Let me give you the tutorial you came for. Do's Lowcut to remove muddyness in bass and kicks, also to remove the very lows on midfrequency sounds. Bass theory. Take the low-mid band, and boost it in the 100hz range, to make it more tight. (yes, use it instead of the low-band/bass-band.) If using acoustic bass, increase the high-mids, to bring out the strings of the bass. Kick theory. Increase in 200-300hz range to make it sound like a dance kick. If the kick is not punchy enough, raise the high-mids, to give it a punch. Always make sure to replay the kick and bass together, cos they may sound great individually, but together, they may have a horrible mix of frequencies. Always make sure to decide, whether the bass plays the low frequencies, or the kick does. Sometimes, you would use a subbass. (Trap music has a lot of sub bass going on.) Then you wouldn't try to make the kick subby as well, you would make it more punchy, so the bass and kick can sound great together. And sometimes, it's straight the opposite. Basic EQ knowledge: Always make sure to decrease, before you increase. If you gain something, you are adding something, which wasn't in the original recording. If you decrease something, you are just taking something away from the original recording. A very common technique: When trying to find the annoying frequencies of sounds, you wanna decide which band should adjust with the annoying frequencies, and which should adjust the frequencies that you want to stand out. Then you wanna take every single band, and make it narrow. You know, you can make the band master over 500hz of frequencies, but if you make it narrow, you can decrease that to 100hz of frequencies. You wanna make it as narrow as possible, then boost it to the ceiling. (Be careful! You can hurt your ears!) So when you boosted it, you wanna slide it left and right, till you discovered the most annoying frequency. Then you wanna take that band down below 0. Do that with all the ''annoying'' bands. With the good bands, you can increase them a little, but not too much. Every time you increase something, decrease the master volume of the EQ, because whenever you increase something, the overall sound will be louder, not just of the sound itself, but also for the overall track. You can also choose to increase the volume whenever you decrease something in the eq too, tho. Hope this helped guys!
nowayDk Problem is I dont hear anything annoying in any sounds ever! If I use a sound its because I like it and there is nothing annoying about it. Thats why I only make small boosts, and hi/low passes. I dont get the whole idea behind substraction unless hi/low passes. I also dont understand the whole loudness argument. If there is a peak making it hard for me to make my mix louder, I chop it off with compression. I've yet got to experience the hardships many speak off. I simply cant hear any issues.
@@ZergMazter try them with vocals especially recording with condenser mics, all the hiss sounds will show up when u compress, eq it and then narrow till 0
gotta be said - took me some time to realise that EQ can be cut as well as boosted once that dawned on me, it made it so much easier to leave 'breathing space' in mixes... making it easier to find the 'sweet' part of an audio track...it's taking some time to get my head round the 0db level of digital music (I was an analogue monkey for years)... buy I'm getting there. Little tips like this can only help that understanding. Thanks
He makes a good point. Louder sounds better in the short term, so it takes a bit of dicipline to find the nasty freq and cut instead of boosting what you want to hear; but cutting is better practice for several reasons - circuit overload being just one. Others being eq resonances becoming more pronounced when boosting (depending on eq design), and cumulative runaway levels with boosts on many channels. This applies to analog and digital. But the vocal did already sound distorted!
very nice and informative. I am a newbie to the mixing world. But this guy pretty much explained it so everyone can understand. just take your time. thanx homie
It's not only clipping coming from his monitors, but the audio ON THE VIDEO is clipping (i.e. audio recorded by the microphone he's speaking into). When he demonstrates the "correct" way of EQ'ing you can hear it again. Check 1:37
I'm a professional full time producer at a music house and I can tell you that everyone I work with can identify trouble frequencies of a track, or at least get in the ballpark, before they start sweeping to find the exact frequency. This is a common skill to have. I don't know why you find it so outlandish.
yeah i would usually, depends on the sound you want but generally it will sound better, but if there are alot of dynamics like quiet areas and loud areas in different parts of the song that you want to stay like that i would only use light compression.
