Run EQs Flat

86. · Post by **86.** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 3:54 pm

Over the past week I found myself in situations where I didn't need to do a whole lot in the EQing department. This was mostly with instruments. Samples usually did, but jamming on the synths, not so much. It was actually by accident....I just completed songs that sounded fine and then thought.... "shit....there was no EQ whatsoever on any audio channel.

I realized that I probably over/unnecessarily EQed sounds, because the truth is, I'm no expert at this shit...yet I may assume I really know what I'm doing in that department. Boosting shit in certain frequency ranges wasnt needed at all.

I guess I can assume that the sounds themselves are treated in a way that makes them near-perfect as they come out of the instrument.

One obvious example is hi-pass at 150hz, trying to remove low freqs, that in many instances werent there to begin with. If I crank my sub and there lead sounds the same as if the sub was off...then what the fuck am I EQing that for?

So do you run your shit flat usually....do you boost frequencies much?

Littlefoot · Post by **Littlefoot** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:01 pm

simple: good sources need less work

over processing is the devil himself!

the second you process you are degrading the audio somehow, if you process 10 channels which dont really need it, you just failed your mix.

I am currently writing an article about similar topics

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:04 pm

I am no expert at all.

I rarely ever boost, I typically try to cut away stuff I don't need.

I do run highpass Filters on almost every track to cut out any unnecessary low end to keep as much room for the bass and sub as possible.

lowpass · Post by **lowpass** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:34 pm

contakt321 wrote:I am no expert at all.

I rarely ever boost, I typically try to cut away stuff I don't need.

I do run Lowpass Filters on almost every track to cut out any unnecessary low end to keep as much room for the bass and sub as possible.

Lowcut?
you don't wanna be running lp's on every track if you want to make room for the sub/bass

But yeh I do this often as well, I don't fuck about with much else, I just remove the low end, maybe boost the top a tad

therapist · Post by **therapist** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:40 pm

I find myself randomly LPF/HPFing stuff and then wondering why I've even done it. Obviously you need to make space for everything but I find myself just blindly EQing stuff out of habit now.

The whole 'a good mix will be a loud mix' thing, if I'm finding all my tracks are still such a low level this means the mix is definitely shit?

86. · Post by **86.** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:45 pm

contakt was probably talking about hi-pass? right. I had to edit my first post cuz I used hi-cut instead of hi pass.

I actually remember watching a an El-B production master class where he talks about this at the end of the video. some advice given to him by a next producer who rarely touches the EQs on his channels.

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:48 pm

Doh - Highpass! Hadn't finished my coffee yet.

86. · Post by **86.** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:59 pm

Therapist wrote:I find myself randomly LPF/HPFing stuff and then wondering why I've even done it. Obviously you need to make space for everything but I find myself just blindly EQing stuff out of habit now.

The whole 'a good mix will be a loud mix' thing, if I'm finding all my tracks are still such a low level this means the mix is definitely shit?

I'm only recently nailing the -6 db mixdown I always read about here.

macc · Post by **macc** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:16 pm

Don't always do anything, don't never do anything, do what needs to be done and don't do any more. Check with the processing on and off, move on.

Simple!

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:48 pm

^

exactly.

eq'ing generally develops over the course of a mixdown; rough-hewn passing to get things to fit... maybe then move onto dynamic control or spatial bits w/ verb and delay... then put back on my 'frequency' hat,some cuts to get spaces for other instruments... eventually do some boosts where there's space to do so, if things require it. your ears will develop to do so.

i rarely boost beyond a few dB-- and its more often to get brightness out of something than to increase a fundamental, etc.

i've been playing around w/ giving a huge 24db boost on a specific freq lately,--- running it into a limiter and getting a kind of bizarre crush. in really layered percussion THAT can sometimes be the oddball bit of fuckery that makes things sit right.

less EQ is usually the right answer, tho. it's rare, rare moment where i engage more than 3 bands on an eq-- low cut or shelf, some adjustment ar ound 2-5k, and then cut or shelf anywhere from 12k up to 17 or 18 to control energy/presence up there.

Mad_EP · Post by **Mad_EP** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:57 pm

I actually rarely EQ much at all...

if it is a sample. then it really needs to be worth it in order to be worth my time trying to fix shit about it.

I would probably say the most often time I EQ something is when I record something with a less-than ideal set-up, (high noise, etc)... other than that, I don't really do much. Certainly not my synths, as I usually fix those within the patch.

And I almost never EQ a full mix.

The way I see it, the kind of EQ that would be really worth my time is extremely out of my budget right now. The mediocre EQs I have available to me are really only valuable for sample shaping, not much else.

So like 'mastering plugins' , I usually try to find a way to fix it in the mix first before trying to find an EQ solution.

rawali · Post by **rawali** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:29 pm

...to be honest I usually use a high pass and a low pass to isolate every element to specific frequency ranges... these rarely have a very big effect on the sound but it serves as a nice refference when I go out to figure what'll sit where and what I side-chain compress in case of two things sitting in the same space...

another thing i like to do when I have two things sitting in the same spot (bassline+kick or snare+synths) is chose a fundamental frequency on the synth or bass or pad or whatnot and boost it a lil quite tightly, and cut it a lil on the the kick (snare or whatnot)... then I might go and do opposite, giving every element a "signature" frequency

I'm still not satisfied with my mixdowns but these few tricks have been helping me out reducing peaks and such

r · Post by r » Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:41 pm

eq... favorite fx atm

freq juggler · Post by **freq juggler** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:32 am

contakt321 wrote:I am no expert at all.

I rarely ever boost, I typically try to cut away stuff I don't need.

I do run highpass Filters on almost every track to cut out any unnecessary low end to keep as much room for the bass and sub as possible.

+1

norman swashbuckle · Post by **norman swashbuckle** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:00 am

Why do some eq's sound better than others?

because some are better than others which usually justifies why some cost more than others

or not

chewie · Post by **chewie** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:46 am

It'll be the code/ DSP used for creating the emulation. Stick a UAD pultec on any channel with no settings and it boosts the gain slightly and adds a really nice colour.
Like Macc said, there really are no rules - like today i was boosting the main snare track in my tune to bring out the sort of 200hz and the 3khz because it was lacking a bit. I first tried the standard channel in logic then i had a bash with the neve 1073. The channel eq to me sounded better so i stuck with that. On the other hand i boosted my kick to add a little punch and the neve sounded awesome. In this instance the hi shelf really added something, and a slight boost @ 7.2khz. So anyway rant over, trust your ears!

antipode · Post by **antipode** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:32 am

I cut quite a lot. if I ever boost I compress aswell

Run EQs Flat

Run EQs Flat

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