the enhancer messing up anything. i've been evaluating the stereo mix on and off over several days, on KRK Rokit powered monitors and several home systems, and i'm comfortable the overall sound of the two-track final mix is slightly scooped in the midrange... BEFORE running it through any sound modifying effects.

best to fix individual tracks if that's where the problem lies. i very well may have overdone it trying to prevent a midrange snarl, so much so that i ended up in the opposite situation.

 

[NYMorningstar]

I like to use EQ and compression respectfully last in my processing chain because of the interaction of the two.