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Subject:When to use EQ?
Posted by: Jasonsan
Date:2/20/2003 3:25:07 PM
After making a song and listening to it for a while I wonder if using EQ will improve the overall sound and the balance of it. What are the basic approaches to using EQ and in particular what cases would be best to use it for? Has anyone used the EQ track FX plugins for Acid Pro 4? |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: SkZ
Date:2/20/2003 7:14:19 PM
Generally e.q should be a luxury : you must try and choose the best instruments/elements that sound right together before you start e.q-ing...... Acid 4.0 boasts some cool e.q-ing tool's! even better if you posses sound forge needless to say e.q is a very useful tool !!!! 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... Instrument Frequency ranges: Kick Drum Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Try a small boost around 5-7kHz to add some high end. Frequency Effect 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. Frequency Effect 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. Frequency Effect 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. Frequency Effect 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. Frequency Effect 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. Frequency Effect 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. Frequency Effect 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. HTH.... :) |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: dkistner
Date:2/21/2003 11:04:41 AM
How nice, SkZ. Do you have similar recommendations for strings and reeds? |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: DataCowboy
Date:2/23/2003 12:30:11 AM
If you are using synthetic sounds, especially from your own patches, I would recommend using subtractive track EQ to ensure you don't have sounds that bleed all over the frequency range. For example, a completely twisted sound that ends up being mangled into use as a high hat sample will often have residual mid-frequencies that can muddy a mix where there are other instruments whose primary characteristics are mid-frequencies (like piano). Once you have figured out the track needs the EQ in the mix, it's best to go ahead apply the EQ to the original sample so as not to waste CPUs with the track EQ. Hexadecimal www.freesidemusic.com |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: RasKeita
Date:2/23/2003 9:55:26 PM
Just like the earlier post this comes from Computer Music magazine: Low Bass: anything less than 50Hz This range is often known as the sub bass and is most commonly taken up by the lowest part of the kick drum and bass guitar, although at these frequencies it's almost impossible to determine any pitch. Sub bass is one of the reasons why 12" vinyl became available: low frequencies require wider grooves than high frequencies - without rolling off everything below 50Hz you couldn't fit a full track onto a 7" vinyl record. However we do NOT recommend applying any form of boost around this area without the use of very high quality studio monitors (not home monitors - there is a vast difference between home nearfield and studio farfield monitors costing anywhere between £5,000 and £20,000). Boosting blindly in this area without a valid reference point can and will permanently damage most speakers, even PA systems. You have been warned! Bass: 50-250Hz This is the range you're adjusting when applying the bass boost on most home stereos, although most bass signals in modern music tracks lie around the 90-200Hz area with a small boost in the upper ranges to add some presence or clarity. Muddiness/irritational area: 200-800Hz The main culprit area for muddy sounding mixes, hence the term 'irritational area'. Most frequencies around here can cause psycho-acoustic problems: if too many sounds in a mix are dominating this area, a track can quickly become annoying, resulting in a rush to finish mixing it as you get bored or irritated by the sound of it. Mid-range: 800-6kHz Human hearing is extremely sensitive at these frequencies, and even a minute boost around here will result in a huge change in the sound - almost the same as if you boosted around 10db at any other range. This is because our voices are centred in this area, so it's the frequency range we hear more than any other. Most telephones work at 3kHz, because at this frequency speech is most intelligible. This frequency also covers TV stations, radio, and electric power tools. If you have to apply any boosting in this area, be very cautious, especially on vocals. We're particularly sensitive to how the human voice sounds and its frequency coverage. High Range: 6-8kHz This is the range you adjust when applying the treble boost on your home stereo. This area is slightly boosted to make sounds artificially brighter (although this artificial boost is what we now call 'lifelike') when mastering a track before burning it to CD. Hi-High Range: 8-20kHz This area is taken up by the higher frequencies of cymbals and hi-hats, but boosting around this range, particularly around 12kHz can make a recording sound more high quality than it actually is, and it's a technique commonly used by the recording industry to fool people into thinking that certain CDs are more hi-fidelity than they'd otherwise sound. However, boosting in this area also requires a lot of care - it can easily pronounce any background hiss, and using too much will result in a mix becoming irritating. |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:2/24/2003 11:58:31 AM
