Guitar EQ tutorial video

[AudioGeekZine]

the before sounds better in my opinion

I agree. The source has some resonance issues and it gets a little lost in the mix but it sounds more real before all the EQ.

I think you just took it too far, it now sounds more mono and smaller. Instead of a boost in the upper mids, a tape saturation could be used.

Doing the EQ on the summed gtr tracks might be part of that. Doing the eq for each track would likely give you more stereo width because the settings are different for Left and Right.

Overall I like the video. The 'cabinet thump' notch is something that I've never done before but it makes sense.

 

[Jordon]

Static resonances are present in amp sims and real amps. I've noticed that killing those resonances can make the guitar feel "fake" and very small. I no longer do such aggressive cutting, unless it is absolutely needed.

 

[Mago]

nice vid man!

The tough part after you're able to hear those annoying nodes even before you EQ, is not to overdo the "eliminate those fuckers" part, at least for me

accepting that some spikes are "nice" ones.
Sometimes on records where there's a section with guitars solo'ed, I hear something I KNOW I had taken out.
But in the mix it completely disappears.
Not overdoing is pretty hard on that one imo.

 

[EOC]

nice vid man!

The tough part after you're able to hear those annoying nodes even before you EQ, is not to overdo the "eliminate those fuckers" part, at least for me

accepting that some spikes are "nice" ones.
Sometimes on records where there's a section with guitars solo'ed, I hear something I KNOW I had taken out.
But in the mix it completely disappears.
Not overdoing is pretty hard on that one imo.

+1
Im often find my self in the following situation: "Yeaaaah i cutted al those fucking spikes, yeeah this sounds awesome... 15 min later..... this sounds like shit....." I end up just High/low passing and taming just a bit some offending frequencies an call it a day

 

[Trevoire520]

+1 to what Mago said. I often get stuck using 10 bands of eq eliminating annoying fizzies and rings only to find that I've made my guitars sound like complete shit. Try and restrict yourself to the worst 2 or 3 nodes and leave the rest. You don't even necessarily have to completely kill them, just bringing them down 6dB can be enough.

 

[Mago]

+1 to what Mago said. I often get stuck using 10 bands of eq eliminating annoying fizzies and rings only to find that I've made my guitars sound like complete shit. Try and restrict yourself to the worst 2 or 3 nodes and leave the rest. You don't even necessarily have to completely kill them, just bringing them down 6dB can be enough.

yeah that's what I try to do too.
Sometimes I still find myself using more than those 2-3 bands, or more instances of eq, but I try to not notch out more than necessary.

It comes around to the point about psychoacoustics that Mick mentioned...
you only think it sounds better because you know what you where able to do already, and if you've notched out so much of that one node, another one becomes a lot more prominent. It may didn't/wouldn't even annoy you if that first one wouldn't have been notched out so much.
I guess that's why you don't hear that kind of things on other peoples tones...if they where recorded well I mean.

 

[AEL89]

I don't really agree with this EQ ethos. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it slightly. If there's some annoying going on then, yes, notching it out might work.

Also, that wide boost around 2k just sends alarm bells ringing for me - I rarely boost those frequencies in guitars because of the interaction with vocals. I find almost every vocal benefits from a boost between 1.5k - 3.5k. That's the vocal zone!

 

[bryan_kilco]

How do you guys tell a offending/bad frequency aside from anything else?

For example: If I do the boost/sweep to find the offenders, it almost seems that EVERY frequency becomes annoying/harsh/offending.

 

[AEL89]

How do you guys tell a offending/bad frequency aside from anything else?

For example: If I do the boost/sweep to find the offenders, it almost seems that EVERY frequency becomes annoying/harsh/offending.

Exactly. That's why I don't approach EQ with that mindset. Though if a guitar has a little too much 130 - 250hz I'll certainly make a cut. The snare definitely benefits from cutting there. IF it needs it though.

Whatever works, really!

 

[Mago]

Yeah I wouldn't have done that 2k bump too.

The trick is that through that eq sweeping you'll learn how those offending freqs sound, but exaggerated.
So after some trial and error you already know where to work with EQ when you hear it.
You'll be able to tell if that "SHHHH" is more 2.3 or 3k, for example.
Still, sweeping with the eq might help you to nail it down more.

It's also easier to concentrate on a boosted freq than sweeping with pulling an eq band (altho I like to do that too sometimes).

If anything you boost sounds offending, you might want to listen to the raw tone a bit closer before you sweep, see what you want to concentrate on.
Maybe theres not a lot going on you want to pull down to begin with, so sweeping would be pretty unnecessary.
Also: try not to boost by insane amounts of DB. just so much that you can hear what the sweep is doing.

 

[imaliaon]

Hello. I sort of prefer the original as well; the guitars have more a character I prefer.

I've noticed that killing those resonances can make the guitar feel "fake" and very small.

The guitars certainly are 'minimized' sounding. While there's space afterward, I hear a hooohhhh in the guitars, like a low wind, possibly the result of the middle and high cuts combined.

Guitars are pain in the ass because the take many freq from bottom to top.

Because gain tone is not a natural phenomenon. I'd rather a circuit design that doesn't generate all that stuff in the first place, but whether this is possible, I think no one is thinking along these lines.