I got no treble - should I record through EQ?

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jim01

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When I recording only through preamp or directly to soundcard, the tracks don't have much treble. The only ay to match the treble level to midi or sounfont drums is to raise all recorded tracks treble EQ by almost 12db. Is this normal or should I be recording through EQ audjusted top add some high frequencies.
I am very confused about this, it'll be great if anyone can give me some tips
Thanks Jim
 
what kind of mic/pre/sound card are you using? it sounds to me like EQ is not your problem, maybe its time to start upgrading your equipment?
 
Yeah. That's a bunch.
And even if you do eq, maybe it'd be better to pull out what's too much?
 
I use soundblaster live! I did try to record music from CD and the treble was normal so I think eqipmnet works ok. It's just that everything I record simply done't match the top end of any drum sound fonts I use and I don't know why it works like this. Once O recorded with real drums treble were leved with everything just fine.
Thanks!
 
There's no difference tracking with EQ or adding it later, but if you add later you can adjust the level so I wouldn't change anything there.

12dB is waaaaay too much of a boost though. The absolute maximium you should usually need to boost something is around 6dB, usually I try and not go over 3-4dB when boosting. Any more than that and you need to look elsewhere, at your tracking technique or your gear choices. Soundblasters are not made for serious recording although I don't know if they're that bad you'd feel the need to boost any area of frequencies by 12dB.

What is it you're recording, drums? How are you recording them, what mics, pres etc? How is it all routed? And what are you using for eq?

Expand a bit more on your set up and your recording chain.

If you try and solve the problem with eq it's not going to sound good, eq is a tool for subtley shaping sounds, it's not going to turn a crappy sound into a good sound.
 
check your cables :)
seriosuly a bad cheap cable can ruin everything
 
Kevin DeSchwazi said:
There's no difference tracking with EQ or adding it later....
Click to expand...

That's not true. Adding high-end to a recorded signal will also increase the noise of the source signal, be it digital or analog. EQ'ing before going to tape/hard disk is preferable in my opinion as you won't be enhancing the noise of the recording medium.

Also, I, for one, actually CRANK the high-end on many sources (keyboards, samplers, drum machines) by up to +15 dB before committing the signal to hard-disk. I DON'T do this for my mics, however. I'm not the only one I know who does this too, btw. Need that high-end. Gotta have that clarity, even though it weakens the signal-to-noise ratio.

I'm sure others will disagree with the above. In fact, I'm looking forward to see if ANYONE steps up and admits they do the same thing!

Honestly yours,

Daryle
 
No, recording real drums isn't a problem. it's with drums when I use soundfonts. Any drum soundfonts I get of the Net. They're just too bright to match the resot of my recordings so I have to bring everything up or bring the drums down which makes them sound dull.
Thanks
 
daryle_ackerman said:
That's not true. Adding high-end to a recorded signal will also increase the noise of the source signal, be it digital or analog. EQ'ing before going to tape/hard disk is preferable in my opinion as you won't be enhancing the noise of the recording medium.
Click to expand...
I don't understand this. (I'm not saying it's incorrect I just don't understand it).

If you're boosting eq while tracking how is that eq not adding noise to the source signal? Surely eq increases gain and so increases noise regardless of where in the chain it's applied?

I don't mean any disrespect, it's highly likely I've misinterpreted what you're saying. :D

As I said what's done while tracking can't be undone and I think that's a big issue for those of us that are less experienced. Not so much of an issue if you're experienced and you know your gear I guess.
 
jim01 said:
No, recording real drums isn't a problem. it's with drums when I use soundfonts. Any drum soundfonts I get of the Net. They're just too bright to match the resot of my recordings so I have to bring everything up or bring the drums down which makes them sound dull.
Thanks
Click to expand...
It has to be either your mic, mic preamp, or source that is dull sounding. I create drum samples and I use mic techniques that you couldn't use in a live situation to achieve the sounds that I do. Those sound fonts could be a little over-hyped and your signal chain could be a little dull. The difference between the two could be deceiving.
 
Kevin DeSchwazi said:
If you're boosting eq while tracking how is that eq not adding noise to the source signal?
Click to expand...


It is adding noise. But doing the same boost *after* recording also boosts the noise of the recorded medium. Granted this is probably a way bigger problem when using an analog rather than a digital medium, but it's still there.

Hope that clears it up.
 
If you are talking about analog tape, I can see that. I made the mistake of not adding highs to a kick drum on the way in. When I went to mix (I wanted a clicky kick sound) the tape hiss was terrible. The next time, I addes the highs on the way to tape. That got me a better click to hiss ratio.

I have not had this problem with digital.
 
daryle_ackerman said:
It is adding noise. But doing the same boost *after* recording also boosts the noise of the recorded medium. Granted this is probably a way bigger problem when using an analog rather than a digital medium, but it's still there.

Hope that clears it up.
Click to expand...
Ah I see, thanks for clarifying.
 
jim01 said:
No, recording real drums isn't a problem. it's with drums when I use soundfonts. Any drum soundfonts I get of the Net. They're just too bright to match the resot of my recordings so I have to bring everything up or bring the drums down which makes them sound dull.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Maybe do both? A cut on the samples and a boost on your recordings. 12dB EQ really creates a lot of nastiness even with quality eq's
 
Yes. That's what I've been doing. Cutting 8db from soundfont drums, that worked. Or boosted the rest of tracks while leaving the drums as they were.
The only track never needs any EQ is Vocals, I think it's because I use the highest "going in" compression on vocals and it pulls the treble out enough. Otherwise cables and all that are ok.
I did try gong in through harware EQ boosting by 5 db. That was the best of all.
But once recorded it can't be removed so I'm not sure if it is a good idea though some here mentioned that it's ok. What pro studios do?
By the way using the hardware EQ gives me way much better quality sound than using EQ plugins. That is another think I can't understand. What's wrong with software, it doesn't sound as good as hardware. I noticed that with compressors, reverbs, you name it. Any ideas?
Anyway tanks for the past suggestions...
 
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