When EQing, How Do You Know When To Lop Off & Where To Reduce?

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Robertt8

Robertt8

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Okay, I know there's probably not a set number for these sorts of things, but when I'm EQing...say bass, guitar or vocals, how do I know (roughly) where to lop off the extreme lows and highs, and where do I just reduce them? I mean, my stuff is coming out pretty muddy, and I think I've been offered a few great ideas, but is there a good rule of thumb for when to literally cut the highs and lows? Or how do I know if I just need to reduce them?

By the way, here's a couple ideas or charts I've recently been shown that look like they might help, but I'm not sure if I should lop off or reduce...

Kick: 30-80hz
Snare: 80-200hz
Toms: 70-100hz
Overheads: 40-200hz
Bass: 30-70hz
Guitars: 80-120hz
Keyboards/Synths: 30-150hz
Vocals: 70-200hz
Horns: 100-200hz
Full Mix: 20-40hz


Also, I was given this that I'm dying to try...although, with this method, it's suggesting that I high and low pass filter it which I believe means to completely lop it off...(right?)

1. Set EVERY channel eq to ditch 6 dB one octave wide at 315 hz

2. Run a hi pass filter up each and every channel till you HEAR it changing something, then back it off a tiny bit

3. Run a lowpass filter down each and every channel until you HEAR it changing something then back it off a tiny bit

4. Sweep the eq that you set to 315hz of each track down to about 180hz and up to about 450hz
 
That frequency area around 315hz isn't all bad. I know your mix will sound clearer when you take a bit out of it, but it will also sound totally hollow if you reduce it too much.

Can you upload one of your mixes here so we can hear how it sounds? If the mix is obviously "muddy", you might want to fix as much as you can in the recording phases instead of trying to "fix it in the mix", as it's often referred.

Also, knowing more about the genre might help me to help you out a bit. Obviously, the differences between the instrumentation between punk and jazz albums are going to lead to much different sets of advice from the readers here.
 
Robert-
The list on the top would be rough place to start rolling off the bass. Again, it's a rough place to start. For example, I may have the cutoff higher on certain guitar parts to make room for the body of another instrument or vocal.

That other comment, "-6db at 315hz..." seems kinda crazy as a rule. I think I'm starting to understand the concept described; to move all the notches around to make room for each instrument, but I think the -6db is a bit much. The more I think about it, the more I want to experiment with it. :-)

BTW, any new songs lately?
 
RYANLIKESTOROCK: Hey! Thanks for responding...You can hear some of my crap at...

http://bob.birdsallinteractive.com/
Songs 1-3 will give you the best idea.



CARYINDY: Good to hear from you! I'm not sure last time we talked, but song 01. off of my site mentioned above is my newest. I'm not sure if you've heard that or not, but that's about as new as I've recorded...by the way, That suggestion was given by a guy named Pipline off of the recordingproject.com forum...here's his entire post...

+++++++++++++++
For some fun lets play "mix by numbers: an electronic approach " from the popular book " How to record by reading the back of cereal boxes" by Jack Ortman...hey it works for roger nichols, give it a try and you may be able to make SOME of this work for you:

1. Set EVERY channel eq to ditch 6 dB one octave wide at 315 hz

2. Run a hi pass filter up each and every channel till you HEAR it changing something, then back it off a tiny bit

3. Run a lowpass filter down each and every channel until you HEAR it changing something then back it off a tiny bit

4. Sweep the eq that you set to 315hz of each track down to about 180hz and up to about 450hz

somewhere in there youll have a much cleaner mix, now your job is to go back and make it not as anemic. Or just remember the tracks that this experiment did something GOOD on and apply that to your previous mix

cant hurt to try
+++++++++++++++
 
Yo Roberto:

I kind of like uncomplicated mixing. So, if you have decent monitors, listen to your tracks -- pan some tracks left/right just to hear what's coming through. Then, adjust, as you have a cold one.

Like, if the vocal sounds cool, why bother with EQ? I sometimes tip up EQ on my drum tracks so I can get a clearer cymbal sound; but, since I use a drum machine, I don't need to monkey with that very much. My drum machine has about ten abience settings and I don't need to EQ.

If your ears are happy before you do the stereo tracks for CD, have another cold one.

Green Hornet:D :cool: :p :cool:
 
yeah, unfortunately i don't have decent monitors, so I'm trying to get as many generals as possible to help where my headphones won't point me in the right direction.

Any other advice out there?
 
I wish I knew more about mixing EQ and could help you out. Unfortunately, I'm not the go-to guy for mixing.
 
yeah, I know a lot about the basics of mixing. If fact, I think I printed that (your) article out, but I'm just unclear which frequencies are unnecessary...like you don't need the bass below 50Hz or above 2.5kHz, or Guitar below 100Hz or above 10kHz...I mean, I don't know. is there a range which should be obvious to just go ahead and chop it off on certain instruments? Because I'm using such a crappy monitoring environment, I'm not exactly sure where my lows are too lows or my highs too high.
 
It's a totally subjective topic.There isn't a secret recipe, every song is going to be differant.The type and number of instruments and the style and mood of the song will all effect how the instruments fit in the mix.The hard part is trying to envision how everything will fit before tracking and getting everything as close as possible so you only need minimal eqing at mixing.Check out equilization articles at:

http://theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

I think there might be a referance chart in one of the articles. As far as suggested roll off frequencies, the chart at the beginning of this thread is a good starting point.
 
Great question. I will try some of the suggestions you pasted from the other site. They seem crazy enough to work.

From my experience most all frequencies between 40hz-16khz are necessary to some extent. Experimenting has been my best teacher. You may start by rolling off frequencies that particular instruments don't occupy. For instance, male vocals usually have no usable content below 100-125hz. So you may roll-off everything below that on most vox to 'clean up' any rumble that might exist there. I usually roll off everything below 200-300hz on cymbal tracks, etc. Then, if your tracks are muddy, focus on the area at about 150-500hz depending on the instrument. Cutting a few db's at 150-200hz may help remove some mud from guitars, while a dip at 400-500hz usually will clean up boxy sound of kick and toms. Play around with each instrument and continue to check to see how they fit in the mix once eq'd.

Also, don't forget those eq shelfs either. You may not want to completely eliminate lows or highs on a track but you can adjust the balance by shelving it.

I'm done rambling, good luck.
 
What's with the Q settings, VJ?

1.4 is coming up an awful lot. . . :)
 
i'm bumping this cuz i always find this thread useful...
 
mallcore pop said:
What's with the Q settings, VJ?

1.4 is coming up an awful lot. . . :)
Click to expand...

A Q of 1.4 represents one octave. I have heard others recommend a Q of 1.0 for keeping things a bit more musical. A lot depends, of course, on what your are trying to achieve - but I do find that most of my EQ adjustments end up having a Q in the 1.0 to 1.4 range.
 
Robertt8 said:
I'm just unclear which frequencies are unnecessary...like you don't need the bass below 50Hz or above 2.5kHz, or Guitar below 100Hz or above 10kHz...I mean, I don't know. is there a range which should be obvious to just go ahead and chop it off on certain instruments?
Click to expand...


First off, I'd recommend ditching that entire line of thinking, for the most part.

Just get away from it, if you can.

The only thing you'll probably want to do in most cases is lop off everything below, say, 50 or 60 hz on anything non-bassy; think vocals, guitar, etc. The rest of it has to be an artistic / judgement call.

If it sounds funny when you do it, then don't.

If your monitoring situation is so bad that you're not sure, then you're mixes will come out sounding like crap no matter what you do anyway, so why even bother? :D
 
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