Well said Voicecouncil Studio mics are manufactured to capture sound at an optimum level.. so as to reduce the need to make eq adjustments.. I tend not to eq an instrument independently (as you are demonstrating in the video) eg a kick drum simply because when other instruments that occupy the lower end (bass git) will fight against the drum frequencies in the overall mix.. did that make sense?? in short I will eq separate instruments in the context of all the other instruments.. Rich uk
Agreed, you might have some experimental indi band that likes a ton of vocals that are under the main intrumental mix or you might have a power pop vocalist that needs to be clearly and definitavly on top. EQ, in simple terms, is all about finding the place and intrument sounds good in, whether it be voice, bass, guitar or saxophone, whatever intrument it may be, and finding a way to place it into the mix the way it is intended to sound to an audience, so that somthings maybe more audible in th
My philosophy, start with the right mic for the job, good preamp, good technique. Use your ears. The less eq,ing youll have to do afterwards. If you have to boost 8dB at 6kHz (for instance) you can tell there's something wrong.
e mix while other things are scaled back a bit, all in a way that is pleasing to listen to.The only thing that needs to be taught on a general basis (I mean that as in it goes for everyone) is how to place these parts of this equalization puzzle into the mix so they get you the desired and intended sound, which generally is on a similar basis from person to person. Beyond that it is up to the artist.
When the mix and sound is set from the equalizer/test CD and play the whole thing back through this equalizer the LED should be flat.. no hills or dips at all.. then you did it right..it takes a while and some practice BUT it makes a world of difference.
@LomoGrafik Hey, thanks for the feedback. Keep in mind this is a quick demo on a rough guide vocal for a project I had on the desk that time. Dry as a bone. Point taken. EQ cannot save a take that doesn't contain all the passion you can put into a performance. That's a whole new chapter. I've just watched the whole thing for the first time (weird watching yourself speak) and I have no idea what the encoding has done to the sound, but it has definitely grunged it up. Let's inform the vid team.
Hey Alex, Singling the track out is mainly for demonstration purposes. You're absolutely right. There's no point in solo-ing every single track, make it sound the bomb and then try and put them back together again. They're all going to be fighting with each other. I tend to quickly solo something to find out any problems, like excessive popping or so. Deal with that and then put it all back into context. Any questions, drop us a line. Have fun!
Seems like 900Htz or so needs around a 6DB cut or more. Could this particular example have been recorded with less proximity to the mic to help as well?
So you spend some time on a single track and get a good mix... What does that mean for the mix as a whole? It seems that it'd be better to mix the vocals with all the other tracks playing too... I'm new to this and just trying to get some good pointers.
can i ask, what interface are you using? because I'd like to build a studio with more than, say, 8-10 pre's but really haven't found anything that will take a decent sized desk.
I agree, wider the range the better the frequency mix.. But the problem is that nobody makes a 1/3 band EQ WITH a LED display.. LITTLE-BEAR-AUDIO on Ebay sells 12, but how would you be able to split it into 3rds.. I dont. And that would be the closest thing without a custom built one.. besides whos gonna pick out the frequencies between 250 - 300Hz.. not unless your Mr. Data.. and the difference would be 1 - 2%.. If your gonna add one you have to subtract the other to balance out... Thanks
Wow, I wanna know how you made the demonstration track INFINITELY louder than the guy talking about it. Seriously, I tried watching the tutorial and just could not stand how loud the vocal track was.
Videos - DOs and DON'Ts *DOs:* De-interlace your video before uploading it to the web *DON'Ts:* Do NOT upload a video to the web without de-interlacing it.
Get a 10 band equalizer W/ 3 color LED Spectrum Display & set it to a test CD (one freq at a time and write what is was down and then set them all) and DONT touch the these sliders after that. Then you can mix loudness and the on board equalizer to the equalizer you just set with the test CD.. The "only" person who has hearing that can do it WITHOUT this way is DATA from Star Trek TNG. Do each track separately starting with drums Dont pan until that track is set.. then push it left or right.
