mixerphobia

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malgovert

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Any tips out there for beginners wandering aimlessly in the vast EQ jungle - is it best to start out using presets and suggested settings for suggested instruments from books? Often it seems to come out crappier than it went in - not so much 'sparkling' as 'tinny', less 'full' than 'boomy' -Just how does one get to grips with this? Cheers - Malgo
 
just mess around..play with the 'presets'..use your ears, thats what I ultimately comes down to.
 
Yo Malgo:]

I seldom mess with the EQ on my md-8 until I MIX DOWN. Then, I might want to funk-up the bass line so I'll lower the hi on that track and raise the low a bit and fool around with the other dials.

I record via the over-dubbing method, so I use one track for one sound. To get started, I usually do the chords and the drum track, each one to a separate track. Drums seldom require any EQ adjustment, unless you get into some reverb room that requires a touch of EQ.

If you're singing and playing your guitar, do the guitar first, [w/drums? on another track] and then do the vocal last, on a separate track; then, when you mix, you can tinker with EQ to see what you like. Try to mix from your monitors rather than your headset as the headset environmnet is always a nice sounding place, unless you use inferior head-phones like some people do who comment about Beyer headphones. HA.

Green Hornet
 
Make sure whatever's going tape sounds good at the source first, BEFORE adding any EQ.... Use the proper mic, proper positioning, proper levels, then only if you have to - reach for the EQ....

HOWEVER, that being said - the rule is, whatever sounds good is good... the tricky part there is learning what sounds good to you AND everyone else as well!

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound

[Edited by bvaleria on 09-12-2000 at 11:05]
 
It's really helpful to train the ear on the different frequencies. It's a lot easier to use EQ when you know what you want to adjust is, say, in the 1-2k range than it is to play around somewhat randomly. A technique I used is to set a tight band (high Q setting), boost it like 10dB (that's a lot), and then sweep it around and listen to the exaggeration of different frequencies. This is an ongoing learning process for me, I don't claim to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

There's some vocabulary that you should spend some time learning, if you aren't already familiar with it. Frequency (in Hz) and decibels (dB) are your main parameters. The better you know them, the easier they are to use. Understanding the different types of EQ (parametric, shelving, high-pass/low-pass filters, graphic) helps in understanding overall EQ concepts. I found it to be a lot to absorb. I re-read things a half-dozen times and pick more each time I do. I was just plain dizzy when I first started to learn about it.

There's some good articles on prorec, and I'm pretty sure Ed has at least one on the main homerecording.com page. You can always find a lot by searching the forums here. Playin' with it is the best thing to do, of course.

In practical use, there's a few things I've learned the hard way:

* Listening to something with heavy EQ for an extended period will cause your ears to "get used to" the adjustments. You're brain will compensate for it, causing you to hear "normal" mixes all wrong. It's weird going back the next day and it doesn't sound remotely the same as the night before. Be sure to take breaks and occasionally check your ears with other reference material you know well.

* Things sound radically different solo'ed than they do in the mix. I think it's best to EQ with everything in the mix, since that's what you'll be hearing in the end.

* Cut as well as boost. Sometimes it's better to remove unwanted frequencies rather than just accent the ones you want.

* A little goes a long way. It's easy to over do it.

* They give you the ability to cut and boost a LOT for a reason. Sometimes subtlety isn't what you're after.

* No rules, it's your sound.

[Edited by pglewis on 09-12-2000 at 11:44]
 
Most instruments have considerably more energy in certain frequency bands than in others,and getting familiar with where most of a particular instrument's sound is happening is a good way to start learning to fine tune a mix.For example,instead of pushing the channel fader higher on the kick drum,nudge 60hz up a couple db while rolling off from 5khz on up.This gives you more of why the kick drum is in the mix in the 1st place w/o stepping on other sounds too much.You can go the other way,too: you can carve some of the 1-2khz out of a rythm guitar so that the part it's playing is intelligible without it overpowering the vocal.
 
Thanks very much for the time and effort you all put into these responses - I have been locked in an upstairs room ever since sweeping my parametric - not entirely true - but I have put together a first mix of sorts - i also see the importance of recording at source - clearly proper levels and miking techniques and the rest are crucial from the outset - and I have acquired a number of books and articles on the subject of eq - including the Musician's guide to Home Recording, which I understand is pretty highly rated... thanks again. malgo.
 
Just to expand a point that PGLewis made... cut and boost, but always trying cutting before boosting. Boosting frequencies, especially on anything less than 100K+++ consoles will *always* add some phase shift, causing comb-filtering anomalies which can easily mess up your sound...

Better to trim out what you don't need out, instead of keeping the crap but boosting the good stuff!

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
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