Types of EQ - do you use hardware or software EQ and why?

[TalismanRich]

As I see it, there's no hard and fast rule. When things start blending, you might find you need to make adjustments in the master. Its not a sin to sweeten a track at the end. Remember... if it sounds good, it is good.

 

[Eric V]

Thanks @TalismanRich .

 

[noah330]

Thinking about this, I would guess if you were in a commercial studio with an engineer and a separate control room, it is likely that the engineer would adjust the incoming signal to try to get things as close to the final sound as possible. You set up in the studio, he listens and makes adjustments as you play. Needed adjustments can be done quickly, and since you're listening to playback through the monitors, you are getting a proper representation of what the recorded sound really is.

In the typical home situation, you probably have the monitors in the same room as you are recording, so you're more likely to just track and then adjust things later. Otherwise you would be play.... back up and listen... adjust.... play.... back up... adjust... again and again. That's not a practical or efficient way of doing things.

Good points. I like to EQ going in because I try to get things as close to finished as I work, which is why I track through a console. Since any eq will change your signal's phase a little, I find leaving everything to the end can take a lot more time.

YMMV, there are no wrong ways to do things.

 

[Eric V]

Thanks @noah330

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Another question if I may, if I use EQ judiciously on a per-track basis, should I expect NOT to have to EQ the master track?

Under the best of circumstances, maybe. A proper mastering job will be done by a different engineer on different speakers in a different acoustic space. It's almost certain that he'll tweak it at least a little.

That said, I rarely use an eq on my whole mix for self-mastered recordings.

 

[Eric V]

Under the best of circumstances, maybe. A proper mastering job will be done by a different engineer on different speakers in a different acoustic space. It's almost certain that he'll tweak it at least a little.

That said, I rarely use an eq on my whole mix for self-mastered recordings.

Thank you @bouldersoundguy .

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Under the best of circumstances, maybe. A proper mastering job will be done by a different engineer on different speakers in a different acoustic space. It's almost certain that he'll tweak it at least a little.

That said, I rarely use an eq on my whole mix for self-mastered recordings.

Yeah, I think this is the right of it - a well recorded, well mixed track, you shouldn't feel like you HAVE to apply EQ to ther master bus to get it to sound better. If you feel like something's wrong, then it's almost always better to address that at the track level.

Whether or not a mastering engineer might then apply some EQ, either to balance song from track to track or do something corrective (or even just creative) to the whole thing, is a different matter. But, I think it's a reasonable goal to try to target having a mix that sounds great on its own, with nothing else on the master bus.

 

[Eric V]

Yeah, I think this is the right of it - a well recorded, well mixed track, you shouldn't feel like you HAVE to apply EQ to ther master bus to get it to sound better. If you feel like something's wrong, then it's almost always better to address that at the track level.

Whether or not a mastering engineer might then apply some EQ, either to balance song from track to track or do something corrective (or even just creative) to the whole thing, is a different matter. But, I think it's a reasonable goal to try to target having a mix that sounds great on its own, with nothing else on the master bus.

Thank you Drew.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Thank you Drew.

You're a very polite new member, haha. You're welcome.

 

[Eric V]

Well I broke down and bought Fab Filter Pro Q4. I'm learning a lot about how to use the GUI. I know that learning EQ techniques will take time and patience. But I'm having fun exploring what it can do, including using dynamic EQ. So much simpler than setting it up with ReaEQ, though ReaEQ is pretty cool in it's own right, considering that one is free.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I just used a bunch of instances of Pro Q4 on a mastering job I've been meaning to get to for way too many months.

 

[Eric V]

I have a question about sidechain EQ in Reaper using Fab Filter Pro Q4.

I can't find the button to click to let me use an input channel for the sidechain.

I know how to create the send, just not how to select the input.

 

[Papanate]

I have a question about sidechain EQ in Reaper using Fab Filter Pro Q4.

I can't find the button to click to let me use an input channel for the sidechain.

I know how to create the send, just not how to select the input.

