5th Sequence
Hip Hop Head, Certified
ah oui oui. Je parle francias aussi. but not really.
bon jour?
au revoir homies.
bon jour?
au revoir homies.
Eq...
- Thread starter sYgMa
- Start date
Producer_GyaL
IllMuzik First Lady
StressWon said:
yes, it has a lot of goodies this month... Nice interview with the roots, J dilla tribute, Diamond D interview (nice) , there is a nice talk with the fugees producers... RJD2 speaks...(first time I see his face lol) theres a lot of little talk about mobb deep... kerry Krucial brothers (alicia's producer) DJ premiere, rick rock, Ghosface etc.
TISH YOU SPOKE FRENCH!!(Adams Family)
Im gonna have to grab that too, my eqing needs lessons.
Im one of those who spend hours days weeks eqing the sme damn song.
I probably hit my mark at some point then keep foolin with it till its screwed up good
Im gonna have to grab that too, my eqing needs lessons.
Im one of those who spend hours days weeks eqing the sme damn song.
I probably hit my mark at some point then keep foolin with it till its screwed up good
5th Sequence
Hip Hop Head, Certified
lol. i apologize. on a scale of 1-10, my french scales are negative. The scratch mag is pretty good this issue. you should check that book too though if your a dedicated tweaker. Just reading it gives you a clearer sense of what you are doing and what needs to be done.
sYgMa
Making head bangers!!!
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 26
Relic said:TISH YOU SPOKE FRENCH!!(Adams Family)
Im gonna have to grab that too, my eqing needs lessons.
Im one of those who spend hours days weeks eqing the sme damn song.
I probably hit my mark at some point then keep foolin with it till its screwed up good
Same thing here... and actually, since I dont really know what exact sound I'm looking for... it always messes up in the final mix.
What I do is listen to the beat and try to see what is dominant and makes the song alive. Than I draw a plan on how I would like to have my instruments sounding in the mix. For example if my rhythem is sounding the best i would work on putting it in the front and making it punchy. So i would compressit for the bite, use a hp to get rid of the low rumble, get rid of the highs so it wont clutter other high end instruments and ect. Basically I first work on cleaning op the sound, making space for other instruments, first by cutting rather than boosting, than getting that special sound i want from it with e.q. well wish i could say more but gotta go back to work.. holla.
Hypnotist
Ear Manipulator
ill o.g.
I'll reiterate what other people have posted, because these ARE really good tips to remember, and I have some of my own:
1. The best EQ is NO EQ. -This applies to the actual recording using proper mic technique, but that's a different story.
2. Only EQ when you HAVE to. Don't put an EQ plugin on every track.
3. Subtractive EQ is wiser than Added EQ.
4. If you boost with EQ, you'll need to cut the fader by that much to keep the relative mix alive. Cut EQ and boost the fader by the same.
5. Make sure things don't clash with each other
6. Leave a "space" for everything in the frequency spectrum. Can't every sound just get ALONG?!?!
Through Thick and Thin:
Some melodies and sounds in your mix will drive the record. (credit to Julio G). You'll want some sounds to be thick and full-bodied, and other sounds (background vocals, subtle flutes, accompaniments) to be thin and supportive of Mr. Thickness. Sort through your sounds and find what you want to thicken or thin out.
Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya:
You can't add something to a sound that isn't there. Adding 60Hz to a vocal track is just dumb, and you're gonna pick up the vibrations in the floor or the artist's feet while he's doin his thing. Okay, so the guitar sounds good, but needs tweaking. But why? What is it about that guitar that makes it sound good? Maybe you want to filter everything else out BUT that one frequency that makes the guitar stand out so much. Maybe you want to leave everything else flat and just give that "Star Frequency" the limelight and nudge him up a little bit. I'll explain how in the end of this post with a nice little shortcut I use to find frequencies.