always use eq. i use a similar method but its not so complex: designate a freq range for each sound so that freqs dont clash. if a song contains 10 sounds: imagine a line of numbers from 1 to 10, each nimber represents a freq. just match each sound to a freq while lowering the freqs that are used by other the sounds. eg: kick=1, bass=2, snare=3, keys=4, guitar=5, synth=6, vox=7, string=8, clap=9, hihat=10 thats how i get a solid mix. |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: dkistner
Date:2/24/2003 3:38:56 PM
"Muddiness/irritational area: 200-800Hz The main culprit area for muddy sounding mixes, hence the term 'irritational area'. Most frequencies around here can cause psycho-acoustic problems: if too many sounds in a mix are dominating this area, a track can quickly become annoying, resulting in a rush to finish mixing it as you get bored or irritated by the sound of it." So that's what it was! :) Good tips, guys. I have a very stupid question to ask, but I'll ask it anyway in case somebody else wants to ask it too but is afraid of getting laughed at. (I get laughed at all the time, so I'm petty immune to it.) Okay, you know how you do a frequency analysis in Cool Edit or such? How in heck do you read the thing to determine what the main/center frequency is and what you can safely roll off without destroying the sound of an instrument? Most of the time, I just muck with the band passes until I get something that I think may sound okay, but it's not a very precise way to work. I expect I destroy more things than I fix. I am pretty dyslexic when it comes to reading things like maps and graphs. Maybe, though, you can tell it to me in a way that will make me go "aha!" |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:2/25/2003 3:05:36 PM
if i am mistaken its because i learned by ear and this visual stuff is new to me: most spectral display graphs list freq underneath the meter. observe the bar that is peaking most often. look at its corrosponding number, that is the dominant freq. there is usually a cluster of bars that rise and fall around the dominant, those indicate the freq range/bandwidth. open an eq and narrow the bandwith so the graph only shows the cluster. this lets you see/know the freq/bandwidth available for the remaining sounds. i try to have all sounds' freqs peaking evenly during the loudest parts of a song. here's an example: http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=213954&T=2586 use your spectrum graph to see what i mean. |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: dkistner
Date:2/26/2003 6:03:36 AM
Groovewerks, I just listened to "Halitosis" online and am downloading it now to play in something where I can view it. Nice work! (Did you win?) If you have time to look at it, and can read an MS Word document, I just uploaded some screen shots of what I'm talking about, along with a short summation of what's confusing me. Anyone else here wants to look at it, feel free. Maybe we could then discuss it here. I'm sure some people in this forum are just as bewildered about this as I am and could benefit from a little enlightenment. And then we'll be able to take better advantage of Acid's Track EQ. |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:2/26/2003 8:35:40 AM
i'm looking at the .doc you posted: don't confuse the wave image with the graph image. from what i see in the graphs, the dominant freqs are: dp v1: 170, 390, 590, and 770. dp v12e: 290 dp v6: 10 just from seeing that and not being able to hear the sounds, i would adjust v1 so that its bands start at 590 eg.(590, 710, 830, 950). v12e: i would use a high pass and cut all freq below 220 and lower or cut those at 590, 710, 830, and 950 to make way for v1. v6 i would use a low pass and cut freqs above 170. thats where i'd start with those. then fine tune them until they sound proper. i'm sure i could better help you if i could actually mix them and send them back so you would have an audible/visible demonsration. thats one of the many things i do for folks. besides that, i'm interested in learning more about ultradia. and no i didn't win. |
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Subject:RE: When to use EQ?
Reply by: dkistner
Date:2/27/2003 3:31:18 PM
Groovewerx, thank you. My system's been down. I sent you a private email, but I'll bet you I sent it to somebody that wasn't you, and they have no idea what I was talking about! Will reply again after I've had a chance to really scrutinize those screens in view of what you said. Got my new Logitech MX700 mouse and am charging it up now! WOW! |