Engineering Tips Wanted

[KnuckleHead]

To all of you guys and gals out there who know what they're doing..... Thank you much, from all of us who never spent a day in engineering class (or who just don't have the talent).

I must say that you've helped me out immensly, thus far...

Enough buttering-up. Can I ask you a favor? Would you take a few minutes and chime in with your favorite "stock" EQ settings for vocals, acoustic guitar, electric rhythm, electric lead, bass guitar.
And if you have any tips on the standard ptls fx rack settings (delay, d-verb, etc..) for these parts, that would be great, too.

I'm having trouble with general tone and EQ shelving, and I need a starting point.

Thanks,
Mike

[where02190]

My fav "stock" eq setting for anything is bypass. A great sounding mix starts with a great sounding track. If you can just up the faders and things sound good, you're doing something right.

The key to eq is to cut what you do not want or need, rather than to try to boost what you don't have. Boosting lowers S/N ratio, and takes away dynamic headroom. A bit of additive eq after some cutting, like +2-3db@12khz on the vocals for some sheen is ok, but first cut those vocals on the bottom from 120hz or so down to remove any rumble and give yourself some dynamic room. When you get to the end of the chain, you should be able to add all the cuts and boosts up and come out to zero, or remaining at unity.

Often highpassing even heavy bass instruments can actually enhance their clarity in the first and second octaves.

If you have a good sounding track to start with, a little bit of eq goes a long way to really make it sit properly in a mix.

Do not attempt to get those great sounding tracks by eqing when recording. Move and change mics, switch preamps, try different instruments, tunings(esp. for drums) and pay attention to room acoustics when picking environments to record in. Ideally you want what you hear in the control room to be as close as possible to what you hear in teh studio acoustically.

Over time you will hone your skills as an engineer and know what to listen for, and what mic/preamp to go for, etc. this is (no insult intended) assuming you have the intuative talent to be an engineer. It's not somethng that can just be taught and learned. It is an artform just like playing and instrument or singing is. If you don't possess the talent, no amount of learning curve will teach it to you.

Practice makes perfect, and experimentation is always encouraged. There's no rules, so you don't have to worry about breaking them. If you and the artist and producer liek what you have recorded, then you as an engineer have done your job properly.

Hope this is helpful.

[soundsurfr]

Where02190 said it all. That is one beautiful piece of advice.

[Thecrunchguy]

Hey you Knucklehead!!!!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Would you take a few minutes and chime in with your favorite "stock" EQ settings for vocals, acoustic guitar, electric rhythm, electric lead, bass guitar.

I'm having trouble with general tone and EQ shelving, and I need a starting point.

Check out this article:
http://www.recordingeq.com/EQ/req0900/primer.htm

The site is pretty cool too and has lots of useful info. If some of the topics are locked out or require a password etc...you can try going forwards or backwards in "issues". I guess they're trying to get you to subscribe. During this months issue...you can't access this primer. I just clicked back a few issues and "voila!" Instant access.

Hope this helps you get going. Rick [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[KnuckleHead]

That was great. Thanks very much Where. I'm hearing everything you say. Especially the part about the recording room. The first thing I think I'm going to work on is that. My acoustic gtr sounds very "ringy", and there's no way you can EQ that out..... Time for some foam, I think!

[KnuckleHead]

Thanks Crunchguy. I will definitely check it out!

[Oz-boy]

Hey KnuckleHead,

I would agree with everything where02190 said EXCEPT one thing.

Personally I like to boost instead of cut.
If a vocal (for example) is boomy in the low mids I would tend to boost bottom end, hi mids & top end rather than cut the low mids.

What where02190 said about lowering the S/N ratio may be true but I usually sacrifice a little noise in order to get MORE into my sounds.

Look at it this way ... if you cut a little out of every sound then you'll end up with less overall ... if you add you end up with more!

Obviously the more EQ you add to a sound while recording, the less options you have later as you've set the direction of your sound already ... but following my above theory you can take sounds much further if you process them onto tape (Tools) & then again back off tape.

YMMV ... but remember there's more than one way to skin a cat (what a horrible thought ... here pus-pus-pus) [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Oz

[where02190]

Originally posted by Oz-boy:
If a vocal (for example) is boomy in the low mids I would tend to boost bottom end, hi mids & top end rather than cut the low mids.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You are effectively trying to add what is not there rather than remove that of which there is too much of. basic principles of engineering, less is more. Take away what you don't want.

You do whatever works for you. However if I look at a board that had all the eq's turned to the right(gain boosted) I'd think whoever was mixing had little to no understanding about proper gain staging and s/n.

No offense, but it's not how it's done.

Hope this is helpful.

[Mr_Seven]

http://www.digitalaudiorock.com/

Presets for stock plugs and more!

[DDP]

"Practice makes perfect, and experimentation is always encouraged. There's no rules, so you don't have to worry about breaking them. If you and the artist and producer liek what you have recorded, then you as an engineer have done your job properly"

"No offense, but it's not how it's done"

Where02190- quote #1 is great. rules to live by in my book.