Using EQ

[laughing_bear]

Hi,

a table of different ranges that EQ can affect.... as every sound is very different, these are necessarily very general guidelines and shall be understood as such...but may be a good starting point to gain your own experience?

I Always use a parametric EQ. Graphic EQ's are for wusses.

II When boosting Q must be wider (less than) than 2.

III When cutting Q should be narrow--from 1.5 or greater.

IV No cut or boost may be greater than 6db +/- in any case (occasionally broken for cutting).

V 75% of my boosts are less than 2 db. 90% are less than 4 db of boost.

VI Never cut more than 8db of anything unless notching out specific small frequencies.


-Kick Drum-

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Try a small boost around 5-7kHz to add some high end.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom to the sound
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness Area
5-8kHz ~ Adds high end prescence
8-12kHz ~ Adds Hiss

-Snare-

Try a small boost around 60-120Hz if the sound is a little too wimpy. Try boosting around 6kHz for that 'snappy' sound.

100-250Hz ~ Fills out the sound
6-8kHz ~ Adds prescence

-Hi hats or cymbals-

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. To add some brightness try a small boost around 3kHz.

250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

-Bass-

Try boosting around 60Hz to add more body. Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz.If more presence is needed, boost around 6kHz.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom end
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness Area
800-1kHz ~ Adds beef to small speakers
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds high-end presence
8-12kHz ~ Adds hiss

-Vocals-

This is a difficult one, as it depends on the mic used to record the vocal. However...Apply either cut or boost around 300hz, depending on the mic and song.Apply a very small boost around 6kHz to add some clarity.

100-250Hz ~ Adds 'up-frontness'
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds sibilance and clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

-Piano-

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Apply a very small boost around 6kHz to add some clarity.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-1kHz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8Khz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds hiss

-Electric guitars-

Again this depends on the mix and the recording. Apply either cut or boost around 300hz, depending on the song and sound. Try boosting around 3kHz to add some edge to the sound, or cut to add some transparency. Try boosting around 6kHz to add presence. Try boosting around 10kHz to add brightness.

100-250Hz ~ Adds body
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6Khz ~ Cuts through the mix
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8=12kHz ~ Adds hiss

-Acoustic guitar-

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off between 100-300Hz. Apply small amounts of cut around 1-3kHz to push the image higher. Apply small amounts of boost around 5kHz to add some presence.

100-250Hz ~ Adds body
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

-Strings-

These depend entirely on the mix and the sound used.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom end
100-250Hz ~ Adds body
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6hHz ~ Sounds crunchy
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

*************************************************************

-50Hz-

1. Increase to add more fullness to lowest frequency instruments like foot, toms, and the bass.
2. Reduce to decrease the "boom" of the bass and will increase overtones and the recognition of bass line in the mix. This is most often used on bass lines in Rap and R&B.

-100Hz-

Increase to add a harder bass sound to lowest frequency instruments.
Increase to add fullness to guitars, snare.
Increase to add warmth to piano and horns.
Reduce to remove boom on guitars & increase clarity.

-200Hz-

1. Increase to add fullness to vocals.
2. Increase to add fullness to snare and guitar (harder sound).
3. Reduce to decrease muddiness of vocals or mid-range instruments.
4. Reduce to decrease gong sound of cymbals.

-400Hz-

1. Increase to add clarity to bass lines especially when speakers are at low volume.
2. Reduce to decrease "cardboard" sound of lower drums (foot and toms).
3. Reduce to decrease ambiance on cymbals.

-800Hz-

1. Increase for clarity and "punch" of bass.
2. Reduce to remove "cheap" sound of guitars

-1.5KHz-

1. Increase for "clarity" and "pluck" of bass.
2. Reduce to remove dullness of guitars.

-3KHz-

1. Increase for more "pluck" of bass.
2. Increase for more attack of electric / acoustic guitar.
3. Increase for more attack on low piano parts.
4. Increase for more clarity / hardness on voice.
5. Reduce to increase breathy, soft sound on background vocals.
6. Reduce to disguise out-of-tune vocals / guitars

-5KHz-

1. Increase for vocal presence.
2. Increase low frequency drum attack (foot/toms).
3. Increase for more "finger sound" on bass.
4. Increase attack of piano, acoustic guitar and brightness on guitars.
5. Reduce to make background parts more distant.
6. Reduce to soften "thin" guitar.

-7KHz-

1. Increase to add attack on low frequency drums (more metallic sound).
2. Increase to add attack to percussion instruments.
3. Increase on dull singer.
4. Increase for more "finger sound" on acoustic bass.
5. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers.
6. Increase to add sharpness to synthesizers, rock guitars, acoustic guitar and piano.