You are on the right track, however there is very little accuracy unless you have at least a 1/3 octave (31 bands). This is the tool that you should train your ears by. After setting up systems hundreds of times with pink noise, your ears get trained to flat. Now you need a flat pair of headphones. After over 30 years of mixing, there is only one pair that I have found to be accurate. Vintage Koss HV1's.
well i would assume it absorbs hi frequencies ... if you're in a well treated room would that really make a difference. i just don't understand why anyone would wear a hat indoors ...
Analogue and digital will never sound the same. Analogue has a warmth in its tone that digital lacks but digital also has precision in editing that is revolutionary. So one is not better than the other, its all preference in the sound you want to get. I record analogue on a console and mix there too and come into protools to edit only, i dont like those plug ins that try to emulate analogue outboard gear.
sip !!!!!!!!!! Seorang soundman harus seperti beliau. Golden Earing. Sound System School telah membuka Advanced class bagi mereka yang telah mahir untuk di didik menjadi seorang soundman yang handal.
San Saechao This guy is doing a professionally no no which is "never mix in solo." You do your eq with the volcal in the whole mix, not by itself. And if you did proper gain staging like recording at -18dbfs RMS (average not peak) and not recording shit hot like where the meters are averaging at -6dbfs and frequently hitting 0 you wouldn't be overloading anything. When you record at these levels you overload the analog preamp section of your A/D converter. Never eq in solo. Only amateurs do this kind of nonsense.
If you use a high quality microphone with a good pre amp and leave it pretty flat and non compressed than you usually don't need a lot of EQ.The biggest mistake I find people make is over compressed midrange sounding (radio) Vocals, F**k digital pro tools etc GO WITH TAPE
Let me give you the tutorial you came for.
Do's
Lowcut to remove muddyness in bass and kicks, also to remove the very lows on midfrequency sounds.
Bass theory. Take the low-mid band, and boost it in the 100hz range, to make it more tight. (yes, use it instead of the low-band/bass-band.) If using acoustic bass, increase the high-mids, to bring out the strings of the bass.
Kick theory. Increase in 200-300hz range to make it sound like a dance kick. If the kick is not punchy enough, raise the high-mids, to give it a punch.
Always make sure to replay the kick and bass together, cos they may sound great individually, but together, they may have a horrible mix of frequencies. Always make sure to decide, whether the bass plays the low frequencies, or the kick does. Sometimes, you would use a subbass. (Trap music has a lot of sub bass going on.) Then you wouldn't try to make the kick subby as well, you would make it more punchy, so the bass and kick can sound great together. And sometimes, it's straight the opposite.
Basic EQ knowledge:
Always make sure to decrease, before you increase. If you gain something, you are adding something, which wasn't in the original recording. If you decrease something, you are just taking something away from the original recording.
A very common technique: When trying to find the annoying frequencies of sounds, you wanna decide which band should adjust with the annoying frequencies, and which should adjust the frequencies that you want to stand out. Then you wanna take every single band, and make it narrow. You know, you can make the band master over 500hz of frequencies, but if you make it narrow, you can decrease that to 100hz of frequencies. You wanna make it as narrow as possible, then boost it to the ceiling. (Be careful! You can hurt your ears!) So when you boosted it, you wanna slide it left and right, till you discovered the most annoying frequency. Then you wanna take that band down below 0. Do that with all the ''annoying'' bands.
With the good bands, you can increase them a little, but not too much. Every time you increase something, decrease the master volume of the EQ, because whenever you increase something, the overall sound will be louder, not just of the sound itself, but also for the overall track. You can also choose to increase the volume whenever you decrease something in the eq too, tho.
Hope this helped guys!
♥
cool
nowayDk Problem is I dont hear anything annoying in any sounds ever! If I use a sound its because I like it and there is nothing annoying about it. Thats why I only make small boosts, and hi/low passes. I dont get the whole idea behind substraction unless hi/low passes.
I also dont understand the whole loudness argument. If there is a peak making it hard for me to make my mix louder, I chop it off with compression.
