Understanding EQ / Everthing in its own space

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Great piece but a question still remains...I'm not sure what you mean by "boost" and "cut"?
 
very helpful

rhymesmif said:
Great piece but a question still remains...I'm not sure what you mean by "boost" and "cut"?
Click to expand...

boost means to increase. cut means to decrease.
 
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Heres a table i have in my library that translates frequencies to musical notes.
sorry its a bit hard to read, but i cant get the tabs to work, so the spacing is messed.

Note Frequency (Hz) Wavelength (cm)
C0 16.35 2100.
C#0/Db0 17.32 1990.
D0 18.35 1870.
D#0/Eb0 19.45 1770.
E0 20.60 1670.
F0 21.83 1580.
F#0/Gb0 23.12 1490.
G0 24.50 1400.
G#0/Ab0 25.96 1320.
A0 27.50 1250.
A#0/Bb0 29.14 1180.
B0 30.87 1110.
C1 32.70 1050.
C#1/Db1 34.65 996.
D1 36.71 940.
D#1/Eb1 38.89 887.
E1 41.20 837.
F1 43.65 790.
F#1/Gb1 46.25 746.
G1 49.00 704.
G#1/Ab1 51.91 665.
A1 55.00 627.
A#1/Bb1 58.27 592.
B1 61.74 559.
C2 65.41 527.
C#2/Db2 69.30 498.
D2 73.42 470.
D#2/Eb2 77.78 444.
E2 82.41 419.
F2 87.31 395.
F#2/Gb2 92.50 373.
G2 98.00 352.
G#2/Ab2 103.83 332.
A2 110.00 314.
A#2/Bb2 116.54 296.
B2 123.47 279.
C3 130.81 264.
C#3/Db3 138.59 249.
D3 146.83 235.
D#3/Eb3 155.56 222.
E3 164.81 209.
F3 174.61 198.
F#3/Gb3 185.00 186.
G3 196.00 176.
G#3/Ab3 207.65 166.
A3 220.00 157.
A#3/Bb3 233.08 148.
B3 246.94 140.
C4 261.63 132.
C#4/Db4 277.18 124.
D4 293.66 117.
D#4/Eb4 311.13 111.
E4 329.63 105.
F4 349.23 98.8
F#4/Gb4 369.99 93.2
G4 392.00 88.0
G#4/Ab4 415.30 83.1
A4 440.00 78.4
A#4/Bb4 466.16 74.0
B4 493.88 69.9
C5 523.25 65.9
C#5/Db5 554.37 62.2
D5 587.33 58.7
D#5/Eb5 622.25 55.4
E5 659.26 52.3
F5 698.46 49.4
F#5/Gb5 739.99 46.6
G5 783.99 44.0
G#5/Ab5 830.61 41.5
A5 880.00 39.2
A#5/Bb5 932.33 37.0
B5 987.77 34.9
C6 1046.50 33.0
C#6/Db6 1108.73 31.1
D6 1174.66 29.4
6/Eb6 1244.51 27.7
D#E6 1318.51 26.2
F6 1396.91 24.7
F#6/Gb6 1479.98 23.3
G6 1567.98 22.0
G#6/Ab6 1661.22 20.8
A6 1760.00 19.6
A#6/Bb6 1864.66 18.5
B6 1975.53 17.5
C7 2093.00 16.5
C#7/Db7 2217.46 15.6
D7 2349.32 14.7
D#7/Eb7 2489.02 13.9
E7 2637.02 13.1
F7 2793.83 12.3
F#7/Gb7 2959.96 11.7
G7 3135.96 11.0
G#7/Ab7 3322.44 10.4
A7 3520.00 9.8
A#7/Bb7 3729.31 9.3
B7 3951.07 8.7
C8 4186.01 8.2
C#8/Db8 4434.92 7.8
D8 4698.64 7.3
D#8/Eb8 4978.03 6.9

(To convert lengths in cm to inches, divide by 2.54)
 
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earlier in this thread it was mentioned that you should cut or boost at 300, I believe, depending on your mic.

anybody know about the blue baby bottle?
 
Yo, I jus printed tha Freq. List & Sound understandings..Thanxamillion Silas..U the man My Due..I had been using Trial & error sometime ago..So thanx for a great Key. Thats Engineering in its simplest form..1000
 
Everybody should also by the Bob Katz book, Mastering Audio - The Art And The Science. Not only is it a goldmine of useful info about audio, it also has a foldout carnegie chart in the front that gives frequency by note, and how instruments fall across the frequency spectrum. Most useful.
 
thanks much silas you are a gentleman and a scholar. ive been killing my self over the snappy snares and bright hi hats
 
EQ's and separation


A properly EQ'd mix should have some or all of these qualities, depending on what you are going for with your song.

