CheckYourHead2727
New member
So if I set the levels in my track to get everything the way I want the kick and snare are peaking. Do you make eq cuts in your instrument bus to make space for the kick and snare first before setting levels?
Balancing Levels and Eq order?
- Thread starter CheckYourHead2727
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steffeeh
New member
I always set initial levels before starting to EQ. Though as the levels may increase if I for instance think the kick lacks somewhere, then I need to reset the levels after I've made the first EQing. Though if you have good enough headroom from the start it's not an issue of you lose some headroom after EQing (like -10 to -12 dBFS).
Moving on, one bad thing some producers do is not realizing that the sound level is linked to the EQ tone. Just like our perceived tone changes the louder a sound gets, so does a tone change as a sound gets louder in addition to the mix. There are those who think a sound is too dull and dead and therefore boost the 2k region for instance.
But when they get back after a break or so they then think that sound instead sounds too thin, and the story just continues with lots of struggling - when they should have realized that the sound actually just were too quiet in the mix and needed a volume raise and then some slight adjustments in the tone if something starts popping out too much - bam! more alive and still full enough. Of course this isn't always the case, but it happens quite often.
Another mistake is to only boost. There is a rule that you should always cut first before boosting on the EQ, and some people seem to hate it because they really don't understand why as there are tonnes of misleading reasons why some people cut first and then maybe boost - but the real reason why is that just like one sound may mask another sound - a sound may actually mask itself - meaning one frequency region may mask another region.
So if I have a boxy sound I may start raising the highend and do some slight cuts in the lower midrange, but what that may still sound very unbalanced and amateurish in the mix - so I'm way better of with leaving any boosts and just scoop out the lower mids first and then gain compensate - voila perhaps the highend is perfect this time, and I didn't have to boost it.
And the overall tone is now much better balanced and professional sounding.
Moving on, one bad thing some producers do is not realizing that the sound level is linked to the EQ tone. Just like our perceived tone changes the louder a sound gets, so does a tone change as a sound gets louder in addition to the mix. There are those who think a sound is too dull and dead and therefore boost the 2k region for instance.
But when they get back after a break or so they then think that sound instead sounds too thin, and the story just continues with lots of struggling - when they should have realized that the sound actually just were too quiet in the mix and needed a volume raise and then some slight adjustments in the tone if something starts popping out too much - bam! more alive and still full enough. Of course this isn't always the case, but it happens quite often.
Another mistake is to only boost. There is a rule that you should always cut first before boosting on the EQ, and some people seem to hate it because they really don't understand why as there are tonnes of misleading reasons why some people cut first and then maybe boost - but the real reason why is that just like one sound may mask another sound - a sound may actually mask itself - meaning one frequency region may mask another region.
So if I have a boxy sound I may start raising the highend and do some slight cuts in the lower midrange, but what that may still sound very unbalanced and amateurish in the mix - so I'm way better of with leaving any boosts and just scoop out the lower mids first and then gain compensate - voila perhaps the highend is perfect this time, and I didn't have to boost it.
And the overall tone is now much better balanced and professional sounding.
If your kick and snare are peaking, then you probably start your production/mix with too high levels. Try to set your initial levels at about -10dB in each channel and you should still have enough headroom when all channels add up.
But to answer your question: Like steffeeh I start by setting levels, then EQ and then may make further level adjustments.
But to answer your question: Like steffeeh I start by setting levels, then EQ and then may make further level adjustments.