Generally FabFilter - Cog Wheel - Plugin Cog Wheel - Processing - Stereo Side Chain - In the Drop Down Menu are your channels that you want to send to.

I know Logic so:

• Open Logic Pro ..
• Select your two audio tracks that we'll use as main track and side chain track..
• Select the main track and add Pro-Q 4 in the first Insert effect slot.
• Open FabFilter Pro-Q 4's interface and choose the 'Side Chain' item from the external spectrum list.
• In the right top corner of the plug-in interface header, in the 'Side Chain' menu, choose the side chain track. Now, the signal from the side chain track is sent to FabFilter Pro-Q 4's external side-chain input.

Reaper should be somewhat similar.

 

[Eric V]

Generally FabFilter - Cog Wheel - Plugin Cog Wheel - Processing - Stereo Side Chain - In the Drop Down Menu are your channels that you want to send to.

I know Logic so:

• Open Logic Pro ..
• Select your two audio tracks that we'll use as main track and side chain track..
• Select the main track and add Pro-Q 4 in the first Insert effect slot.
• Open FabFilter Pro-Q 4's interface and choose the 'Side Chain' item from the external spectrum list.
• In the right top corner of the plug-in interface header, in the 'Side Chain' menu, choose the side chain track. Now, the signal from the side chain track is sent to FabFilter Pro-Q 4's external side-chain input.

Reaper should be somewhat similar.

Thanks @Papanate

 

[Eric V]

The problem I have @Papanate or anyone, is that I don't see the Cog to begin the process:

 

[DrewPeterson7]

I have a question about sidechain EQ in Reaper using Fab Filter Pro Q4.

I can't find the button to click to let me use an input channel for the sidechain.

I know how to create the send, just not how to select the input.

Out of curiosity, why are you trying to sidechain an EQ?

 

[Eric V]

Out of curiosity, why are you trying to sidechain an EQ?

I'm just experimenting. Sometimes I want to duck certain frequencies. Like for ducking bass from the kick. I can do it using sidechain compression. Just experimenting like I mentioned.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

I'm just experimenting. Sometimes I want to duck certain frequencies. Like for ducking bass from the kick. I can do it using sidechain compression. Just experimenting like I mentioned.

I guess I'm all for experimenting... but I remember back in the day doing a TON of reading about this on the internet, particularly in the context of metal production, and going through a phase where I sidechained my bass off my kick on eveything... And it's probably been a solid decade since I've bothered to set up a sidechain on anything now. Actually, that's a lie, did it for a video a while back where I had two mics running, one to talk into, and a second on my acoustic guitar, and I used a sidechain to absolutely busy the vocal mic whenever I so much a strummed a chord on the acoustic, and then trimmed thge acoustic mic to JUST the sections where I was playing, to effectively zero out bleed from the "speech" mic into the recording.

But, it's stuff like that, really, these days. I spend a lot more time on just getting the balance between the two right so they fit together in the mix without having to do anything dynamic to get them to gel, and that would be sort of a last resort.

 

[Eric V]

I guess I'm all for experimenting... but I remember back in the day doing a TON of reading about this on the internet, particularly in the context of metal production, and going through a phase where I sidechained my bass off my kick on eveything... And it's probably been a solid decade since I've bothered to set up a sidechain on anything now. Actually, that's a lie, did it for a video a while back where I had two mics running, one to talk into, and a second on my acoustic guitar, and I used a sidechain to absolutely busy the vocal mic whenever I so much a strummed a chord on the acoustic, and then trimmed thge acoustic mic to JUST the sections where I was playing, to effectively zero out bleed from the "speech" mic into the recording.

But, it's stuff like that, really, these days. I spend a lot more time on just getting the balance between the two right so they fit together in the mix without having to do anything dynamic to get them to gel, and that would be sort of a last resort.

Awesome insight Drew, thanks for taking the time to reply with your experiences.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

The most used EQ for me is the standard 7 band EQ in Protools. It goes in the first plugin slot on almost every channel. High pass, low pass and phase are all controlled here. I add other EQ after or not.