What do id do with the rest of the eq bands after i dial in the suggested ones

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Chris Jahn

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Im a little new to digital recording, but ive been on the other end of the studio for years, so most of it is pretty natural. Ive been looking at books, on line and everywere for a simple answer, but i cant find one. I dial in most of my sounds witht the 31 band graphic EQ in logic. this is fine when working by "ear". but when i use suggested settings in the books ive been using, it helps and the suggestions make sense, but it leaves a bunch of the settings left at zero and it doesnt seem right.

So, what am i doing with the rest of the bands, and is there a site or a book that gives all encompassing settings.

For instance, if i cut 100-125 hz 3db and boost 400-800 khz 2db to get a certain sound (im just making this up, its not a real setting for anything) What am i doing with the other 25 or so bands of eq left at zero?
 
You don't have to do anything with them. If your ears are telling you it sounds good only moving two or three bands then leave it at that. I frequently use a 7 band eq and rarely use all seven bands, in fact sometimes I just roll off the low end cut a frequency and leave everything else alone. It all really just depends on what the source wants. I also highly doubt you'd ever really need to use 31 bands, I dealt with 4 for a long time and as I said 7 sometimes is too much.
 
You should also read about and start using a parametric eq. Graphic eqs are limited, and generally meant for live applications. Parametrics are much more flexible - you can pick an exact frequency (not a fixed one like with a graphic) and its "q" (the amount of frequencies on either side of the center point that can be affected).
 
Chris Jahn said:
For instance, if i cut 100-125 hz 3db and boost 400-800 khz 2db to get a certain sound (im just making this up, its not a real setting for anything) What am i doing with the other 25 or so bands of eq left at zero?
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You're leaving them right where they are. Why change them if they don't need to be changed?
You changed the frequences in your example for what reason? Because you needed to change them to make the song sound better. That's the same reason you DON'T change certain frequencies. Because you want the song to sound the best possible. If that means not moving one fader or slider, then so be it.
 
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You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to TravisinFlorida again.
:D :D :D
 
Chris Jahn said:
For instance, if i cut 100-125 hz 3db and boost 400-800 khz 2db to get a certain sound (im just making this up, its not a real setting for anything) What am i doing with the other 25 or so bands of eq left at zero?
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You answered your own question, really. You dialed in those settings *for a reason*, to get a certain sound. Once you have that sound that's it, leave the rest alone unless or until you *need* to make a change to get another certain sound.

The only time any EQ should ever be applied is out of necessity. Any sliders that do not need to be touched should be left at zero.
Chris Jahn said:
this is fine when working by "ear". but when i use suggested settings in the books ive been using, it helps and the suggestions make sense, but it leaves a bunch of the settings left at zero
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When you read about certain settings, take them in the spirit of *general guidelines* or as possibilities that can often work but are not always right on. Do not consider them like baking recipies that have to be followed by the letter or even as recipies that will always work. Your ear needs to be the final judge as to what you need to do and what you don't. This is just as true with EQ as it is with reverb or compression.

What I'd recommend is that you spend a couple of nights with your 31-band and a few CDs of varying flavor or content. Spend an hour a night for a few nights just playing back those CDs, and playing with your EQ. Start with all bands at zero. As the songs play, start with the lowest band only, slind it up and down while listening and get a tasted for the *qualities* of the sounds that are affected by that slider; what do the sounds affected by that slider sound like? Then put that slider back to zero and move to the next slider and repeat the process.

Just a few nights of this and you'll be a long way towards understanding what frequencies represent what sounds and what tonal qualities. Keep up that "ear training" and EQing by ear, and before you know it, you'll be able to throw those book recipies in the recycle bin. :)

G.
 
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TravisinFlorida said:
use the rest to draw the shape of a woman's breasts.
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I need more bands. :D

I didn't read all the way through Glen's response (he's so verbose ;-), so apologies if this was said, but really - your goal should be to use as little eq as possible, which means using the right mic and placement. If you perfect that, you'll have 31 bands left over. I also concur that parametric eq's are much more useful for recording/mixing, though a little less intuitive than a graphic.
 
