Help with remastering EQ!

[rpc9943]

Hey,

I just want some tips on remastering EQ of already mixed, years-old recordings. I thought it sounded pretty good on my behringer truths, but when I went out to my car, I heard some weird resonant tones. Good thing I didn't press the album yet! You see I'm going to be selling my consolationproject albums etc. and my earlier stuff was pretty harsh on the high end. Any good tips for a silly bloke like me?

I tend to lean towards using nyquist 5 because of it's awesome interface. I don't really want to post examples, but would like some help on how to recognize these resonant tones... Should I next time just crank it up really loud and listen? I don't know how I missed them.

Retarded,
RonC

[IIRs]

I don't know how I missed them.

Your monitors aren't telling you the truth! That doesn't neccessarily mean they're bad: they may not be set up ideally, or you may need to work on the room.. When your monitors are working as they should, you will no longer get these nasty suprises when you listen on other systems. Do you have your monitors on proper stands? If not, that should be your next upgrade IMO. ALternatively you may be able to improve the bass response by putting them on bricks, or some other solid surface: avoid having them perched on a table or shelf at all costs!

[mauseoleum]

i'd borrow some ghettoblaster or home-*hifi* with speakers in *plastic* enclosures. imo these tend to showcase bad mixes more than speakers in wooden enclosures to a/b with your monitors. i'd a/b authored material with reference tracks, on both pairs of speakers, sweep to find general offending frequencies while on plastic speakers then finetune eq-ing the mix on monitors.

i'd also use the free voxengo span - frequency analizer to keep some sanity in process.

[IIRs]

When your main monitors tell you the truth, they are the only pair you need IMO.

[rpc9943]

okay... not sure how I would A/B this stuff with my stupid out line. I have it like this: Echo mia out -> Behringerub502 mixer out --> behringer truths.

The truths are in fact really good, but I dont feel that I turned the volume up at home when I was doing this. When you mix down are you supposed to crank it? Because its the same in my car, when its down low i dont hear the resonance. So maybe this time I just go through and do it up, right?

I'll just load up audition when i get home and fine tune the specific songs.

But about A/B i mean how would I set it up? Opinions?

ROnC

[mauseoleum]

sure, but you'd have to have all other things like room etc. sorted out, too. to get things done just good enough to be functional in real world, with minimum strain, having some ghettoblaster near your monitors (or in room corner) is quite handy to put efforts in a realistic perspective.

When your main monitors tell you the truth, they are the only pair you need IMO.

[IIRs]

sure, but you'd have to have all other things like room etc. sorted out, too. to get things done just good enough to be functional in real world, with minimum strain, having some ghettoblaster near your monitors (or in room corner) is quite handy to put efforts in a realistic perspective.

When your main monitors tell you the truth, they are the only pair you need IMO.

It can be: it depends on your monitors, and the ghetto blaster. If the crap system is bad in exactly the opposite way to your main monitors it might be useful, as you could then use it to check for the things you know you get wrong otherwise..

In your case Ron, you say it is a car system that shows up the faults: this is the system to check your mixes on IMO.. but I would recommend not that you adjust your mixes to sound good in the car, but that instead you adjust your monitor set-up so that mixes that sound right on the Truths ALSO sound good in the car. Once you have a good neutral set-up that you know the sound of you will no longer need to check your mixes on other sytems, you will be able to mix with the confidence that the decisions you make will translate to the majority of (flawed) consumer systems without any slight faults that you missed being horribly magnified.

Of course (if you're anything like me) you will still want to check your mixes in the real world: but these days I don't really bother checking on ghetto blasters & car stereos, as I know already what to expect: invariably any nasty shocks I get turn out to be due to ill-advised EQ or effect settings on the playback device. I am more likely to take a CD round to a friend's posh stereo system these days, or sneak a playback through a PA system after a soundcheck..

[IIRs]

The truths are in fact really good, but I dont feel that I turned the volume up at home when I was doing this. When you mix down are you supposed to crank it?

Volume isn't important in the way that you imply, but it does affect your perception of the sound: bass signals seems louder at high volume than at low for example, so if your mixes are generally bass-light it may help to monitor a little louder. However, if your mixes have "resonances" as you describe, that would imply that certain frequencies are being lost in your set-up, which is causing you to either boost them too much, or fail to cut them when you should: if this is due to room resonances (the most likely explanation) then turning your monitors up will just excite the room resonances more, and make the problem worse.

