Sweeping the mids for the "loudest" frequency

[Simmons]

Below is an excerpt from an article someone wrote about their EQing process:

"Use a sweep mid band, and jack up the Q (i.e. narrow the bandwidth) for that band almost all the way up. Sweep the frequency until you find the point at which that signal is loudest. This is the characteristic frequency for this signal. Back off on the Q to zero, and then notch the signal up just enough that you can see a couple of decibels of peak level gain."

In case you want to read the rest of the article:
http://www.beatmaka.com/v2/features...-16-1414&SID=e291ce6140eaf6d2625bea9a5750b8f4

I understand everything except, "Sweep the frequency until you find the point at which that signal is loudest". In determining the "loudness", do you think he's looking at a spectral frequency analyzer or is he just talking about perceived loudness. I tried doing this with an acoustic guitar track and all of the frequencies that I swept through had the same apparent loudness. I couldn't really tell a difference in loudness from any particular frequency to the next. Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks,
Simmons

 

[Drummerbones]

I wouldn't call it loudness, rather than sticking out. When sweeping through, usually there's a "sweet spot" that the track leans toward, frequency-wise. I use this technique in reverse a lot. On noisy tracks, it's easy to narrow the Q on the high-end EQ, boost it, and sweep through to find the frequency generating tape hiss, or whatever....then notch it out. But it works both ways.

 

[TexRoadkill]

The loudest frequency would be the one that causes the level meter to peak the highest. Unfortunately it will only tell you what frequency is the strongest for that point in time and even then, so what?

What are you trying to do?

 

[gorbyrun]

This article is giving very general tips and isn't amazingly clear. I think he assumes you can hear things he's been trained to hear. Instruments each have their own "special" frequencies... harmonic and such which I think he forgets you learn to identify with practice (and a chart ). Using a eq "spike" to find important frequencies that need cut/boosted is a usefull technique. But you shouldn't eq if you don't have a reason to do it. In general he is describing how to use eq to "force" things into their own frequency range tightly so you can hear each instrument more clearly. However, I would add that this is "fixing it in the mix" and it is better not to have to do this. He mentions having a "good analog" eq... in other words (BIG MONEY)... with most home recording systems, the eq is not nearly as good as the one he's using. It's much better to use mic placement instead of eq if at all possible.