Living In Harmony:
You can add harmonics to your sounds subtly that can make a huge difference. It's just plain math. If you really want to bring out a frequency, then add that frequency plus double that, plus double that, plus double that. Example: If you wanted to boost 500Hz in your guitar, then add a touch of 1kHz (1,000Hz), a hair of 2kHz, and maybe a speck of 4kHz. This makes your boost at 500Hz more natural sounding. Think of sound as a vibration up a string. Then think of that string containing the actual soundwave in it. It has a particular length. And two waves fit exactly in that string. And so do four waves. And eight waves. These are VERY subtle, but this is what sound DOES. Use it very carefully and very subtly. Don't boost those frequencies so you can hear THEM, boost the frequencies so you can hear your main frequency better. It takes a while to hear it, but if you have a plugin where you can A-B two different settings, go back and forth so you can hear the difference in 500Hz (or whatever your base freq is)
Pay Attention Frequently:
KNOW YOUR FREQUENCIES! I posted something in another thread about "Training your ears". It's really a good method for recognizing all the frequencies in the spectrum. https://www.illmuzik.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13437 The better you can recognize each frequency, the better you'll know how to apply any EQ or know what instrument/sound needs what EQ, or if it needs anything at all. Know that your ears are young, and they need schooling. PAY ATTENTION to the way things sound! I've been doing this for about 13 years and I still need MUCH more experience to know what to pay attention to and why.
Sweep From Floor to Ceiling:
I mentioned that I would talk about a good tip that can help you find frequencies. It's really simple, and you'll probably invent your own techniques along the way. This is just what I do, and it's really basic:
1. Find a sound that needs EQ and add an EQ plugin, or use outboard EQ. Let's say in this case, it's a vocal track that sounds nasal and we want to get that frequency out, and also make it sound intelligible and crisp at the same time.
2. Solo this track
3. Take one of the frequencies and start with a very narrow Q (bandwidth) With Q it's reciprocal, so the higher the number, the narrower the Q..
4. TURN THAT FADER DOWN. You'll be finding some ear-piercing frequencies, so BE CAREFUL.
5. Add between 8 and 12dB of gain to that frequency. (Again, make sure that fader is down, and if you already have a mix and don't want to turn it down, then turn down the master fader or just your monitors)
6. Sweep this frequency up and down. Right now we're looking for an annoying nasal sound, so try and find it.
7. If you have no luck, then widen your Q (bandwidth) very slightly and try again.
8. When you think you have found that annoying sound, lower the gain on that exact frequency and/or neighboring frequencies (depending on your Q).
9. If it was REALLY annoying to begin with, and you REALLY need to get rid of that specific frequency, then use your EQ as a notch filter (think of taking a notch out of something) and leave the Q narrow and turn it down alot.
10. If it was just a slight annoyance, then widen the Q slightly more than when you were sweeping through frequencies, and bring it down slightly.
11. Now analyze your changes and A-B your EQ, while soloing the track and listening with everything else. If you've been finding frequencies for a long time, get up and grab a drink and come back. Your ears may be fatigued already from paying too close attention.
12. Now find out whether you still need changes to the high part of the vocals. You may have corrected it by "de-nasalizing" it earlier. "Intelligibility" is usually a presence around 4-6kHz, give or take a few hundred Hz. You don't need to sweep at all or as much for this part, but you can do it for the high range as well if you want.
13. Don't do this for too long. You will fatigue your ears and then they will play tricks on you. Trust me. Try to hypothesize what frequency or area of frequencies you wish to start at as a basis and work within that range. Try to identify it as early as possible and your ears will thank you.
I don't want to add a #14, for fear of being unlucky. 13 seems to be my lucky number so I'll stick with that.
I hope this little bit of info helped all you crazy-ass fruityloop-havin' sound-hungry beat-junkie mixin' mofos.
Pce,
-Hypno
1. The best EQ is NO EQ. -This applies to the actual recording using proper mic technique, but that's a different story.
2. Only EQ when you HAVE to. Don't put an EQ plugin on every track.
3. Subtractive EQ is wiser than Added EQ.
4. If you boost with EQ, you'll need to cut the fader by that much to keep the relative mix alive. Cut EQ and boost the fader by the same.
5. Make sure things don't clash with each other
6. Leave a "space" for everything in the frequency spectrum. Can't every sound just get ALONG?!?!
Through Thick and Thin:
Some melodies and sounds in your mix will drive the record. (credit to Julio G). You'll want some sounds to be thick and full-bodied, and other sounds (background vocals, subtle flutes, accompaniments) to be thin and supportive of Mr. Thickness. Sort through your sounds and find what you want to thicken or thin out.
Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya:
You can't add something to a sound that isn't there. Adding 60Hz to a vocal track is just dumb, and you're gonna pick up the vibrations in the floor or the artist's feet while he's doin his thing. Okay, so the guitar sounds good, but needs tweaking. But why? What is it about that guitar that makes it sound good? Maybe you want to filter everything else out BUT that one frequency that makes the guitar stand out so much. Maybe you want to leave everything else flat and just give that "Star Frequency" the limelight and nudge him up a little bit. I'll explain how in the end of this post with a nice little shortcut I use to find frequencies.
