noisewreck said:
A while back, I had read so much about "cut, don't boost" that I was really tentative about using EQ. Then I read some articles, rants, and what have you by pro engineers that know their stuff, including their EQ settings and realised they weren't shy about boosting at all! And some were pretty heavy handed with it too!
I have always thought that "cut, don't boost" was one of those oversimplified, erroneous translations made by the general masses of what was actually being said. It's right up there with those who read some multi-line compression technique for vocals (or whatever) and, after only remembering the compression ratio, they derive this false rule that says "Joe Professional says to compress vocals by such and such a ratio", when that's not really what he said at all.
I think there are two far truer statements about EQ that often get said by the Big Boys in one form or another that get misinterpreted:
"Cut, don't boost" I think is far more accurately stated as "boost to make something sound artificially better, cut to make something sound naturally better." There are exceptions to this, of course, but it's actually a pretty good general rule of thumb that works much of the time IME. It just gets corrupted into "cut, don't boost" by those who equate natural to good and artifical to bad.
"Go easy on the EQ" is one that's often broken by the Big Boys, because that "axiom" is another overgeneralization and mistranslation of the real advice. That real advice usually falls somewhere along the lines of "(unless you're doing for some real synthetic sound), it's best to try and keep EQing to a minimum. For that reason, try to put yourself in a position where you don't need a lot of EQ."
Or put another way, "don't plan on or count on large EQ in mixing or mastering to get you out of a large jam you got into in tracking."
noisewreck said:
So... the only "rule" one should follow from this is this: Don't use canned settings, use your ears and do what you think is needed.
I agree totally, though I think there's an even more fundamental rule underneath that...
"You can't EQ (or even mix) well until you get your ears trained to understand exactly what you are hearing that you shouldn't be and what you are not hearing that you should."
G.
Are you a chef, Glen?
. I only dabble in it a bit. I do make the best damn Jambalya this side of the French Quarter, though; I guarantee you unlike any other you've tasted.
