how do you boost/cut your EQ?

TaylorV

New member
when you're EQing your individual tracks (bass, guitar, piano, a sample) do you boost the frequencies according to the key your playing in? A=440 would you boost 440hz and all the other note frequencies in that key? or likewise cut the frequencies of the notes not in that key?
 
Na, i dont see why you would do that, those frequencies are already going to be the loudest in that sound and i hardly ever boost anything with EQ anyway, mostly just cut in relation to other sounds competing with that sound to give everything space.
 
cool thanks for the reply. it was just a thought I had the other day so I figured id ask and see if anyone does it.
 
It's an intersting thought to cut the freqs that arent in that key but i find if you start cutting to much when its not really needed you will eliminate the transients and make the sound boring or dull sounding. It's a fine line sometimes.
 
Basically you cut with a narrow slope to get rid of frequencies that make your sound less transparent. For instance on a guitar sound where you hear a consistently nagging frequency, or a very nasal vocal. If you cut in the low end or low mid, you're usually doing so to create space for other instruments in the same region. You always cut with a narrow slope.

You usually boost with a wide slope. That way you don't create any annoying resonances in the process or favor any specific notes (when boosting the low end). There are exceptions, for sure with the low end of an acoustic kick, for instance. But usually, you will boost wide band to avoid getting that skewed frequency spectrum and keep things natural.

If you have any analog EQ's you usually boost with the analog stuff and cut with the digital stuff. The analogue stuff is richer, and more musical, smoother, creates harmonics and gives character, whereas the digital stuff is more clinical and accurate, but stale. It's perfect for cutting narrow frequency bands.

Edit: and no you don't boost or cut according to the musical key. Don't make it more complicated than it has to be.
 
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Think about what you're trying to accomplish. The goal is to set a soundstage for your song so all of the elements that you want your audience to hear can be heard and heard clearly. You do not want things competing with each other.

So start by raising the boost very high and applying a narrow Q, and sweep across the main sounds to find which frequencies you really really like about that sound (ie. voice... drum.. bass.. piano.. etc). Once you find it.... that's the frequency you're cutting to cut away from other competing sounds so your lead sound can shine through.
 
Thanks guys! This makes sense. For a while I was arbitrarily boosting and cutting just trying to make things sound good but likely doing more damage than good. I want low end In my songs so I would boost the low end of everything hitting in the low end but try to layer it. Then everyone talks about a high end "shimmer" so I'd boost the high end. Also I hear the low mids make things muddy so I'd cut those. How much is too much to boost or cut before you start finding different sounds to use? Is there a breaking point?
 
The last two posters (Davlo and CPhoenix) explained things very nicely. I'd just like to offer an alternative view on "boost and cut." Another way to do things would be to use an approach that does the "least amount of monkeying" possible, by only cutting the most offensive frequencies. "Boost and cut," as I've known it, usually applies to the process of using a parametric EQ to
sweep through the highs/mids/lows on any given source, find what is the most annoying frequency or frequencies (by "boosting" those to locate them), then cutting them back with a narrow Q, leaving the rest of the sound untouched. If you get into toooo much "EQ carving," you can really %##* things up unintentionally. Better to just get rid of the problematic sounds.

It's the same process a live sound engineer will use to set-up an overall EQ in a new room/environment-- if you've ever seen/heard a soundman "ring out" a system by boosting through each frequency on a graphic EQ, then cutting back the freqs that create feedback... Well it's a very similar approach, except in the studio it's much more "surgical."

There are two ways to use EQ-- Additive and Subtractive. Additive would be giving "more" of something to enhance a sound by boosting certain frequencies (an approach we want to use pretty sparingly). Subtractive is taking away frequencies as a corrective measure; again, we don't want to go crazy, but better to take away crappy sounding freqs than to get into a battle with yourself and your mix by continually adding more of "this," then more of "that" to counteract "this."

So you basically find what sucks, get rid of it, and leave the rest alone, except for very slight enhancements for tone.

Does that make sense?
 
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Apart from what was discussed. If you're trying to boost the high end to add more sparkle and air to dull sound, you can also try using an exciter instead of boosting it with an EQ... on any digital EQ it's just not gonna sound very good, and with an analog emulation you're stuck with the way that sounds. With an exciter you can get a much more harmonic and pleasing boost there.. which you can then control with subtractive digital EQ. Saves you wasting money on overpriced plugins that pretend to mimic bus such and so that David Bowie used as a coke tray in the 70s. Anyway.. not a fan of all this vintage retro vst marketing bullshit ;) Get a free harmonic exciter, boost.. cut to taste with your DAW's standard EQ = very similar result. It also works very nicely on bass.

Check out the Thrillseeker range.. they're very nice for this technique. The black and blue are exciters (black is subtle, blue is more extreme).
The VBL a vintage limiter with amp distortion that has a 'brilliance' setting. The other stuff is worth checking out, some excellent compressors and saturation units in there. All free.
VST Effects – Variety Of Sound
 
on instruments i have a look to see if any frequencies are louder than the fundamental and reduce them rather than boosting the key, usually a shelf filter does the trick.
 
Well, cutting just means attenuating certain frequencies, while boosting is amplifying them. Usually, when you're cutting, the intention is to remove bad frequencies or frequency bands so the best way to find them is to initially boost the band by a crazy amount of Db... almost to the point where the band is mainly what takes up the overall volume.
After doing that, sweep around the frequencies until you hear an unpleasant sound, then lower the fader back to zero then, go below that. Sometimes you can already hear the unwanted sounds before the crazy boosting. You have to really listen to determine how much dbs to cut by because if you cut too much it creates a void in the overall sound, and if you don't cut enough it'll be pointless. So with that being said, cutting generally tends to work better with narrower bands.

As it relates to boosting, boosting generally works better with wider bands( it just sounds more natural). You also have to listen if you're boosting too much because boosting usually introduces more noise. To find the right frequency range to boost you can also boost it excessively first then lower it to a more reasonable amount...
 
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Thanks dudes all this information is really helpful. I havent experimented exciters before but I will download one and try it out.
 
Just be aware-- It is very easy to over-use an aural exciter. Approach with caution and use sparingly. Otherwise a harsh, brittle sound could be the result. Everything in moderation (with great gear comes great responsibility).
 
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