  • Warmth
  • Depth
  • Clarity
  • Fullness
  • Richness
  • Balance
  • Separation
Many amateurs tend to over EQ things without proper perspective of the whole mix. This is much like a guitar player mixing a song with his/her focus only on that instrument. The downfall of this is overlooking the balance needed to make sure each instrument has it's proper place. Without a proper perspective of the whole mix, there is no point attempting to mix or EQ your song because your head is in the wrong place. It's a very good idea to not mix the same day as recording. It's important to get out of musician mode and into mixing engineer mode.

Here are a few things to consider when working out the EQ balance of your mix:.

  • EQ'ing is not a necessity in every situation. Many engineers do little or no EQ'ing and instead rely on excellent samples and recording techniques.
  • Proper panning can improve an instruments clarity. Having too many instruments in the same
  • panning location can create conflicting frequencies. By moving instruments to their own space much clarity and separation can be accomplished with little or no EQ.
  • If you still have conflicting frequencies, make sure you accent different frequencies on the conflicting instruments.don't be tempted to use the same EQ preset on similar instruments.
  • Avoid the temptation to push the same frequencies on every instrument. Although this might make each separate instrument sound better to your ear individuality, when it is all played together you will have a thin sounding mix with very little separation.
  • Always do your final EQ'ing with all the instruments playing. Use the solo button sparingly.
  • It is best to decrease or eliminate unwanted frequencies in each instrument before attempting to further EQ your mix. You will usually create a warmer, more natural mix by attentuating (lowering) EQ frequencies,while increasing frequencies upward will tend to create a more sharp and thinner sound.
  • In most cases, extreme EQ'ing (7 or more db) is a sign that you haven't recorded your instrument very well, or you have used questionable samples. There are however, times when using extreme settings can create some interesting results. If you want a warm natural sound you will want your EQ'ing to be more subtle, while if you are trying to create an unusual sound, extreme settings might be just what the doctor ordered.
  • Get a second opinion on your mixing and EQ'ing from someone that isn't too close to the project. You may find, for example, that in the attempt to perfectly mix your guitar, you may have buried the snare drum.

Here are a couple EQ suggestions that should improve the sound of your mixes quite a bit:

  • Use a highpass Filter (cut the lows) at around 120hz on every instrument besides
  • the kick and bass sounds. This will greatly improve the clarity in the lower frequencies.
  • Cut frequencies between 350hz-550hz on any instruments that sound a bit muddy
  • Selectively use a lowpass filter (cut the highs) at around 10khz to leave room for clarity in the cymbals.
  • A little boost at 11.1khz can add nice clarity to your hi-hats
Here are a few tips for creating separation in your mix:

  • Use different microphones when recording different instruments. It will give each instrument it's own unique personality.
  • Use different reverb and compression plugin's (or hardware) on instruments that might conflict.
  • Using the same reverb and compression on your drums can be a good thing though to help them "gel" together..
  • Use different delay and reverb setting to create a more 3 dimensional sound in your mix.
I hope this has helped you a little bit on your path to a better sounding mix.

Happy music making,

Jason timothy
 
Tim20 said:
Rock music might easily have 5 guitars playing at the same time. A lot of my stuff can have 3-4 acoustic parts and 1-2 electrics.
Click to expand...
Generally as a rule you try to limit the sonic/music elements to 3 or 4. Today rock records sometimes use up to 5. As for the Eagles example that record was made in an era where sonic experimentation was part of pop culture. We are in a different era of music.

Thinking this way makes the conceptual framework of EQing easy. All you need to do is keep each musical element in its own lane. Start with one element or one instrument and build around it.

Then panning for spacial clarity, some effects to make things interesting and perhaps a little bit of play with the dynamic range... at least this is how I began to approach mixing, thanks to the good people at Institute of Audio Research, my father and Bobby Owsinski...

musical elements (rhythm section: bass and/or drum, pads, lead, fills, rhythm chords, ect.)
 
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innerstatejt said:
EQ's and separation


A properly EQ'd mix should have some or all of these qualities, depending on what you are going for with your song.
  • Warmth
  • Depth
  • Clarity
  • Fullness
  • Richness
  • Balance
  • Separation
Many amateurs tend to over EQ things without proper perspective of the whole mix. This is much like a guitar player mixing a song with his/her focus only on that instrument. The downfall of this is overlooking the balance needed to make sure each instrument has it's proper place. Without a proper perspective of the whole mix, there is no point attempting to mix or EQ your song because your head is in the wrong place. It's a very good idea to not mix the same day as recording. It's important to get out of musician mode and into mixing engineer mode.