Don't be too dis-heartened though: it takes a little patience, and trial-and-error, but unless you are in a disaster of a room you should be able o make big improvements without spending huge amounts of money. My own room treatments consist of a thick double duvet hung behind my monitors, and a couple of big stacks of Sound-On-Sound magazines in strategic positions.

I want to emphasise the speaker stands again: they really do make a difference!

[kylen]

I use a radio shack spl meter set to 'C' weight next to my left hand. I like to listen to mixes and reference material at about 80dbSPL which is a little lower than the optimal 83-85 that I hit aometimes. Some folks like to turn it up loud like 96dB but I rarely get over 90 myself (on purpose, hehe).

Also if you want to talk of resonances (either natural or self-induced) another thing to do is watch the [free] Voxengo SPAN spectrum analyzer - set up the averaging the way you like it to smooth things out (or keep it fast for no smoothing) and set the max hold to 'see' where the resonances are. Once you figure out that your problem is in the bass, mids, or highs and can hear it and see it in a spectrum analyzer you can zero in on it. Then it's a matter of is it an EQ problem and/or a Dynamics problem...

IMO if you're listening & mastering on nearfields in an untreated or acoustically unknown room you're gonna be going to the car a lot! Finding a cheap decent set of 12" woofer based stereo home speakers can help you get a bigger sound at your console so more resonances can be heard without going out to the car. Then isolating them and aiming them and getting the peaks and nulls in your room manageable would possibly help also. You have to be able to hear the resonances in your own music though so your nearfileds may not be enough - walk around the room a little using some good reference material - if you hear the bass coming and going in your little listening area then you gots trouble. I don't have the perfrect room but I know my listening area well enough...also some listening discs from Cheskey records and other audiophile test discs can help tune things up. It takes some time that's for sure...I'll let you know if I ever get there!

[xander]

okay... not sure how I would A/B this stuff with my stupid out line. I have it like this: Echo mia out -> Behringerub502 mixer out --> behringer truths.

The truths are in fact really good, but I dont feel that I turned the volume up at home when I was doing this. When you mix down are you supposed to crank it? Because its the same in my car, when its down low i dont hear the resonance. So maybe this time I just go through and do it up, right?

I'll just load up audition when i get home and fine tune the specific songs.

But about A/B i mean how would I set it up? Opinions?

ROnC

You really ought to check this out -- you may not have the tools they mention, but the process is valid nonetheless:

The Mastering Guide

[IIRs]

If you really want to learn this stuff, I suggest you get Bob Katz's book "Mastering Audio" .. its well worth it!

[kylen]

If you really want to learn this stuff, I suggest you get Bob Katz's book "Mastering Audio" .. its well worth it!

True in my case...next to my right hand!

[ST54]

two words...
Har-Bal

[ReQuiem]

If you really want to learn this stuff, I suggest you get Bob Katz's book "Mastering Audio" .. its well worth it!

yep, read this book cover to cover you will truely be enlightened! excelently written too!

[tkmattson]

I posted this chart from "Practical Recording Techniques" in another thread, sounds like you might benefit from it....

INSTRUMENT | FUNDAMENTAL | HARMONICS

flute | 261-2349 Hz | 3-8 kHz
oboe | 261-1568 Hz | 2-12 kHz
clarinet | 165-1568 Hz | 2-10 kHz
bassoon | 62-587 Hz | 3-8 kHz
trumpet | 165-988 Hz | 1-7.5 kHz
french horn | 87-880 Hz | 1-6 kHz
trombone | 73-587 Hz | 1-7.5 kHz
tuba | 49-587 Hz | 1-4 kHz
snare drum | 100-200 Hz | 1-20 kHz
kick drum | 30-147 Hz| 1-6 kHz
cymbals | 300-587 Hz | 1-15 kHz
violin | 196-3136 Hz | 4-15 kHz
viola | 131-1175 Hz | 2-8.5 kHz
cello | 65-698 Hz | 1-6.5 kHz
a.bass | 41-294 Hz | 1-5 kHz
e.bass | 41-300 Hz | 1-7 kHz
a.guitar | 82-988 Hz | 1-15 kHz
e.guitar (through amp) | 82-1319 Hz | 1-3.5 kHz
e.guitar (direct) | 82-1319 Hz | 1-15 kHz
piano | 28-4196 Hz | 5-8 kHz
bass vox | 87-392 Hz | 1-12 kHz
tenor vox | 131-494 Hz | 1-12 kHz
alto vox | 175-698 Hz | 2-12 kHz
soprano vox | 247-1175 Hz | 2-12 kHz