Frequency Response, SPAN and other questions

[TheWinterSnow]

If you know me any bit you will find that I am a bit slow. I just got my hands on Solo C and 7170 (which i like better than 8580 ) then decided to do some recordings to see how they deal up to my real 5150.

Beyond sounding killer I leanred a few things about drums, including using compression that is actaully useful, like using heavy compression in the room mics and enough on the snare to make it "snap". Yes I know again slow, but now I have a pretty decent AD tone.

I wanted to try to get a sound that was similar to the cover i was using to test out the amp sims and was trying to find a way to match the frequencie responses. I decided to use VoxengoSPAN to see where the frequencies were at for my guitars and for the aimed tone. Now what is the best way to apply eq curves to tracks that I could utilize? I hear all this talk about getting eq curves and adding them to tracks but how the hell is that done or what other method would be used to obtain the same curve as a desired sound without using an eq? I tried eqing in a curve using a parametric eq and SPAN as a guide, it didn't work out too well but it kind of got me there a little bit.

One thing I did find weird is that compared to commerical mixes using SPAN, my mixes when having identical SPAN settings to a commericial mix have a lot more and more dramatic peaks and notches. What would be the result for this and how bad does that effect the balance of the precieved sound? I see that my mixes are mid heavy (sharp bass and high rolloff) with tons of peacks and notches while commericial mixes as well as most good mixes posted here are very smooth all accross from 20-20k. What gives?

 

[John_C]

To the first point: you need curveEQ or an equivalent plugin, it does the matching automatically. Myself i'm not a fan, but if that's what you want to do then it's the right tool.

2nd: i find ampsims keep the large frequency peaks to a far greater extent than the distortion in a real amp, i'm not sure why though. That could account for some of the peaks. The other thing is that a good mix will be using the available space in order to allow loads of stuff to be happening and still maintain clarity.
Having a mid heavy mix could be for many reasons. If the highs in what you're working with sound foul, then ofc you'll be turning them down. That's a fix at the source problem.
The low end could be that your monitors are boomy down there, so you're avoiding it. Or the whole thing could just be a case of "go turn your overheads and bass up"

 

[TheWinterSnow]

I noticed that the peaks are from the sims. The high end does usualy sound off and its one of those areas I can't get right. Doesn;t help that I am using the smallest EQ interface ever and can't see wherer I am eqing at. The bass, is a weird one, when I get that area with the same amount of bass as say a higher quality recording with SPAN or whatever, The bass is way over the top, when i turn it down that that it matches soundwise with whatever I am comparing, there shows almost no bass on SPAN. My monitors don;t have much of a bass response but I have a sub and I can hear down there.

 

[Fox Mulder]

This may seem interesting, though I believe it is not the ultimate solution: http://www.voxengo.com/product/soniformer/