Here are a few things to consider when working out the EQ balance of your mix:.
  • EQ'ing is not a necessity in every situation. Many engineers do little or no EQ'ing and instead rely on excellent samples and recording techniques.
  • Proper panning can improve an instruments clarity. Having too many instruments in the same
  • panning location can create conflicting frequencies. By moving instruments to their own space much clarity and separation can be accomplished with little or no EQ.
  • If you still have conflicting frequencies, make sure you accent different frequencies on the conflicting instruments.don't be tempted to use the same EQ preset on similar instruments.
  • Avoid the temptation to push the same frequencies on every instrument. Although this might make each separate instrument sound better to your ear individuality, when it is all played together you will have a thin sounding mix with very little separation.
  • Always do your final EQ'ing with all the instruments playing. Use the solo button sparingly.
  • It is best to decrease or eliminate unwanted frequencies in each instrument before attempting to further EQ your mix. You will usually create a warmer, more natural mix by attentuating (lowering) EQ frequencies,while increasing frequencies upward will tend to create a more sharp and thinner sound.
  • In most cases, extreme EQ'ing (7 or more db) is a sign that you haven't recorded your instrument very well, or you have used questionable samples. There are however, times when using extreme settings can create some interesting results. If you want a warm natural sound you will want your EQ'ing to be more subtle, while if you are trying to create an unusual sound, extreme settings might be just what the doctor ordered.
  • Get a second opinion on your mixing and EQ'ing from someone that isn't too close to the project. You may find, for example, that in the attempt to perfectly mix your guitar, you may have buried the snare drum.
Here are a couple EQ suggestions that should improve the sound of your mixes quite a bit:
  • Use a highpass Filter (cut the lows) at around 120hz on every instrument besides
  • the kick and bass sounds. This will greatly improve the clarity in the lower frequencies.
  • Cut frequencies between 350hz-550hz on any instruments that sound a bit muddy
  • Selectively use a lowpass filter (cut the highs) at around 10khz to leave room for clarity in the cymbals.
  • A little boost at 11.1khz can add nice clarity to your hi-hats
Here are a few tips for creating separation in your mix:
  • Use different microphones when recording different instruments. It will give each instrument it's own unique personality.
  • Use different reverb and compression plugin's (or hardware) on instruments that might conflict.
  • Using the same reverb and compression on your drums can be a good thing though to help them "gel" together..
  • Use different delay and reverb setting to create a more 3 dimensional sound in your mix.
I hope this has helped you a little bit on your path to a better sounding mix.

Happy music making,

Jason timothy
Click to expand...

Dude, you realise you're going to make me a millionaire one day don't you? This was just the kind of help I was looking for as I am currently working on a song, that sounds more and more 3-dimensional by the second. I've saved in versions to help me see the progression.

I just have one question, by "muddy" do you mean as fuzzy? Like it stands out too much or something where it shouldn't? Like it can be a sound that can fit with your song but doesn't quite fit at the moment?
 
StarLightProductionz said:
I just have one question, by "muddy" do you mean as fuzzy?
Click to expand...
The term "muddy" generally refers to poor definition in the low frequency range. This occurs usually during the oversaturation of about 250hz +/-, this problem can be remedied in a number of ways. I generally cut 3 - 5 db @ 250hz on the offending instrument and depending on the instrument boost 3 db @ 800hz for added clarity. But this all really depends on what you want as your outcome.
 
StarLightProductionz said:
Thanks a bunch!!!
Click to expand...
Sure, just remember these two rules and you should be ok:
  1. Boost to make things sound different; cut to make things sound better.
  2. Boosting is adding power so use a wide bandwidth (Q) for boosting; cutting is like surgery so use a narrow bandwidth to cut.
 
khz? How do you mesure that in like a vst? And how do you know at what khz a instrument is at? It's kinda hard to be clear but can anyone help me?
 
By khz Thats the Frequency measurement and when your EQing you will have set of frequency ranges low,low mid,mid,high mids,highs,and super highs some won't be as detailed but learn a lil about frequncies and the human ear and it will all make sense
 
thanks man. Another question. When someone says boost at 50 khz, does that mean to increase that frequency? And to drop means to decrease that frequency right?
 
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