Living In Harmony:
You can add harmonics to your sounds subtly that can make a huge difference. It's just plain math. If you really want to bring out a frequency, then add that frequency plus double that, plus double that, plus double that. Example: If you wanted to boost 500Hz in your guitar, then add a touch of 1kHz (1,000Hz), a hair of 2kHz, and maybe a speck of 4kHz. This makes your boost at 500Hz more natural sounding. Think of sound as a vibration up a string. Then think of that string containing the actual soundwave in it. It has a particular length. And two waves fit exactly in that string. And so do four waves. And eight waves. These are VERY subtle, but this is what sound DOES. Use it very carefully and very subtly. Don't boost those frequencies so you can hear THEM, boost the frequencies so you can hear your main frequency better. It takes a while to hear it, but if you have a plugin where you can A-B two different settings, go back and forth so you can hear the difference in 500Hz (or whatever your base freq is)
Pay Attention Frequently:
KNOW YOUR FREQUENCIES! I posted something in another thread about "Training your ears". It's really a good method for recognizing all the frequencies in the spectrum. https://www.illmuzik.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13437 The better you can recognize each frequency, the better you'll know how to apply any EQ or know what instrument/sound needs what EQ, or if it needs anything at all. Know that your ears are young, and they need schooling. PAY ATTENTION to the way things sound! I've been doing this for about 13 years and I still need MUCH more experience to know what to pay attention to and why.
Sweep From Floor to Ceiling:
I mentioned that I would talk about a good tip that can help you find frequencies. It's really simple, and you'll probably invent your own techniques along the way. This is just what I do, and it's really basic:
1. Find a sound that needs EQ and add an EQ plugin, or use outboard EQ. Let's say in this case, it's a vocal track that sounds nasal and we want to get that frequency out, and also make it sound intelligible and crisp at the same time.
2. Solo this track
3. Take one of the frequencies and start with a very narrow Q (bandwidth) With Q it's reciprocal, so the higher the number, the narrower the Q..
4. TURN THAT FADER DOWN. You'll be finding some ear-piercing frequencies, so BE CAREFUL.
5. Add between 8 and 12dB of gain to that frequency. (Again, make sure that fader is down, and if you already have a mix and don't want to turn it down, then turn down the master fader or just your monitors)
6. Sweep this frequency up and down. Right now we're looking for an annoying nasal sound, so try and find it.
7. If you have no luck, then widen your Q (bandwidth) very slightly and try again.
8. When you think you have found that annoying sound, lower the gain on that exact frequency and/or neighboring frequencies (depending on your Q).
9. If it was REALLY annoying to begin with, and you REALLY need to get rid of that specific frequency, then use your EQ as a notch filter (think of taking a notch out of something) and leave the Q narrow and turn it down alot.
10. If it was just a slight annoyance, then widen the Q slightly more than when you were sweeping through frequencies, and bring it down slightly.
11. Now analyze your changes and A-B your EQ, while soloing the track and listening with everything else. If you've been finding frequencies for a long time, get up and grab a drink and come back. Your ears may be fatigued already from paying too close attention.
12. Now find out whether you still need changes to the high part of the vocals. You may have corrected it by "de-nasalizing" it earlier. "Intelligibility" is usually a presence around 4-6kHz, give or take a few hundred Hz. You don't need to sweep at all or as much for this part, but you can do it for the high range as well if you want.
13. Don't do this for too long. You will fatigue your ears and then they will play tricks on you. Trust me. Try to hypothesize what frequency or area of frequencies you wish to start at as a basis and work within that range. Try to identify it as early as possible and your ears will thank you.
I don't want to add a #14, for fear of being unlucky. 13 seems to be my lucky number so I'll stick with that.
I hope this little bit of info helped all you crazy-ass fruityloop-havin' sound-hungry beat-junkie mixin' mofos.
Pce,
-Hypno
Another thing that I like to do is, keep the flow of the beat from start to finish, meaning keep the listener interested. know when to change a instrument raise the volume of the bass for example when its a solo and ect. I like to keep my listeners excited with some good changes in rhythem,instruments,efx, and volume changes. If the the whole track sounds the same from beginung to end, the listener will get bored quick. Plus it makes you sound more professional as a producer or mixing engineer. Basically have some good edits, and know when to change it up. Having the vocals on top of this great beat is like a high I cant describe. So a mixing eng.'s job is not only to make the beat sound good, but also keep a focal point threw out the whole song. Peace gotta go back to work, holla....
