EQ Help Needed

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:11 pm

Also, I should be EQing before I do any other DAW effecting or compression and stuff right?

Post by **wiss** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:47 pm

for volume....there should be a master fade that brings the volume up ...I know DP3 has it

I EQ things out last....I am sure there is science to it but I ignore all those and just listen to my ears...

hyphen nation · Post by **hyphen nation** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:52 pm

JS, take this witha grain of salt, as I am clearly still learning on the recording side of things, but the only thing I know that gives makes things sound louder is a good compressor/limiter...it may be time for a pair of RNC's for when you are mastering?

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:22 pm

hyphen nation wrote:JS, take this witha grain of salt, as I am clearly still learning on the recording side of things, but the only thing I know that gives makes things sound louder is a good compressor/limiter...it may be time for a pair of RNC's for when you are mastering?

No, I know that... I won't be using hardware though... however, if you have frequencies that are fighting, then there is less headroom... since those fighting frequencies will peak so much higher than the rest of the mix...or at least that is what I seem to be seeing...especially in bass and bd land.

luciano · Post by **luciano** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:51 am

Don't know if can be of any help, but the classic solution that you find in mixing manuals is to cut the kick around 350-400 hz, also you can add presence to the kick by raising a bit around 5000 hz where it should be the attack portion. This is more for real kick drums & bass guitars I think, with synthesized sound could be different, but it can be a starting point.

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:27 pm

luciano wrote:Don't know if can be of any help, but the classic solution that you find in mixing manuals is to cut the kick around 350-400 hz, also you can add presence to the kick by raising a bit around 5000 hz where it should be the attack portion. This is more for real kick drums & bass guitars I think, with synthesized sound could be different, but it can be a starting point.

Yeah, the one thing books say as well is that drum machines don't need as much EQ since they were already EQ'd before they were put in the machine. However, when making the music we make...I'd say that doesn't hold true either.

Post by **wiss** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:41 am

this topic really brings up a good point about mixing drum machines...

I found the elecktron machinedrum never to fit in a mix...something about it. I only liked it if I built the song up from the machinedrum 1st

I naturally write 97% of my songs via the bass or guitar.....very rarely will it start off from something else....

so what I noticed, if I came up the beat on the machindrum 1st then built a song around that it was fine....

Even on AIR's new record the tracks the use the machinedrum, I dont not like the mix

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:43 pm

wiss wrote:
I naturally write 97% of my songs via the bass or guitar.....very rarely will it start off from something else....

so what I noticed, if I came up the beat on the machindrum 1st then built a song around that it was fine....

Oh yeah, that's gotta be true... I always start with the MD.

Entropy Farmer · Post by **Entropy Farmer** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:42 pm

This sounds like a job for sidechain compression! Ducking the bass to make room for a kick is the canonical example.

i_watch_stars · Post by **i_watch_stars** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:40 pm

i_watch_stars · Post by **i_watch_stars** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:42 pm

There is no "golden road" to mixing. No magic method, no super-secret way....you simply manipulate your sounds with the tools you have until they sound the best. Period. Some mixers start with bass, some with leads, some EQ down, some EQ up..it doesn't really matter in the end.

BTW, us electronic musicians have it real hard with mixing because in other genres of music there actually are standard ways of mixing, because the instruments and arrangement are kept constant (i.e. heavy metal, orchestral, etc). In electronic music, there is no constant so we essentially have to re-invent the wheel everytime. Up the upside though, a well mixed piece of electronic music is something akin to godly compared to all other genres.

Post by **tallowwaters** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:47 am

i_watch_stars wrote:
BTW, us electronic musicians have it real hard with mixing because in other genres of music there actually are standard ways of mixing, because the instruments and arrangement are kept constant.

plenty definitive statement there chief... let me know if you still think that after you spend 3 hours just placing microphones around drums. or spent hours setting up around an acoustic guitar with the right config of mics and outboard. or recording a live band straight to the interface. thats always easy as h**l to mix...

Wiglaf · Post by **Wiglaf** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:18 am

tallowwaters wrote:let me know if you still think that after you spend 3 hours just placing microphones around drums. or spent hours setting up around an acoustic guitar with the right config of mics and outboard. or recording a live band straight to the interface. thats always easy as h**l to mix...

I recently had the chance to participate in a recording session for a band using mics and accoustic instruments. It didn't kill my interest in becoming a engineer, but christ, what a job.

Post by **Cruel Hoax** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:47 am

Wiglaf wrote:
tallowwaters wrote:let me know if you still think that after you spend 3 hours just placing microphones around drums. or spent hours setting up around an acoustic guitar with the right config of mics and outboard. or recording a live band straight to the interface. thats always easy as h**l to mix...
I recently had the chance to participate in a recording session for a band using mics and accoustic instruments. It didn't kill my interest in becoming a engineer, but christ, what a job.

That's what engineering is, boyo! Not just knowing the names of the knobs and the keyboard shortcuts.

I've been recording a metal band, and when you just....ooh...almost....right there! get the sweet spot right, it's a wondrous thing. Now do it for every drum mic and every room mic and all three guitar mics and...

-Hoax

i_watch_stars · Post by **i_watch_stars** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:49 am

tallowwaters wrote:
i_watch_stars wrote:
BTW, us electronic musicians have it real hard with mixing because in other genres of music there actually are standard ways of mixing, because the instruments and arrangement are kept constant.
plenty definitive statement there chief... let me know if you still think that after you spend 3 hours just placing microphones around drums. or spent hours setting up around an acoustic guitar with the right config of mics and outboard. or recording a live band straight to the interface. thats always easy as h**l to mix...

What you described there isn't called mixing..."chief".