I'm interested in knowing a bit more how you EQ/treat your guitars once recorded, I mean the typical SM57 in front of the cab recordings.
Here's what I typically do in a 5150 guitar mix :
I have double tracked guitars most of the time. I create a stereo bus and run each guitar to this bus. Individual tracks are most of the times panned hard.
I have a "filter EQ" on each invidual track, I only keep frequencies between 60 Hz and 12500 Hz.
Then I put a stereo EQ on my guitar bus. I usually find myself cutting :
- a few 250 Hz with a large curve, checking that with the bass guitar too (never tried the C4 thing for the moment)
- a few 400 or 450 or 500 or 600 Hz depending on the sound, to get rid of the mud and get more width in guitars.
- a few 800 Hz (honky mids)
- a few 3 khz (headache frequency, one db or two db is sufficient in most of the cases)
- a few 5 or 6 khz to get rid of the fizz
I sometimes try to cut one db @ 1 khz to scoop the sound a bit more if it's too agressive in the mids. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. The last Machine Head album has scooped to hell guitars but it still sound present, how do the hell M. Richardson gets those mids ?
Then I check with the bass guitar but I usually have to scoop a tiny bit @ 150 Hz in my guitars to make room for it.
5 db cuts is kind of a maxima to me, after this it becomes to sound dead.
Then I boost some frequencies which tend to be the same :
- a few 90 Hz to get the weight of the cab (ala Colin Rirchardson)
- a few 1500 Hz to enhance the "good mids"
- a few 8,5-8,8 khz to increase the "mediator sound"
One to three db boosts are generally fine. More is too much IMO.
Of course all this depends on the other instruments playing in the mix, but those are typical frequencies I work with.
I'm curious about what do you do in your 5150 mixes ?
Here's what I typically do in a 5150 guitar mix :
I have double tracked guitars most of the time. I create a stereo bus and run each guitar to this bus. Individual tracks are most of the times panned hard.
I have a "filter EQ" on each invidual track, I only keep frequencies between 60 Hz and 12500 Hz.
Then I put a stereo EQ on my guitar bus. I usually find myself cutting :
- a few 250 Hz with a large curve, checking that with the bass guitar too (never tried the C4 thing for the moment)
- a few 400 or 450 or 500 or 600 Hz depending on the sound, to get rid of the mud and get more width in guitars.
- a few 800 Hz (honky mids)
- a few 3 khz (headache frequency, one db or two db is sufficient in most of the cases)
- a few 5 or 6 khz to get rid of the fizz
I sometimes try to cut one db @ 1 khz to scoop the sound a bit more if it's too agressive in the mids. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. The last Machine Head album has scooped to hell guitars but it still sound present, how do the hell M. Richardson gets those mids ?
Then I check with the bass guitar but I usually have to scoop a tiny bit @ 150 Hz in my guitars to make room for it.
5 db cuts is kind of a maxima to me, after this it becomes to sound dead.
Then I boost some frequencies which tend to be the same :
- a few 90 Hz to get the weight of the cab (ala Colin Rirchardson)
- a few 1500 Hz to enhance the "good mids"
- a few 8,5-8,8 khz to increase the "mediator sound"
One to three db boosts are generally fine. More is too much IMO.
Of course all this depends on the other instruments playing in the mix, but those are typical frequencies I work with.
I'm curious about what do you do in your 5150 mixes ?
Also a 1 db boost at around 4k usually to get a bit more bite
