[LAU] Equilization dah?

Fons Adriaensen fons at kokkinizita.net
Thu Sep 4 17:18:07 EDT 2008


On Thu, Sep 04, 2008 at 05:16:19PM -0500, schwartz wrote:

> I have read that using equalization will give each instrument more "space"
> and make the track clearer and easier to listen to. I sort of understand that
> this involves removing some frequencies from, say the guitar, so that it
> does not interfere with vocals, or some such concept.

This can be done to some extent, but if you care about the
sonic quality of your recording you should be extremely
conservative using such techniques. It's not how EQ is used
normally.

If an instrument or voice gets in the way of another, try
to fix that just using the levels.
If that can't be done, there is something wrong with the
music itself, and that should be solved there. It's part
of the job of a producer (and sound engineer) to spot such
things and take action by talking to the musicians (and
knowing what to tell them - not the problem, but the 
solution).

> Is there somewhere
> on the internet I could get some information

This is not the sort of thing you learn by reading 
some web pages. You have to train your ears, your
understanding of sound and music, experiment a lot,
and maybe in a few years you will get a crunch on it.

> Is there somewhere on the internet that can tell me what frequency
> ranges the typical bland human voice, harmonica, guitar, bass, and drums
> each cover individually? 

First of all listen, listen and listen. To get a good idea
of musical spectra, use Japa. It's a spectrum analyser that
roughly matches the way humans experience spectral features.

> Or is learning EQ just a case of sloppin' around until
> something good happens?

No, if you're in a real production environment you need to
know what you are doing, or you make a fool of yourself.
And listen, and know that you adapt to something completely
wrong in just a few seconds, and that turning something up 
always seems to give a better sound but actually doesn't.

It's largely training, and it takes effort and time.

Ciao,

-- 
FA

Laboratorio di Acustica ed Elettroacustica
Parma, Italia

O tu, che porte, correndo si ?
E guerra e morte !






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