EQ settings for metal...

[i acnt spell]

Hey, I've often wondered about various EQ settings for playing metal. I've heard things such as high mids are used for playing various types of metal, and "scooped" mids are good for thrash. Can someone give me a rundown on the various EQ settings for metal, why high mids (or any other settings) are good for metal, and what things like "scooped" mids mean? I may even need a little background on the various effects that different EQ settings will have on the sound. Thanks.

Also, I've often heard of the Eddie Van Halen "Brown Sound." Could someone explain exactly what this is? Thanks.

 

[fadingessence]

scooped mids means you drop all or most of the mid range out of the sound. for example on a 7-band eq you end up with a V shape. That is also the standard metal EQ, bass usually a little higher then treble but use it however you like. A quick rundown is Bass will add more depth to your sound, midrange more well...balls as it will cut through the mix better, and treble more definition...more crunch. I'll just give some examples of settings I use, from 0-10 on the amp.

Opeth-
Bass- 8
Mid- 6
Treb- 5

In Flames-
Bass- 8
Mid- 4
Treb - 4.5

with a metalzone set similarly and the mid freq (scoop) at about 3 and 7 band eq after it with a shallow v pretty close to amp settings

As to the "bown sound". it is referred to a lot because EVH had an amazing guitar tone (in the opinion of many) and everyone and their mother has wanted to copy it at some point. I'm not sure what he actually did or what the amp settings might be though. But I would say that no amp setting, even on the exact same equipment, will make you sound like him.

Metallica (kill em all/thrash)

Bass- 7
Mid 4.5
Treb- 8

Keep in mind that while it may sound pretty good to drop all the mids out doing so will sound awful on stage because you will get completely lost in the mix. Even just drums will totally wash out your sound.

 

[i acnt spell]

Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.

 

[Indiooo]

He's absolutely right. Scooping too much mids live gets you lost in the mix, because you are removing the frequencies that make a guitar be heard among the other instruments. The low frequencies are taken care of by the bass and bass drum and the highs by vox and other instrumentes such as violins, pianos, etc. So you have to compromise between what you think is great tone (I personally feel scooping mids sounds bad) and being heard.

The "Brown Sound", the way I see it, is something like a lot of powertube saturation (i.e. cranked amp) coupled with some singing highs and a lot of mids. Not much bass at all. I only have one VH album (1984) so I'm not the right guy to explain it correctly.

 

[97reb]

I am hoping to see how this set up sounds soon. On Guitar, thru amp #1 - bass 10, mid 10, treble 5, and amp # 2 - 10, 10, 0 (yes, I use two amps for nice fat sound). On bass, 10,10,0. I loves me some low and fat bass sounds.

 

[bobvex]

i have the POD Pro and the dbx 231 EQ, and those alone can make a metal sound that literally brings down the house, this combo is BRUTAL!! i set it for a modern hard rock, punk rock sound, and i use the EQ to get from anywhere from Pantera to Metallica to Children Of Bodom.

 

[Briody]

All knobs on 5!

Seriously, at least on my amp. That setting allows me to be heard nicely in the mix.

As someone else pointed out earlier, as soon as you drop the mids you run the risk of being lost in the mix.

Eddie's 'brown sound' = lots of mid, and a lot less distortion then you would think.

Mark

 

[Iced In Flames]

Alot of people think that the sitortion has to be all the way up. But in reality when recording that needs to be brought down a bit. too much distortion will get you a muddy sound.

 

[The ORIGINAL South Of Heaven]

These are the settings I use on my Blue Voodoo with the BV Cab with Celestions and an old Jackson RR1:

Presence: 3 o'clock
Reverb: 10 o'clock
Bass: 1 o'clock
Mid: 10 o'clock
Treble: A very little bit past 1 o'clock
Gain: Almost full blast, BV's sound screechy as hell with it up all the way.

With the guitar tuned to D, it gives me AWESOME tone, VERY crunchy, lots of balls, and a killer lead tone too. I haven't tried it with my KV2 yet (I tune it to E).

 

[Iced In Flames]

Does your Blue Voodoo has assloads of noise and crackle? My friend has a KE3 and a KE1 Jacksons and with both he gets ungodly amounts of noise.

 

[JavierSantanaMexicanMetal]

Hey, it's about thirteen years later this was posted, but anyway, i will tell you my opinion.

About the mid scoop: Mid scoops are good if you take the "lower" mids off the tone. Let's say that with a ten band EQ, you boost the 31hz for an overall depth an fatness to the tone, bring 1K up for a Dimebag-Like bass cut, take the frequencies from 1K to 5K (Lower mids) off, leave the 5K (Upper mids) for chug and attack in the palm.muted parts, and a treble frequency for scream in the leads. I personally do that with cranked Randall RG100's and it just sound amazing. Maybe try it one day and see if it works to you!

About the Brown Sound: From my point of view, the brown sound is the product of a PAF humbucker through a cranked Plexi-Style amp. It's just a Marshall pushing its output and gain stages to the limit with a quite hot pickup. I have found the Van Halen tone to vary from a magnet to other, depending on the pickup. Alnico II's are sweeter and smoother on the harmonics and on the bass, while an Alnico V would be more screaming and bassier. You can compare the tone on "Van Halen II" and "1984". The Brown Sound is usually mid scooped, but you can hear a bit of chug and bite on "Unchained". That's all, i guess. Thanks!