Understanding EQ / Everthing in its own space

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RythumPoet said:
Sup so d effect 1 gets wen ur playin ur mix n wen u mute d kick or bass or both d rest of d instruments n synths keyboards etc. Become louder,could dis be freq too or wat can 1 do to avoid dis
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I think you should remove the limiter or the compressor inserted on your master section...
 
Damn u guys are brilliant tanx Laurend.I wana get d most out of u guys seeing dat I'm still stuck on d mixing in reason I fiddled n tried everything even master patches bt nuthing helps I guess I need to see some do it dat knws hw n take note coz I'm jus strugglin wit mixing
 
Now, no limiter or compressor are in your signal path anymore to **** your mix. Just turm up the monitor knob and start mixing. It should be much more easier...
 
Tanx a lot.1 last ting though, I am into house music firstly,hw wud u start of d rack in reason? I normaly add firstly a m-suite den a mixer den redrum or combi etc. Bt d main 2 being d master suite 1st followed by d mixer.dis is wen I start composing b4 mixing n so forth.so wat wud u order b or advise b 4 me to achieve a beta working area by d order of d rack?
 
That seems OK except for the mastering rack which should logically be placed between the mixer and the harware device.
 
EQ etiquette

One thing about EQ's that has become apparent to me is that I wanted to use them to boost sound effectively when I started out, but now that I have more knowledge, I tend to use them more for shaping the sound by bringing more of a percentage of levels down! Also my focus being fairly new to mastering, is setting my own parameters in terms of "location in the chain" for my plugins. Miles Davis once said " there ain't no such thing as a wrong note!" As a musician, I tend to agree because a real musician can take a "bad" note and make you think he meant to play it! Everyone has a signature sound. Doesn't make it right or wrong...I am in search of mine!
 
Side chain is compression, or reduces range of an audio signal. I have not used the side chain technology though I have plugins for it. It is probably another one of those personal choice thangs......experiment with it! Maybe you will like the effect..
 
i just want to thank everybody who has contributed to this thread. Before I read this thread, I had no idea what the hell these things meant. I only saw numbers, but not the meaning behind those numbers. Thanks guys.
 
Silas Holmes said:
To understand EQ and its intricacies you need hands-on experience, but to help you get started, here's a table of general uses and the different ranges that EQ can affect. As every sound is different, though, these are necessarily very general guidelines...

Kick Drum

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Try a small boost around 5-7kHz to add some high end.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom to the sound
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness Area
5-8kHz ~ Adds high end prescence
8-12kHz ~ Adds Hiss

Snare

Try a small boost around 60-120Hz if the sound is a little too wimpy. Try boosting around 6kHz for that 'snappy' sound.

100-250Hz ~ Fills out the sound
6-8kHz ~ Adds prescence

Hi hats or cymbals

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. To add some brightness try a small boost around 3kHz.

250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

Bass

Try boosting around 60Hz to add more body. Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz.If more presence is needed, boost around 6kHz.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom end
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness Area
800-1kHz ~ Adds beef to small speakers
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds high-end presence
8-12kHz ~ Adds hiss

Vocals

This is a difficult one, as it depends on the mic used to record the vocal. However...Apply either cut or boost around 300hz, depending on the mic and song.Apply a very small boost around 6kHz to add some clarity.

100-250Hz ~ Adds 'up-frontness'
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds sibilance and clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

Piano

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Apply a very small boost around 6kHz to add some clarity.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-1kHz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8Khz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds hiss

Electric guitars

Again this depends on the mix and the recording. Apply either cut or boost around 300hz, depending on the song and sound. Try boosting around 3kHz to add some edge to the sound, or cut to add some transparency. Try boosting around 6kHz to add presence. Try boosting around 10kHz to add brightness.

100-250Hz ~ Adds body
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6Khz ~ Cuts through the mix
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8=12kHz ~ Adds hiss

Acoustic guitar

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off between 100-300Hz. Apply small amounts of cut around 1-3kHz to push the image higher. Apply small amounts of boost around 5kHz to add some presence.

100-250Hz ~ Adds body
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

Strings

These depend entirely on the mix and the sound used.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom end
100-250Hz ~ Adds body
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6hHz ~ Sounds crunchy
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness
Click to expand...

Thanks this helped a lil more!
 
people seem to overlook this the most. I remember when i used to cram every sound in my beat into the same general frequency spectrum and left my while mix cluttered and a bit muddy. But once i learned from these techniques, my mixes translate a whole lot better. Anyway, thanks for a great post
 
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EQ is indeed a powerful tool and whilst the lists of frequencies are useful to get you in the ball park. So much can be learnt from simply....

Choosing a source and applyf a Q of 1, creating a 6dB boost and slowly sweeping whilst watching what frequency you are sweeping over. This will create good ear/hand co-ordination for a beginner.

SafeandSound Mastering
Mastering
 
all these posts are great, one thing Im havin a really hard time understanding is how to eq as far as the kick drum and the bass, in everything I do they always seem to run into eachother and make everyhing muddy
 
In school one of our mixing engineer teachers had us listen to white noise and he raised certain frequencies and lowered them by 6 db and we had to pick up which frequencies were being used. Doing this exercise every once in a while will really help open your ears to the subtleties of EQing
 
This theread has a lot of useful information in it. Really breaks down the way the human ear reacts to sound waves. Just remember don't mix at high levels or you will heart your ears.
 
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