I've yet got to experience the hardships many speak off. I simply cant hear any issues.
@@ZergMazter try them with vocals especially recording with condenser mics, all the hiss sounds will show up when u compress, eq it and then narrow till 0
he wants, he wants your body... you're the one, that makes him feel this way.
When it comes to sound, Wes Maebe is your man :)
er...actually, he's not my man :(
this is such a sick console, we have the 924 at school. Loadsss of fun to have with it and great preamps!
I think the audio in this video needs to be mixed properly.
just found your web series. you give the most helpful hints and tips as far as mic placement and technique. thanks alot really helped my recordings
I have the same challenges with my recording too and my vocal tracks are not easy to achieve so I use compressors , eq, de essers, and so on..
gotta be said - took me some time to realise that EQ can be cut as well as boosted once that dawned on me, it made it so much easier to leave 'breathing space' in mixes... making it easier to find the 'sweet' part of an audio track...it's taking some time to get my head round the 0db level of digital music (I was an analogue monkey for years)... buy I'm getting there. Little tips like this can only help that understanding.
Thanks
wow what a great guy! this was an amazing tutorial that's universally helpful! thanks dude!
He makes a good point. Louder sounds better in the short term, so it takes a bit of dicipline to find the nasty freq and cut instead of boosting what you want to hear; but cutting is better practice for several reasons - circuit overload being just one. Others being eq resonances becoming more pronounced when boosting (depending on eq design), and cumulative runaway levels with boosts on many channels. This applies to analog and digital.
But the vocal did already sound distorted!
very nice and informative. I am a newbie to the mixing world. But this guy pretty much explained it so everyone can understand. just take your time. thanx homie
your the one who makes me feel this way--- which is that I want you to speak up.
i started this video
then i listened his vocal
now i am turning my computer off :P
nice video, thanks for the insight and I am now going to check out this voice council thing, seems like something a lot of musicians could use.
It's not just the frequencies. The whole sample is annoying
Not even the EQ could help.
It's not only clipping coming from his monitors, but the audio ON THE VIDEO is clipping (i.e. audio recorded by the microphone he's speaking into). When he demonstrates the "correct" way of EQ'ing you can hear it again. Check 1:37
Taught me that I shouldnt put too much boost on any particular EQ, But rather CUT from the other EQ's - Thank you
wow i've been trying to learn eq for years and now i understand because of this video!!! derp.
I'm a professional full time producer at a music house and I can tell you that everyone I work with can identify trouble frequencies of a track, or at least get in the ballpark, before they start sweeping to find the exact frequency. This is a common skill to have. I don't know why you find it so outlandish.
Great answers to questions I didn't have.
yeah i would usually, depends on the sound you want but generally it will sound better, but if there are alot of dynamics like quiet areas and loud areas in different parts of the song that you want to stay like that i would only use light compression.
Well said Voicecouncil
Studio mics are manufactured to capture sound at an optimum level.. so as to reduce the need to make eq adjustments.. I tend not to eq an instrument independently (as you are demonstrating in the video) eg a kick drum simply because when other instruments that occupy the lower end (bass git) will fight against the drum frequencies in the overall mix.. did that make sense??
in short I will eq separate instruments in the context of all the other instruments..
Rich
uk
Agreed, you might have some experimental indi band that likes a ton of vocals that are under the main intrumental mix or you might have a power pop vocalist that needs to be clearly and definitavly on top. EQ, in simple terms, is all about finding the place and intrument sounds good in, whether it be voice, bass, guitar or saxophone, whatever intrument it may be, and finding a way to place it into the mix the way it is intended to sound to an audience, so that somthings maybe more audible in th
You're the the one, you're the one...YOU ARE THE ONE!
i need more of this guys tutorials
My philosophy, start with the right mic for the job, good preamp, good technique. Use your ears. The less eq,ing youll have to do afterwards. If you have to boost 8dB at 6kHz (for instance) you can tell there's something wrong.
thank god for the accent. i needed that right now.
hopefully man thanks!!!
