EQ: Learning how to successfully manipulate EQ on tracks and mixes is one of the most important skills you have to learn. Even after some years of practice I still find it difficult to dial in appropriate EQ adjustments reasonably quickly. Instead I seem to spend ages using trial and error. It’s so difficult because getting EQ right on the overall mix means making EQ adjustments on individual tracks, but these interact with each other when played together. It’s like trying to balance a number of simultaneous equations where there’s no definitive answer; just a ‘best fit’.
You also need to take into account that our perception of sounds and frequencies is not consistent from low frequencies to high, i.e. it’s non-linear. Human hearing is built to be more receptive to upper mids (between 1 and 6 kilohertz) than bass and treble, due to our need to pick out sounds in that part of the spectrum; human speech for example. For more information, read about the Fletcher-Munson curves (see picture Right, top).
So, here are my golden top tips!
- Practice a lot. It’s one of those areas where practice - training your hearing to appreciate and pick out particular frequencies - is crucial.
- Rest your ears often. Human hearing soon adapts to what it’s hearing, changing the brain’s perception of the frequencies. If you spend hours getting the right zing on a drum track I guarantee that when you come back to it the next day you’ll wonder what on earth you were thinking of.
- Record everything with no EQ. EQ is a ‘context’ polishing tool. You can’t add EQ to instruments in isolation, only when you hear them in context.
- Don’t jump to EQ when it might be just a level problem.
- EQ is best subtracted, not added (most times), this will give you more ‘clarity’ and less ‘falseness’. If an instrument isn’t prominent in the mix, don’t automatically turn up the mids or top on it; try rolling off EQ on the other instrument(s) obscuring it.
- Try bypassing the EQ on each track regularly and see if it really does sound better.
- Use high and low pass filters to remove parts of the spectrum you don’t need. Remove everything below 80Hz on vocals as it’ll probably be just rumble and passing traffic. Remove everything below 10kHz on kick drums and basses.
- ‘Air’ on vocals: to add a nice sheen or ‘air’ on vocals, give them a little boost at 10-12kHz.
- Never, while recording or mixing, boost more than 6dB with an equaliser - there’s probably something wrong elsewhere. (When you’re an expert you might be able to break this rule, but for the rest of us it’s a rule!)
- Mastering a song: cut all very low frequencies, e.g. -12dB below 30Hz across the whole song. Lows carry a lot of energy and can mess up a mix without you being aware, (you can’t hear it but it will show up on the meters). This will also greatly help mastering software like Ozone or T-Racks do their job better.
- Less is more!! Less EQ and less effects = more natural result.
- You can find an invaluable interactive guide to frequencies here.