How to EQ a whole mix

[ATS]

I was reading on the site that was advertising on kvr about mastering songs and it said it eqs tracks to make the mplayable on any system. I was wondering what are some of the rules or suggestions or whatever for eqing a track when mastering. Thanks.

[Kim Lajoie]

Play a CD that you think sounds great.

Eq your mix so that it sounds like the CD.

Forever,




Kim.

[kritikon]

Really truly and honestly I no longer Eq whole mixes. I used to tweak the lows and highs just a little, but I always found my Eqs just weren't good enough and I generally made a worse job of the original. You need good monitoring to Eq masters well, and I certainly don't have good enough monitoring (the monitors are OK, but coloured too much in the high end, no bass below around 45Hz and more importantly the room is a looooooooooooooooooooooong way off a mastering environment.).

If my master doesn't sound right, I may fiddle around with the dynamics a bit more, but most often I just go back and get the mix better. A good mix will mean less chance of needing substantial Eq. If your mix is too bass heavy, then basically you need to roll off some low end in your bassline or kicks or both.....OR you need to compress a little less.

[DevonB]

EQing during mastering is to fix subtle problems, not fix your mix. If you have more than subtle issues, you need to remix the whole song. Mastering is to add polish, not fix gross problems. Like they say, you can't polish a turd.

Devon

[wrench45us]

i think eq'ing a whole mix is best done by eq'ing the individual tracks and getting the mix right. The less done at the mastering stage the better. Though Voxengo's Soniformer woul dseem to be designed to sort of handle this.

i've never actually done eq'ing this and the trained ears at the kvr cafe almost immediately noticed that my bass lines were getting buried by the rich spectrum of pads.
a few reasons why i have never eq'ed
-- i put a lot of effort in getting the mix balanced (but, of course mixing on headphones , the drums are always too loud till I burn a CD and listen on a big system) and this is a big step in th eright direction
-- i don't mind a certain amount of murk in certain mid-ranges for things to subtly appear and disappear (as wasteful and possible cancelling as that may be)
-- by the time i'm at the point of balancing the mix and possibly eq'ing the individual tracks, I run out of processing power on my current host

but i picked up Sonar with bounce to track and built in track eq, i no longer have that last excuse so will have to pick up yet another essential producer skill. and the biggest tip I've gathered there always damp, never boost.

[vtx]

I used to eq mixes all the time and when I brought it in ,,,everyone would complain why is it so thin,,what happened to the dynamics,,don't do it,,and as been advised,,if your gunna eq a track always damp,,no boosting,,.
Fact try mastering without eq's on tracks or in final mix,,play it on boom boxes,,car stereo's etc..you may be pleasantly surprised at just how balsy it plays back..thats what I do now before I'll touch the tracks...even then I'll try some aggressive panning before eq'ing...

[xander]

EQing during mastering is to fix subtle problems, not fix your mix. If you have more than subtle issues, you need to remix the whole song. Mastering is to add polish, not fix gross problems. Like they say, you can't polish a turd.

Devon

There is also a school of thought which advises one to mix every track flat - no EQ, but flat - then group tracks to sends, i.e. percs, basses, mids (like strings, horns, etc.) then vocals.

Why? Because it is a major bitch to go back and reset EQ on a per track basis - when you get to the mastering mixdown only to find that the bass guitar is way to thin/boomy, etc., and there is f**k all you can do about it in the final unless you want to drown out the bass drum, low stings, etc..

So, then you EQ each group send output while monitoring them in your test mix. RECORD YOUR TEST MIX, shake thoroughly, then listen carefully. Try listening to your pre-master through everything - from your cheap cans to the best bookshelf speakers you can find to your car stereo to your TV.

Then use normalizing on the send groups to a specific medium or for a specific purpose (CD, MP3, AM radio, whatever). So, in this particular case, you'd use a dynamic mastering EQ to "normalize" your final master.

It is important to think of using mastering EQ as "super-normalizing' - not really the application of a mastering EQ suite. As DevonB said, agressive EQ should be applied per track - or as I described on the track group sends. You would usually only normalize (slight damping or dynamic boosts) from there.