Believe it or not this was actually helpful. I tend to boost everything and feel dumb for doing it and start from square one.
My approach as well, peak eq's with high q setting and cut the crap out then go back in with a nice EQ to boost a bit, keep it no more than 3db
e mix while other things are scaled back a bit, all in a way that is pleasing to listen to.The only thing that needs to be taught on a general basis (I mean that as in it goes for everyone) is how to place these parts of this equalization puzzle into the mix so they get you the desired and intended sound, which generally is on a similar basis from person to person. Beyond that it is up to the artist.
very good tips and video thanks my man!!!!!
When the mix and sound is set from the equalizer/test CD and play the whole thing back through this equalizer the LED should be flat.. no hills or dips at all.. then you did it right..it takes a while and some practice BUT it makes a world of difference.
@DjTokenMusic Heya, It was Avid's Digidesign Protools HD hardware. I'm a great fan of the Prismsound ones.
That AWS is a great board. I've had the privilege of mixing on one.
I find a lot of closed back headphones tend to boost around 500-1k. Ipod earbuds do that as well so that the vocals sound like OOOOOO in my ears
At first, I was listening to the guy, and then, I jumped when the vocals in question popped in.
@LomoGrafik Hey, thanks for the feedback. Keep in mind this is a quick demo on a rough guide vocal for a project I had on the desk that time. Dry as a bone. Point taken. EQ cannot save a take that doesn't contain all the passion you can put into a performance. That's a whole new chapter.
I've just watched the whole thing for the first time (weird watching yourself speak) and I have no idea what the encoding has done to the sound, but it has definitely grunged it up. Let's inform the vid team.
Hey Alex,
Singling the track out is mainly for demonstration purposes.
You're absolutely right. There's no point in solo-ing every single track, make it sound the bomb and then try and put them back together again. They're all going to be fighting with each other.
I tend to quickly solo something to find out any problems, like excessive popping or so. Deal with that and then put it all back into context.
Any questions, drop us a line. Have fun!
what is annoying is the guy singing in the first place
yeah, could we EQ him out?
Bingo was his nameo
Dued.....thanks a mill.
AWESOME! that was nice and simple. Cheers :D
i like the overdriven circuits.
You got it!
When I was a kid I used to turn every EQ slider on the home stereo right up! haha
..::Whow that was pure cool i really love that never seen in youtube to do that in mixer::..
Seems like 900Htz or so needs around a 6DB cut or more. Could this particular example have been recorded with less proximity to the mic to help as well?
@JxRsound its a mixer console
Sound advice, thanks
So you spend some time on a single track and get a good mix... What does that mean for the mix as a whole? It seems that it'd be better to mix the vocals with all the other tracks playing too... I'm new to this and just trying to get some good pointers.
nice thanks for the post
@GHQSonicCuisine That makes sense. Thanks for the prompt response!
My question is if I use a compressor on virtual instruments, or only external? instruments please I really need to know.
Totally saw the still for this video and thought it was kid rock mixing up a song! Baw wit ta baw!
I definitely have a future in this. What should i major in college to do sound in the future?
@voicecouncil Thanks for upload :]
can i ask, what interface are you using? because I'd like to build a studio with more than, say, 8-10 pre's but really haven't found anything that will take a decent sized desk.
Thanks for tutorial! All I was ever doing was boosting and then it starts clipping so I have to hard limit it.
I agree, wider the range the better the frequency mix.. But the problem is that nobody makes a 1/3 band EQ WITH a LED display.. LITTLE-BEAR-AUDIO on Ebay sells 12, but how would you be able to split it into 3rds.. I dont. And that would be the closest thing without a custom built one.. besides whos gonna pick out the frequencies between 250 - 300Hz.. not unless your Mr. Data.. and the difference would be 1 - 2%.. If your gonna add one you have to subtract the other to balance out... Thanks
God damn Boy George, thanks for the tut!
Lov ur style :D
Wow, I wanna know how you made the demonstration track INFINITELY louder than the guy talking about it. Seriously, I tried watching the tutorial and just could not stand how loud the vocal track was.
