How to EQ ambient drones/pads?

[animapara]

Hello,

Yes, this question is to ambient artists...

Please, how do you usually EQ your drone/pad sounds? What's the basic concept behind it?

HP at 60 Hz for example, then some LP filter to cut some high frequencies ... then ... Then what? Should i cut all resonances/whistling/annoying frequencies from my drone? I notice that pro-made drones (artists like Alio Die, Robert Rich, Steve Roach etc) have some qualities of sound that i can't reach right now
They sound "natural" with good definition of drone (i mean drone doesn't sound like "amorphic" something ... it has an "edge")

Should i boost or only cut?

Sometimes i think - the less i use EQ in drones - the more natural and pleasant they sound. No any EQ? But many source sounds i use as a drone not too perfect sounding. They surely need to some EQ-ing.

Please, share some of your experience with drones.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[krushing]

I think the "drone" term is so wide open that it's simply not of any use to try and define EQ guidelines that'd actually work for any given drone/pad. Rather than treat them categorically as "drones", treat them like any other sound - enhance what needs to be enhanced, take away what needs some whittling. There are songs where the drones/pads are central; there are others where they're just the background texture, and I don't think the same treatment would suffice in both scenarios.

 

[localspace]

If I was making drone music I think I'd ideally use as little EQ as possible as that diminishes the raw sounds from the machines. To my mind that's what drone music is all about, right?
Or are we talking about two completely different things here?

 

[animapara]

Thanks for reply guys ...

Let me illustrate drones i'm talking about with these examples. They are excerpts from Alio Die tracks.

One guy told me that i should cut peaks and rise pits to get some kind of "flat" eq curve ... i've tried but it doesn't get desired result. It sounds a bit lifeless and unnatural to me.

 

[krushing]

Well, frankly, trying to "EQ them flat" sounds just plain silly - why would you try to make your sounds as dull as possible?. And I'll just repeat what I said before - there's not going to be a set way to EQ them "right" - the examples you provided all consist of multiple layers, which are EQ'ed differently. There are sparkling highs, there are muffled mids, there's some low-end action. They're all drenched in almost underwater-y reverb, which does give them a similar feel. But basically you'll just have to figure out which are the qualities in your sounds that you want to bring out, and then EQ/filter/process accordingly. Btw I think these are definitely all pads, not drones, and the reverb plays a huge part in how they sound. Drones usually tend not to be very chordal either and these definitely are.

 

[animapara]

Btw I think these are definitely all pads, not drones, and the reverb plays a huge part in how they sound.

Yes, we can call it pads ... "classic" drones have much more of low end and often can be more "atonal". I think examples i provided are made from vocal samples.

They're all drenched in almost underwater-y reverb, which does give them a similar feel

This. Reverb. The key factor in ambient and in drones particular.

I thought about reverb. My problem is that i always feel the lack of reverberation when using it as send/return scheme. But again, i should EQ reverb return to get in sounds right. Usually i cut everything below 120 Hz in the reverb return channel.

What do you think about reverb in these examples? I think it's some kind of "medium hall" but tweaked somehow to get that "lush" feeling. I definitely hear the reverb itself ... sometimes i think it's too much ... but it sounds lush and spatial ... things that i like so much.

 

[localspace]

Yes, we can call it pads ... "classic" drones have much more of low end and often can be more "atonal". I think examples i provided are made from vocal samples.




This. Reverb. The key factor in ambient and in drones particular.

I thought about reverb. My problem is that i always feel the lack of reverberation when using it as send/return scheme. But again, i should EQ reverb return to get in sounds right. Usually i cut everything below 120 Hz in the reverb return channel.

What do you think about reverb in these examples? I think it's some kind of "medium hall" but tweaked somehow to get that "lush" feeling. I definitely hear the reverb itself ... sometimes i think it's too much ... but it sounds lush and spatial ... things that i like so much.

Too much.. or not enough? The problem with most reverbs is that they aren't particularly rich, or are limited in what they can do nicely. A possible answer might be to stack chains of them together with other effects, using different types of reverb to bring out different elements in the sound. Using them as a send effect is the conservative way of doing it. to add a bit of room. You should probably think of reverbs and echoes more as instruments.
And look at the tools specifically geared towards making ambient, drones and that kind of stuff... Having the right tools is always half the job

 

[MarcDHall]

Personally 90% of my EQing is highpassing. The fundamentals are what pile up. Higher frequencies are often better dealt with using levels.

So if you want to know how to do pad based stuff learn orchestration. Mozart had no EQ but he knew everything about what we call mixing. Use the features of your synths (assuming you're using them) and ride those features. Ride the filter and gain. Automate everything as an individual instrument. Using this approach means you effectively EQ creatively in real-time as you produce.

Once you do that mixing becomes a lot easier.

Only use EQ if there is something that needs to be done. I'd take it a step back and think about how a orchestral player plays in order to fit into what everyone else is doing. They don't just play and think "someone'll EQ it right".

 

[SoundNarcotics]

i tend to cut the lows anything below 200 hertz and cut the highs anything above 10K Hertz that tends to give that lo fi sound I'm digging right now

 

[localspace]

I just got twisted tools' Scapes.. that thing can turn anything into a deadly drone sound. It's really cool..

The last part (from about 9 minutes in) of this one is basically all Scapes working on the regular percussion sounds