-10KHz-

1. Increase to brighten vocals.
2. Increase for "light brightness" in acoustic guitar and piano.
3. Increase for hardness on cymbals.
4. Reduce to decrease "s" sound on singers.

-15KHz-

1. Increase to brighten vocals (breath sound).
2. Increase to brighten cymbals, string instruments and flutes.
3. Increase to make sampled synthesizer sound more real.

*************************************************************

-Low Bass: anything less than 50Hz-

This range is often known as the sub bass and is most commonly taken up by the lowest part of the kick drum and bass guitar, although at these frequencies it's almost impossible to determine any pitch. Sub bass is one of the reasons why 12" vinyl became available: low frequencies require wider grooves than high frequencies - without rolling off everything below 50Hz you couldn't fit a full track onto a 7" vinyl record. However we do NOT recommend applying any form of boost around this area without the use of very high quality studio monitors (not home monitors - there is a vast difference between home nearfield and studio farfield monitors costing anywhere between £5,000 and £20,000). Boosting blindly in this area without a valid reference point can and will permanently damage most speakers, even PA systems. You have been warned!

-Bass: 50-250Hz-

This is the range you're adjusting when applying the bass boost on most home stereos, although most bass signals in modern music tracks lie around the 90-200Hz area with a small boost in the upper ranges to add some presence or clarity.

-Muddiness/irritational area: 200-800Hz-

The main culprit area for muddy sounding mixes, hence the term 'irritational area'. Most frequencies around here can cause psycho-acoustic problems: if too many sounds in a mix are dominating this area, a track can quickly become annoying, resulting in a rush to finish mixing it as you get bored or irritated by the sound of it.

-Mid-range: 800-6kHz-

Human hearing is extremely sensitive at these frequencies, and even a minute boost around here will result in a huge change in the sound - almost the same as if you boosted around 10db at any other range. This is because our voices are centred in this area, so it's the frequency range we hear more than any other. Most telephones work at 3kHz, because at this frequency speech is most intelligible. This frequency also covers TV stations, radio, and electric power tools. If you have to apply any boosting in this area, be very cautious, especially on vocals. We're particularly sensitive to how the human voice sounds and its frequency coverage.

-High Range: 6-8kHz-

This is the range you adjust when applying the treble boost on your home stereo. This area is slightly boosted to make sounds artificially brighter (although this artificial boost is what we now call 'lifelike') when mastering a track before burning it to CD.

-Hi-High Range: 8-20kHz-

This area is taken up by the higher frequencies of cymbals and hi-hats, but boosting around this range, particularly around 12kHz can make a recording sound more high quality than it actually is, and it's a technique commonly used by the recording industry to fool people into thinking that certain CDs are more hi-fidelity than they'd otherwise sound. However, boosting in this area also requires a lot of care - it can easily pronounce any background hiss, and using too much will result in a mix becoming irritating.

[Stephen]

Very good stuff!
Thanks bear.
Stephen

[dreamaiden]

Thanks Bear. This is very handy. I've read several things like this and actually refer to them when I'm mixing. Can you tell us where you got this info from?

Thanks,
Sioux

[laughing_bear]

yeah, 32 years of music.

[chordial]

Thanks Bear, useful info

[Sharp]

Wow… Great info.
I’ll make it a sticky topic because it’s worth moving this one to the Classic Threads section later on.

Regards.
Sharp.

[laughing_bear]

Actually, I was thinking about your 10 piece blues band rec.session, and although you told me about some SX1 presets, I thought that might be useful info to overcome that "preset-culture-thingy" and get your hands dirty on that Tascam monster to create your own presets....

[Sharp]

Yeah, I agree totally.
Although the presets are rather tasty, it just doesn’t have that personal touch that I like.
I have no problem hearing what I would like to change about a EQ, but actually changing the EQ is a different story. It’s not easy to get the right balance, or to chase after something that’s really annoying you in a signal. But using the guide you just posted does explain things rather well. It actually tells you straight out what to adjust.

Great post.

Regards.
Sharp.

[John01W]

Thank man, vg info.

John

[laughing_bear]

It’s not easy to get the right balance, or to chase after something that’s really annoying you in a signal.

Yeah, ....two things....

I.
There really aint a substitute for rehersal, hence experience. In my age, unfortunately, I am over the peak of my hearing already. Although, persoanlly I will make one of those tests to better understand where I am positioned, then again, who knows, may be I am deaf?