Videos - DOs and DON'Ts
*DOs:*
De-interlace your video before uploading it to the web
*DON'Ts:*
Do NOT upload a video to the web without de-interlacing it.
nice, thank you
Fenomenal
Get a 10 band equalizer W/ 3 color LED Spectrum Display & set it to a test CD (one freq at a time and write what is was down and then set them all) and DONT touch the these sliders after that. Then you can mix loudness and the on board equalizer to the equalizer you just set with the test CD.. The "only" person who has hearing that can do it WITHOUT this way is DATA from Star Trek TNG. Do each track separately starting with drums Dont pan until that track is set.. then push it left or right.
Always better to cut than boost
Kid Rock, a renowned British sound engineer.
Thanks.
Good one:-) So do you know what they call singers in the industry? People who like to hang out with musicians.
You are on the right track, however there is very little accuracy unless you have at least a 1/3 octave (31 bands). This is the tool that you should train your ears by. After setting up systems hundreds of times with pink noise, your ears get trained to flat. Now you need a flat pair of headphones. After over 30 years of mixing, there is only one pair that I have found to be accurate. Vintage Koss HV1's.
@bumpyheadman Rock 'n Roll Jesus! Thanks for watching.
What song is that x)? Need to get that lyricloop of my head :c
@JxRsound I think that's a monitor or something?
well i would assume it absorbs hi frequencies ... if you're in a well treated room would that really make a difference. i just don't understand why anyone would wear a hat indoors ...
thankyou kid rock
When it's come to E. Q. It up to person own judgment
It's kind of ironic that the audio of the video is clipping…
Analogue and digital will never sound the same. Analogue has a warmth in its tone that digital lacks but digital also has precision in editing that is revolutionary. So one is not better than the other, its all preference in the sound you want to get.
I record analogue on a console and mix there too and come into protools to edit only, i dont like those plug ins that try to emulate analogue outboard gear.
Holy crap! I LOST IT! :bow:
yeah, people who can't hear that ................ wow
it is better to DROP elements than to boost elements. THEN you can bring up the overall mix.
Mother of god...!!!!! ITS THE UNDERTAKER !!! :P
EQ starts with the mic selection
sip !!!!!!!!!!
Seorang soundman harus seperti beliau. Golden Earing.
Sound System School telah membuka Advanced class bagi mereka yang telah mahir untuk di didik menjadi seorang soundman yang handal.
Sure sounded better at the end!
What frequency range that you cut out the annoying area
4.gay htz
San Saechao This guy is doing a professionally no no which is "never mix in solo." You do your eq with the volcal in the whole mix, not by itself. And if you did proper gain staging like recording at -18dbfs RMS (average not peak) and not recording shit hot like where the meters are averaging at -6dbfs and frequently hitting 0 you wouldn't be overloading anything. When you record at these levels you overload the analog preamp section of your A/D converter. Never eq in solo. Only amateurs do this kind of nonsense.
thanks
Nice cranium accessory miss!
holy fuck i've never laughed that hard at a comment before 10/10
If you use a high quality microphone with a good pre amp and leave it pretty flat and non compressed than you usually don't need a lot of EQ.The biggest mistake I find people make is over compressed midrange sounding (radio) Vocals, F**k digital pro tools etc GO WITH TAPE
i actually heard the guy from Kings of Leon before i saw ur stewie comment.now i just hear stewie lol
Hi what speakers are you using?
But these days you can get a plug-in carefully modelled on one of those "big consoles" that sounds almost indistinguishable from the real thing. ;)
@JxRsound A mixing console.
@Nintendog140 sure can. Volume control fellas.
The biggest don't with EQing is doing it isolation without hearing how what your doing sits in the mix.
Is it really as simple as mids, lows, and highs? O _o
+Peninism Recordings haha!
@TheJWMMakerofMusic distortion huh? are you the jwm from imageline? howdy lol
@AeonFlexMusic Hell yeah dude. :D I'm sure you are the AeonFlex I know from there.
Whats up Kid Rock