frequency eq question

I

ikon

New member
ok im not going to ask for presets or none of that stuff.....what im curious about is....if i was going to try and learn to master myself (just for personal use and to learn more about it) and i wanted to eq a track that was fully mixed together, what do the diff frequencies do? like start from the low end to the high end what frequencys usually effect what? I figured this would be a good way for some of us to learn this a little more about eq's and maybe see what the overall perception difference from the diff engineers are.
 
ikon said:
ok im not going to ask for presets or none of that stuff.....what im curious about is....if i was going to try and learn to master myself (just for personal use and to learn more about it) and i wanted to eq a track that was fully mixed together, what do the diff frequencies do? like start from the low end to the high end what frequencys usually effect what? I figured this would be a good way for some of us to learn this a little more about eq's and maybe see what the overall perception difference from the diff engineers are.
Click to expand...

You need to master the fundemental frequencies of each instrument on individual tracks before you think about mastering your own music.
When you start eqing mixed songs you are not only affecting the the ballance of the music. You are also bringing different instruments or groups of instruments in and out of the mix more. You could also be adding an unflattering frequency to a track by trying to bring another track forward.
Mastering involves alot of compramise. The better the underlaying mix the less compromise involved.

I would recommend two books to you.

"The recording engineers hand book" and even more so "mastering audio the art and the science" by Bob Katz.

Both books have what you are looking for. Mastering audio is actually a good follow up to the recording engineers hand book.

One thing to keep in mind is that planning to fix a song in mastering is a huge mistake. Underlying problems in mixes often get much worse when trying to bring an unmastered song to reasonable volume levels.


Good luck.

F.S.
 
ikon said:
... what do the diff frequencies do? ...
Click to expand...
In addition to what Freudian Slip has laid out, this is exactly the place to start.
Select a parametric eq set for peak/dip about an octave wide. Start with some easily noticeable boosts, pop it in and out of bypass as you note the different frequencies. Try wide gentle boost and cuts, and at some point switch to shelving eq's. Find a track with a good hump you can hear. Drums, with their resonance points are a great example. (Narrow q' fun...

As to practicing and experimenting with single tracks or mixes, do some of both.
A few other things; you will find that the different eq types and frequencies apply fairly universally to just about all the signals. And it's offten more effective to fix a mix by going back to the source tracks.

Build on it...:D First thing you know you'll be zeroing in on it in a few moves.
 
One has to learn what the different frequencies actually sound like.

Along very similar lines to what mixsit said, but with a slightly different tool, I'd recommend sitting down with your individual instrument tracks as well as some complete mixes, and running them throught a 1/3rd (preferably) or 2/3rd octave graphic EQ. Set all the bands to zero boost/cut to start out and then while playing back the various tracks take one frequency at a time on the EQ and boost/cut it back and forth slowly. Listen - and I mean *listen* - while doing this to learn just what each frequency/frequency range actually sounds like.

Take a half hour a night for a week doing this and at the end of the week you should be pretty well on your way.

G.
 
this is all very helpfull....appreciate it alot...thanks. and if anyone else would liek to add please feel free to do so.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
One has to learn what the different frequencies actually sound like.

Along very similar lines to what mixsit said, but with a slightly different tool, I'd recommend sitting down with your individual instrument tracks as well as some complete mixes, and running them throught a 1/3rd (preferably) or 2/3rd octave graphic EQ. Set all the bands to zero boost/cut to start out and then while playing back the various tracks take one frequency at a time on the EQ and boost/cut it back and forth slowly. Listen - and I mean *listen* - while doing this to learn just what each frequency/frequency range actually sounds like.

Take a half hour a night for a week doing this and at the end of the week you should be pretty well on your way.

G.
Click to expand...

And you DIDN'T recommend your online interactive freq chart?!?!?!?!?!
 
i got his frequency chart lol........im just trying to maie sure i get as much info as possible
 
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