The whole thingy is critical in terms of auditioning room and acustic of the very same, no news, but it is worth mentioning that one can easily train the wrong hearing if the conditions are not close to ideal. Hence, he mixes and may be even pre-masters stuff and then is astonished if it sounds like a flying Bull once auditioned in a pro-environment. Happens very often.

Those who have the EQ-experience and the ears to be able to use EQ in a creative way, in opposite to the often abused EQ-Fix, are able to compensate conditions to a degree from their experience and knowledge. Taking the odd Yammy NS10 for example, they are not so good monitors for certain things in my view, however, somwhat established, you find them still around in many studios, and engineers know about their weakpoints and are able to compensate this through knowledge of the exact weak points of this particular monitor, so their mix will sound allright on B&W Nautilus if the engineer knows the above.

What does that show? That mixing/mastering situations in your very own setup are very important, to better understand your monitor and what it can do and where it lacks. To know your system blindfold I think is the first duty.

I know a couple of people who have gear in the 10thousands of $, and who asked me to help them out with their mix, they told me that they have stuff like UAD and Powercore, Waves and all the good stuff installed in their system. So pretty excited about a nice session I went there and guess what, I found a pair of JBL Control 1 driven by a Kenwood 150 bucks amp. Sigh, as gentle as possible I tried to explain that their tools superceed the capabilities of their monitoring environment mutiple times, in other words, 10 Powercores wont be able to help you with a better mix on such speakers and that %^&"$£ Kenwood Bull. I could not believe it, they were trying to do a serious demo CD on this setup, I compared this with a business card on used toilettpaper, and they got the idea. As money was not an issue, 3 days later they had a Bryston amp Dunaudio passive speaker and Genlecs 1031 to try out! They sticked with the active Genlecs btw. - Ah well, it is a funny world! -

II.

It is a very important thing to learn at your own pace. Crucial to have a couple of your favourite CD's, ideally a good mix from classic to hardrock, to listen to over exactly the system you use later to work on. This helps your ears relax and learn about your speakers. Never do too long sessions with EQ's, it is easy to explain, because human ears are very sensitive to the midrange, so you loose out after a while on the low and high. The whole thingy of EQ, Compression, Limitter etc. etc. is like one big dish, if you take it the sushi way, little delicious snacks over a longer period of time, the odd sake inbetween (Manley, Cranesong etc), you have a dinner you will not forget so quick.

I would like to point out another analogy, to me, the engineering part of a mix or mastering session is very similiar to the solo performance of a Pianist. It took me 2 intensive month of many rehersals to learn to play Beethovens Pathetique back when I was 17, and I played it very well, very dynamic and energetic, well the way a 17years old intends to show off when it comes to Beethoven I suppose. 10 years later, I played it again as part of a concert evening, and very different at this time, still very virituous and energetic, but much more matured, and my Professor explained that to me later over a couple of scottish whiskeys.

The good engineer in my book learned his part like a pianist leanred to play an instrument like the concert grand. The engineer went a long way himself, like the pianist did, from Bach to Ravel and Scriabin.

The engineers musical instrument is the console and its outboard

It helps to accept and understand that it takes the same many years to master this instrument..... As soon as one starts to understand his outboard and console as a highly sophisticated instrument, he may change his perception and approach this with a little more respect and patience.

I probably purchase the DM1000 from Yamaha for post purposes, to me it is an instrument, and I expect it to take many hours for me to come from the first "For Elise" ( how I hate this LOL ) to the "Pathetique"....

[chris]

Thank you very much for the tip Laughing Bear
Unfortunately I don't have your experience of music (I've only been for 15 years in playing those beautiful machines)
So, congratulations for your experience and thank you for sharing your tips

[laughing_bear]

If I had to do with music since 15 years "only" ....then I would be 25 and still living in Belgium.... Was a very happy time, I enjoyed the Chimay (blue), to live in the woods and cared for my 2 dogs, belgium shepherd and german shepherd, if I'd only knew that they would be so productive.... I ended up with 14 dogs...

You're most welcome, that's what IA is about.... sharing....

[Lorenzo]

Great! The ultimate eq solution!
regards, Lorenzo
p.s. to laughin_bear: I'll publish this thread in pdf format on my site, if you're not agree just contact me and I'll erase it from the download section of my site.

[Downtown_Charlie]

great stuff bear. thanks a lot.
this is the great thing about this site, there are so many friendly people willing to share their knowledge and also so many people who appreciate it, so to see.

slán

D C

[Francois]

Excellent post, thanks.

François