There’s no one proper way to EQ and there are certainly no rules. But there are methods and subtractive EQ is one that works really well for me.
Our brain tends to automatically assume louder is better even when it isn’t. This is why we easily end up boosting when EQ:ing.
A lot of the time we are better off cutting rather than boosting though. This is especially true for a lot of the cheaper EQ’s.
Cut and re-gain.
Take away what you don’t want and you’re left with a nice clean sound.
It takes discipline if you’re used to boosting, but you’ll find that many times it’s much easier to fix things this way.
Next week we will look into how to identify the frequencies you want to cut.
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When you say “cut and re-gain”, would you recommend doing a bounce of the EQ’d sound, and then using (if in Logic) the gain plug-in? Or would you just add a gain plug-in after the EQ plug-in?
Subtractive EQ can sometimes lead to the sound losing a lot of volume. What I mean by re-gaining there is simply just to make up for that lost volume. Easiest way to do that in Logic is use the channel fader! Sorry for not being clear on that.
the redline eq has an autogain function that is massively useful in this respect. i wish more (all!) plugins came with this functionality, as i’m afraid the louder=better disease plagues so much of our mix decisions. one workaround is to use a hardware fader for tactile gain control of the channel you’re working on at the given moment (such as presonus faderport). adjusting input-output gain with a mouse can get time-consuming and vibe-killing as a result.
Ez Lukas hope u good, been a while!! Good to see u here.
Yeah in fact I just got myself a Faderport. Not had a chance to work on much music with it yet besides testing it out, but I can already say what it brings is something I won’t ever wanna give up now that I have it.
hey man! all’s good, belated congrats on the great album project.
enjoying your site, nice little tips all over, looking forward to more. :]
Is boosting and then lowering the output basically the same as cutting and regaining? Same but different?
I would rather try not to think of it like that – just simply concentrate on taking away the parts of the sound you don’t need, and then compensate the gain loss only if necessary.