subtractive eq'ing technique

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mindsound

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Hi folks,

As I had a conversation today on this forum about eq'ing questions, I thought of letting you know that I posted on my blog 2 articles (there is a third coming next week) about subtractive eq'ing techniques. Humbly, I hope it may help some of you who are seeking more infos. on that subject. I know I approach it (at least for some parts) with a somewhat different angle.
So if you feel you need to know more in that domain, you are more than welcome at Mixing For The Indie Recording Musician.

As always, if it helps, I'm happy.
 
taking away bad frequencies, is ALWAYS better than adding more frequencies around the bad, to try to counter.


and it's always better to try to capture the sound source with NO eq.... rather, use a smart combination of choice of mic, placement, and a good acoustic environment.
 
GONZO-X said:
taking away bad frequencies, is ALWAYS better than adding more frequencies around the bad, to try to counter.
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That's exactly why I wrote this series of articles. To those in their home recording setups who may not know about that or want to have more clues about subtractive eq,ing techniques.
 
mindsound said:
That's exactly why I wrote this series of articles. To those in their home recording setups who may not know about that or want to have more clues about subtractive eq,ing techniques.
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You best not be spamming this site bro......

Just saying.
 
No disrespect intended mindsound, but if you're going to write a recording blog, in English, you should get someone to copywrite and/or proofread it for you.
 
For that matters, whatever the range, It is not for we's to judge him....:)
 
Just sharing with the best intentions guys....and yes, my English is far from being perfect....but if I can help someone, somewhere, I'm glad doing it.
 
And no, I don't have a mixing book or online tutorial for sell. :)
 
mindsound said:
my English is far from being perfect....
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Nothing wrong with that if it's not your first language.

But I don't think Armistice was being sarcastic or mean. It was good advice. Next time you put something like that together, I'm sure you could find someone, even online, that would be glad to proof-read it and make the corrections that would help give your article more credibility. Unfortunately, even if your advice is fantastic, grammar is important as part of the presentation.
 
RAMI said:
I'm sure you could find someone, even online, that would be glad to proof-read it and make the corrections that would help give your article more credibility.
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Hey Mindsound, I'm sure you can edit your blog posts, right? I'd be more than willing to make corrections for you if you copy that text into a Word doc and send it to me! I actually enjoy copy editing. :eek:
Send me a PM if you'd like.
 
Exactly - I wasn't having a swing at you at all, but it's clear that English isn't your first language - I think it's good you're doing this stuff but trust me, you'll get a better response if you can get some of the grammatical stuff ironed out, and there are plenty of helpful people who'll help you - it's not a big step from where you now are to fully correct English.

I build business websites for a living so I have a bit of a "thing" about this type of stuff and I'm forever correcting other people's (in the business I work in) lame attempts at writing web content ... I'd offer myself but I'm a tad busy at the moment, and look, sixer has already offered anyway...

You're making new friends and colleagues already.. that's what it's all about.:laughings:

Keep it up! :thumbs up:

I hope Steen doesn't find this thread... he reckons I'm always volunteering the services of others round here... :D
 
Thanks very much Sixer. It's a very kind and generous offer. I'll pm you....hopping that we'll talk more about eq'ing techniques in this thread afterward.

Armistice...I totally get your point and not feeling offended by your recommendations. And thanks also for your good intention (to help me).
Helping someone who help someone else...sounds really cool to me!
 
Awesome read mindsound! I will use your recommendations from the blog in my upcoming mixes, it's all very helpful, especially for my eq issue... :rolleyes: I'll keep checking your blog for more updates!
 
Thank you mindsound, this is very helpful! I look forward to your next post on shelving eq techniques!
 
To lemonaid and nightman 77.....so glad the article helps you! There was a time where I was looking for that kind of infos. and finally found it the hard way. So now, I'm very happy to give it to you.
and thanks for your interest for my blog.
 
Your tips are good....though I have to say, everyone works a little differently. :)

I actually prefer to sweep in solo with a boost in order to find the area that is the most offensive for a given track and frequency range.
Yes, with a boost, all of the frequencies can sound nasty, but if you really listen, it's easy to pick out the area that is the worst.
The trick is to find the right amount of boost to apply when sweeping a given track and EQ range. Too little, and it's hard to notice what is bad...too much and it's all bad.

Once that is identified, then I will cut conservatively by 2-5dB...and then listen in context of the whole mix.
Then adjust that cut to taste.

The problem with trying to find a specifc frequency for one track within in the context of a full mix going on is that there's well...a lot going on!
While you can eventually find it that way, I think it's much faster doing the sweep in solo.
After that, adjusting the amount of cut within the context of the full mix is easy to do.
 
miroslav said:
I actually prefer to sweep in solo with a boost in order to find the area that is the most offensive for a given track and frequency range.
Yes, with a boost, all of the frequencies can sound nasty, but if you really listen, it's easy to pick out the area that is the worst.
The trick is to find the right amount of boost to apply when sweeping a given track and EQ range. Too little, and it's hard to notice what is bad...too much and it's all bad.
Click to expand...
I agree. That's how I do it. But I find that there's never too much boost when doing it this way. Like you said, everything will sound nasty to a certain extent, but the really offending frequencies will whistle and howl REALLY loud and stand out.
 
Both ways will work...it's all about what you get use to working.
I'll also EQ with the full mix playing...but I always use the solo/boost/sweep as the initial starting point as it's very quick and easy to find what you are looking for, you just learn how to listen through all the over-exxagerated tones, and like you say....there is always one area that will just stick out above the rest.

When I can't quite decide between more than one area to EQ, I'll ride the frequency knob with one hand and the boost knob with the other. For me, riding the boost up/down slightly can help when there's some doubt which to pick.
 
miroslav said:
When I can't quite decide between more than one area to EQ, I'll ride the frequency knob with one hand and the boost knob with the other. For me, riding the boost up/down slightly can help when there's some doubt which to pick.
Click to expand...
Never tried that. Might be cool. Though, what I do if I have 2 frequencies that are close but not that close, is I'll decide between cutting them both separately with a narrow Q on each of them. Or, just making a wider Q and get them both with one cut.

For example, let's say 225hz and 275hz both ring, if the frquencies between them are fine, I'll just cut them each separately with a narrow Q on each. But if the frequencies between them are also a little woofy, I'll just make a large Q and cut at 250hz.
 
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