Have you noticed that when you listen to a commercial CD of your favorite artist you can hear every instrument in the mix clearly? Professional mixing engineers using tools like compression and equalization in the mixing stage to make all the tracks fit together is the reasons for this. Here are some basic EQ tips used by the big boys to achieve that awesome clear sound.
Disclaimer #1 -
This article is not meant to cure or diagnose any sonic problems in your recorded masterpiece. It is intended to give you ideas of possible trouble areas to look for during the mixing stage, as well as help you potentially diagnose frequency issues in the future from a mixing engineers point of view. Whoa!
Many aspiring artist have come in to my studio with a CD demo of beats burned on their home computer and they almost always ask one of these questions; "Why does my demo sound so muddy and cluttered" or "Why doesn't it sound like a store bought CD"?
Disclaimer #2
- I am going to assume that you are producing your music in a somewhat decent room with treatments like foam or curtains on your walls and you are using real studio monitors (no book-shelf speakers please). In other words brothers and sisters, I'm assuming that you can trust both the room you work and record in, AND trust your own monitors to tell you the truth about the music you are producing and mixing.
Are you with me so far?
When you listen to your favorite rappers, rock-stars or pop artists on the radio or CD in your car, you can feel the kick drum, and the pop of the claps and snare drum. You can really feel the bottom end of the bass. You might ask yourself, "How do they get such a deep, deep bass and kick sound on that record?", or "How do they juggle all those frequencies so in the end it doesn't sound so cluttered or muddy?"
When listening to today's modern music, whether it's rap, rock, metal, you hear the thump of the kick drum, the beef in the bass and the power of the synth basses. It is very easy to just assume that the mixing engineer has "added" a veritable boatload of low frequencies to those instruments, and it's just as simple as that. In other words, you add more, to get more, right?
The biggest names that are mixing today's hit records are actually removing the unwanted low end frequencies from the other adjacent tracks to make the necessary room for the real low end instruments like the kick, bass and the low end synth etc. This type of low end removal is referred to as "subtractive equalization" or "subtractive eq".
Don't mix you music in "solo" mode!
Before I continue with this concept of subtractive equalization, I want to touch briefly on the "solo" button found on your hardware or software mixer. I sometimes see recording engineers (fresh out of recording school) making very critical equalization decisions while listening to an individual track in "solo" mode.
"solo" mode is used for various reasons. Here, I'm only going to mention two of them.
The "solo" button or switch enables you to:
Find out what instrument is on a particular track. Useful, if you forgot to write it down on your track sheet or mixing desk the first time.
"Solo" lets you listen to just that "one individual" instrument without having to hear the rest of the mix at the same time. You can then listen for any sonic problems or issues that the track may or may not have. You might ask, "Does it have too much bass, not enough midrange, too little, or too much high end etc?
Remember, the whole idea of mixing a song or a beat, is to have all the tracks working together in balance to create a great final product. Unless you are mega engineer Bob Clearmountain, then I would suggest you don't EQ your tracks in "solo" mode.
Are you ready for this?
Let's say you've got a simple kick and clap beat, with a tight hat, nice fat bass, and maybe some bell sounds in the background. Don't reach for that EQ just yet my friend.
Begin by setting the Master or Main Output Fader to its Unity/detent spot 0db.
Listen at 80-85db level, or if you have neighbors, go as loud as possible so as not to damage your ears, your monitors, or your relationships you may have with these neighbors.
Start by bringing the faders of your kick, snares, hats and cymbals up to unity first. Then adjust the faders to get the proper balance of volume for those instruments. Go for a volume level on each track that makes those elements feel right. Use your ears. Very Important!
Once you've achieved a good overall balance by adjusting the volume faders, now use your ears, as well as your monitors, and EQ. Use a low shelving or low cut filter while you listen to the drum tracks you have going to your speakers so far. Carefully remove the low end frequencies that are mudding up the balance. Listen carefully as you remove 1-2 db at a time from the low end of the track. Keep making these adjustments to all your drum tracks and percussion. You should begin to hear the drum tracks open up and become clearer.
Next slip the bass in under the kick drum, till it feels good. Hopefully it's starting to breathe a little at this point. Sorry, it's that whole subjective "feel thing" again.
Add your keyboard elements to the mix. Is it happening? It's got to feel right, so if it doesn't, something will have to change in the arrangement. Maybe pitch the keys up an octave. That little tip can sometimes work miracles.
At this point I would take the master fader down to almost completely off just to listen at a very quite level to see if you can still hear everything in the arrangement at low volumes. Also listen for anything that might be jumping out of the mix, if it sounds good at this point Playa, you're doing great.
Now bring the master fader back to its unity position. Bring the track fader up on the bell track. Your first thought might be that the bells are high pitched so let's add a ton of high end EQ.
Instead remove (not add) some or maybe all of the dirty, dirty low end frequencies off of those bells. On such a high pitched instrument like the bells, there isn't anything really going on below 150 hertz, so roll it out Man!
While the whole track is playing start by rolling off using your low cut filter or maybe your bass shelving knob till the bells start to clear up. You may not need anything below 150 to 300 hertz. You be the judge. Use your ears. If it sound good, it is good. I mentioned you may not need anything below 150 hertz, but go higher if you think it sounds good. If you were using a piano instead of bells, try the same, just don't overdo it! By removing the dirty muddy frequencies on all the tracks, you are actually cleaning up your whole mix. Can you dig it?
You know you're ready for this!
You use this same procedure with every track in your mix, just exercise caution and don't take out to much, or it can sound very harsh, very tinny, overly bright, and very painful to listen to. Can you dig that?
I mentioned earlier in this article that the big boy's of mixing do use subtractive EQ to clean up their tracks. But, they also add frequencies when needed to get instruments to come forward in the mix a little more, or to brighten up a dull sound as well. One more tool that can make your audio life a lot easier, is a dedicated hardware or software spectrum analyzer. You insert the analyzer on a track, or on the Main Output. This amazing tool can show you exactly what's happening on an instrument track or mix by showing you what you're actually hearing.
When you use your ears along with the spectrum analyzer, getting through a mix can be a lot more enjoyable. F.Y.I., there are a lot of great inexpensive spectrum analyzer online and some are even free to download.
In conclusion, remember to make these EQ adjustments while the track is playing. I'm saving compression, panning, effects and limiting for a future article, meanwhile I hope this will help you get started in the right direction, best of luck!
Buy Beats Online At Rap2Beats/Outlaw Music Productions, we have written & produced beats for Ford Motor Company, BMW, Compaq Computers and GTE and a host of others.
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