Robert D said:
I didn't read all the way through Glen's response (he's so verbose ;-),
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Sorry, Rob, I was born before MTV, before ADD, before before style became more important than content, and before people forgot how to both read and speak in full thoughts and sentences ;) :D.

If you want the ten seconds that it takes to read that "verbose" post, you can have twelve of mine ;).

G.
 
Actually, that was a short one for you, which I read right after I said I didn't read it. Stellar advice, as always. :) My problem isn't ADD, it's WORK.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Sorry, Rob, I was born before MTV, before ADD, before before style became more important than content, and before people forgot how to both read and speak in full thoughts and sentences ;) :D.

If you want the ten seconds that it takes to read that "verbose" post, you can have twelve of mine ;).

G.
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Ah.you lost me after "Sorry"....You need to learn how to edit yourself once in a while.....:D:D:D
 
Robert D said:
Actually, that was a short one for you, which I read right after I said I didn't read it. Stellar advice, as always. :) My problem isn't ADD, it's WORK.
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Heh heh, I thought that might have been a factor.

And for you and Rami, I do realize there is one big advantage to keeping letter writing short: if they had kept the letters as short in the Civil War as they do on the Internet, then modern Ken Burns documentaries would only be 15 minutes long! :D ;)

And, just because this post isn't long enough, let me add the Internet post version of the Declaration of Independance:

"yo peeps: we're outta here. - John"

:D

G.
 
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"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to SouthSIDE Glen again."

:D
 
Southside,

As hard as this may seem for you to grasp ... sometimes people have more important things to do than read through your dissertations on quantum physics and the meaning of life.

.
 
chessrock said:
Southside,

As hard as this may seem for you to grasp ... sometimes people have more important things to do than read through your dissertations on quantum physics and the meaning of life.

.
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Coward,

As hard as this may seem for you to grasp ... nobody gives a rat's ass what an anonymous sales copy boy has to say about anything. Don't you have a Snickers commercial to pull?

And don't give me that bullshit about physics and philosophy. That "verbose" post above takes only 10 stinking seconds to read, and explains a simple training procedure that possibly even you might understand. Anyone who is too lazy to bother to read something that short and that simple deserves to be left behind. You wasted far more time creating your useless post chiding me, and didn't help anyone out doing it.

G.
 
Well, I for one just want to make it clear I was joking about your "verbose-ness". I learn alot from you here. I also have learned alot from Chess, Ford Van, Massive, Legion, Masteringhouse, Harvey, etc....and on and on. Y'all just have different ways of putting it across.
 
RAMI said:
Well, I for one just want to make it clear I was joking about your "verbose-ness".
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Yeah, I know, Rami. Which is why I joked back at you and RobD. No problem. :)

G.
 
Is it just me, or does it seem like Chessrock is getting more confrontational lately?

Regarding the original topic, use a parametric eq instead of a graphic for what you are doing. Use only the number of bands you need in order to create the sound you are looking for. In other words, start with one band and then add them as necessary.

I'm just curious if anyone knows the answer to this: In a graphic eq plugin, are the bands that are set to zero disabled or still active? In other words are they bypassed at zero, with no processing occurring, or are they still active and processing the audio, but at no change?
 
SonicAlbert said:
I'm just curious if anyone knows the answer to this: In a graphic eq plugin, are the bands that are set to zero disabled or still active?
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Al,

In a plugin it really should not matter, I wouldn't think. First, we're just talking changing digital bit values - or actually, in this case, leaving them alone. It's not like analog where there's extra signal path to affect the audio quality. As ling as the ones and zeros come out the same way they go in, everything else is academic.

Second - though I admit I'm a bit less sure about this one - whether or not the software "bypasses" the EQ procedure module when set to zero in and of itself should have no real effect on internal phase or latency inside the plug itself...at least if it's designed properly. The software should traffic cop the data the same way either way, I would think.

G.
 
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