Some do it that way

Just an edit to add that, if you listen to your favorite song - the one you think is the best mix you've ever heard, try listening to it in mono only. The very best mixes ALWAYS sound good in mono - as well as stereo.

[ATS]

thanks

[uncadave]

ok, here's my method, which is unprofessional as i'm no professional.

i get the mix as good as i can initially with no real mastering.....no compression, no eq, no plugs that aren't specifically to make the sound ie distortion and whatnot. i'm in orion plat by the way. then a compressor on each track....i use classic compressor, and i use the presets with a touch of tweeking....ie 'sustain guitar' preset for use on slayer2 for example. then with the eq...i basically make sure that no track is sitting with the same frequencies boosted. only the kick and bass have anything 80hz and down. the lead guitar will be boosted at a frequency a bit higher than the back up instruments, with boosted frequencies having a medium Q so as to not overlap too much. none of the eq settings are boosted or cut all that much, just enough to get their own space. more tweeking with the track levels thruout, of course. when i get a tune to sound as good as i can with this, i render to wave, open it in sound forge and compress...i use waves c1. and then limit/maximize....i use L1 ultramax. then i have a few different places to listen to it and get an idea for weak spots and tweek some more.

i don't end up with sonic purity here....anybody reading this who really does know what they're doing is probably at me, but what i do end up with is consistant results. and i think improving over time, too.

a critique of my method would really be welcome

[Lunch Money]

From one amateur to another, I'd say that you shouldn't be putting a compressor on each track. Some tracks will need it, but others can be left alone for more responsive dynamics. Distorted guitar tracks are already 'compressed' by virtue of the gain and distortion stages, so further compression shouldn't be too necessary and may make the sound too muffled. On the other hand, guitarists have use compression as an "effect" for decades, so it still may be part of the sound you're looking for.

Greg

[Hewitt Huntwork]

Not to restste the obvious here, but if you're changing the dynamics on each track with a compressor, there's not too much call to knock yourself out with adjusting the levels beforehand.

[kritikon]

ok, here's my method, which is unprofessional as i'm no professional.

i get the mix as good as i can initially with no real mastering.....no compression, no eq, no plugs that aren't specifically to make the sound ie distortion and whatnot. i'm in orion plat by the way. then a compressor on each track....i use classic compressor, and i use the presets with a touch of tweeking....ie 'sustain guitar' preset for use on slayer2 for example. then with the eq...i basically make sure that no track is sitting with the same frequencies boosted. only the kick and bass have anything 80hz and down. the lead guitar will be boosted at a frequency a bit higher than the back up instruments, with boosted frequencies having a medium Q so as to not overlap too much. none of the eq settings are boosted or cut all that much, just enough to get their own space. more tweeking with the track levels thruout, of course. when i get a tune to sound as good as i can with this, i render to wave, open it in sound forge and compress...i use waves c1. and then limit/maximize....i use L1 ultramax. then i have a few different places to listen to it and get an idea for weak spots and tweek some more.

i don't end up with sonic purity here....anybody reading this who really does know what they're doing is probably at me, but what i do end up with is consistant results. and i think improving over time, too.

a critique of my method would really be welcome

I don't see anything wrong with your method if it works for you. My only comment would be - you are saving a copy of your individual channels before the Eq as well are you? I generally do this because if you go back and do a remix, or you find that your mix doesn't work on another system, you'd have to go back and reload your synth or whatever or even replay a part, if your only recording is done post Eq.
In fact, I often do any Eqing (which is quite rare) and dynamics on .wavs then re-render - I don't notice any loss. Always a good idea to have every single channel recorded dry, no Eq, no dynamics, no FX as a backup. It takes up a bit of HD space, but HDs are so bloody big nowadays, who cares. Is any song going to take over 750MB anyway (i.e 1 CD of storage)

[DevonB]

Is any song going to take over 750MB anyway (i.e 1 CD of storage)

5.1 24bit 96khz surround song could.

Devon

[kritikon]

Ah....good point.

Remind me later not to work in 5.1 96KHz 24bit surround format

[IIRs]

my golden rule: If I find myself applying more than 2-3dB of eq cut or boost to a mix, I go back & do it again.

The best sounding tracks are usually the ones that don't need any eq at all..