krangs_androidbody

I think I'll upload an album I did and see what y'all think o' that. I was more of a perfectionist on it, had it professionally mastered and everything.

al-Mu'akhkhir

eqs are actually pretty simple and I think they're essential to mixing... generally from left to right you have low (bass) to high (treble) frequencies, if you just play around with them you'lll get an idea of what's what... I'll post a few good EQ vst's for you tommorow...

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HTAM

Nope, I just didn't want to pay someone for studio time anymore. My knowledge about this is a work in progress. I just read a few tech manuals a few years ago about EQ and started experimenting.

Some spring board references regarding EQ are below. EQ is not a big mystery. There are certain bands that respectively affect certain instruments and once you understand that, with a little experimentation you'll 'get it'.

Krang, I would strongly recommend you not mix with headphones. I left a post regarding that on a' Skullcandy' thread. They isolate your ears and the drivers in head phones don't reproduce the full spectrum like monitors in a room do.

Anyway...below there are 6 groups. In each group I'm listing, you will first see the range of frequency, below that the effect that is produced when by the frequencies in the range, and finally, the effect produced when used too much.
Easy as 1, 2, 3. To avoid the description as defined in '3'.


-16Hz to 60 Hz
-Sense of power, felt more than heard
-makes music muddy

-60Hz to 250Hz
-Fundamentals of rhythm section, EQing can change musical balance making it fat or thin
-makes music boomy

-250Hz to 2KHz
-Low order harmonics of most musical instruments
-telephone quality to music 500 to 1KHz horn-like, 1K to 2KHz tinny, listening fatigue

-2KHz to 4KHz
-Speech Recognition
-3KHz listening fatigue, lisping quality, words beginning with "m, "v", "b" may be indistinguishable

-4KHz to 6KHz
-Clarity and definition of voices and instruments, makes music seem closer to listener, adding 6db at 5KHz makes entire mix seem 3db louder
-quality and harshness on vocals

-6KHz to 16KHz
-Brilliance and clarity of sounds (overall)
-sibilance or quality or harshness on vocals

I will post again later about EQ frequencies and specific instruments. I have a long weekend, so maybe late tomorrow night or Sunday, but I will post.

One last thing.....I have always liked using Sound Forge as a Mastering Program. Has great EQ options and fairly intuitive for the user.

cantSEEme

^ nice post, dude.

also, in my trials and experiences with eq, i find it's almost always better to cut than to boost. if you want a bass heavy bass line in a track, then it should be recorded with all the frequencies there already, boost in that case will cause too much distortion and muddy up a mix. and in the case of multitracked instruments, cutting the eq in certain ranges on certain instuments makes them sit better in a mix rather than boosting every tracks eq.

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HTAM

So here are points of reference for EQ and individual instruments that I thought really help to dial it in. Be mindful, though, that EQ can can't polish a turd. If you have a shitty track and add EQ, all you will get is a shitty track that sounds a little better after you add it.

Here's where I really DIG the digital age. Regardless of what software you are using, you should be able to create a 'custom, as many bands as you need, Equalizer'. A bunch of them, actually.

First, I created EQ's with each instrument I tracked, and assigned them to the track numbers. Then, I edited the EQ and set the number of virtual bands I needed to slide between the specific hertz I read about for the instruments.

Track by track, I went through and adjusted individual EQ for each instrument.

For mixing, I did the same thing. I created an EQ and set bands with the Hz range I listed yesterday for the overall accenting of different bands in the mix.

That's it.

I know, 'that's it' he says. It may seem a little tedious, because it is. But, you only have to do it once. You should also be able to save these EQ's after you create them, so you can just open them up for any future use. I said, Gawd Damn!!

So, here you go....

Bass Guitar-At 700 or 1KHz. Bottom end is added at 60 or 80Hz. String noise (i.e. dragging the fret hand across strings or anything else that causes unintentional vibration) can be tamed at 2.5 KHz

Bass Drum(s)-Bottom end can be enhanced at 60 or 80KHz and slap is enhanced at 2.5KHz.

Snare Drums-They get fatness at 240KHz. Crispness at 1 to 2.5KHz. Bottom end at 60 or 80KHz.

Hi-Hats and Cymbals-Klang or Gong sound at 200Hz.

Toms-attack is pronounced at 5KHz, fullness at 240Hz.

Floor toms-attack at 5KHz, fullness at 80 or 240.

Electric Guitar-Body at 240Hz, clarity at 2.KHz

Acoustic Guitar-Same as Electric, and bottom end at 80 or 120Hz

Voice-Fullness at 120Hz, boominess at 200 to 240 hz, Prescence at 5KHz.

I'm trying to dig up some reference on this. Some of what I've posted is
note taking I saved, and some of it comes from posts or webpages I've found. Glad to offer to you what someone else offered to me. Pass it on.

krangs_androidbody

I have to mix in headphones most of the time. I do listen to the mixes on other stereos and make adjustments, but in my apartment right now don't have the space or funds for monitors.

I'm a big fan of DIY type mentality... but there's a lot of things in mixing I can't find the patience for. I have a hard time getting to technical about it, but I'll work on it.

Here's the album I did: Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem!
(Recorded in much different circumstances)

John F. Kerry

holy crap man this sounds like if it was produced and recorded in a studio and polished up a little it could be great. i love the chorus, not so hooked on the verses. but the chorus is sweet, it really it a good chorus, and the bass is nice.

kamikazi89

loved itlooking forward to the album

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katie west is the best