How to Mix and Master with EQ – CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 11

Audio Recording Issues – It Sounds GREAT On Its Own, but... Part Two

Our goal is to get an individual track working with the rest of its mix. We've identified that it was recorded and performed well, so this is not an issue of quality. Most often in the modern mixing scenario, we use a combination of limiting, compressing, EQ'ing, and effects to build the collection of sounds into an arrangement that accomplishes the final sonic goal. The issue of a track's success becomes contextual in place of individual merit. In this case, I am not talking specifically about an issue where you discover an imbalance of Frequencies in context, but rather we have a blending process that does not work.

My recommendation here is to identify the reason, or reasons. What is the context of the recording? Is it a tight, punchy radio hit, or is it about natural performance and room ambience? Is it about a strong lead vocal in front of a balanced music track, or about a band's sound having simultaneous impact? Is the track that you are struggling with not working because it sounds out of place, too quiet, too dynamic, off pitch, boring? You may have a combination of issues taking place. If you cannot identify what bothers you, you will be using random techniques to resolve the issue that may or may not work.

I know from experience that this process is not always as easy as we would like for it to be. Sometimes the problem is very subtle, and other times it results from various combined issues. It may be that a wonderful, elegant, smooth, rich, rounded low end Frequency sounds muddy once bringing things together. Or, the mere fact that something was recorded with an incredible spectral range is making other parts of the mix sound inferior in comparison. For example, you start with a great, punchy drumset, that is until you record one of the best rhythm guitar tracks ever, and all of a sudden the full range of energetic lows and screaming highs now make the drum heads sound papery, thin, and clicky. You didn't necessarily do anything wrong when recording the drums OR the guitar, but the end result doesn't measure up.

How To EQ – Mixing and Mastering - CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 10

Audio Recording Issues – It Sounds GREAT On Its Own, but... Part One

How many times have you set up a great sounding microphone, plugged it in to one of your favorite preamps, set up your level, tested positioning, and recorded a wonderful sounding performance. You can't wait to get down to mixing. Despite the fact that you have done your job well, it is simply not coming together. Highlight any single track, and there is nothing you would change. Start adding things back in, and it simply is not coming together. I am breaking certain elements of this concept down into different topics because it is part of the complexity of mixing itself. When treating recording, mixing, and mastering as art forms just as much as a science, we find that there are vitally important interpretations of what makes an identifiably successful mix. For this reason, we see massive trends in what the listener considers high quality.
At one time, the trend leaned towards increasingly louder mixes.

Mixers and Mastering Engineers had to increasingly become experts in learning ways to trick one's perception into hearing "high fidelity" while simultaneously crushing the very life from mixes with extreme gain drive and compression techniques.

To address the topic of sounds that are on target in technique but are not working in context, I am writing here to address some reasons for this along with ideas to correct the issue. In following posts, I will write about how this is sometimes the result of having too much of a good thing, and in the specific issues of overlapping spectral balance. For this post, let's look at the fact that different recording techniques give unique results. If we are talking about the most complex aspect of tracking or recording, then we are looking at the source, microphone, preamp, and then the mix context. In slightly easier form, we are dealing with virtual instruments, loops, or samples, which provide source that is selected in the composition and mixing process, but recording and some processing decisions have already been made for us. Let's assume that we want to address the problem first at the source. Is the offending track recorded in the same environment as the rest of the mix or a different one? Is it recorded at a distance or closely? Is it extremely clean or does it have a lot of ambient sound? How these variables connect to other tracks in the mix can have a huge impact on what our brains are interpreting from what we hear.

How To EQ – Mixing and Mastering - CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 9

Audio Recording Issues – Overtones That Overstay Their Welcome, Part Two

Now that we've addressed some of the potential scenarios that can come up in sessions that produce unwanted overtones, let's look at some EQ solutions that make the most sense.

The goal in properly addressing and resolving specific overtone issues is to play the offending track against the mix. This may be tricky, depending on what role the track plays in the prominence of the mix. Set up as many final elements in the mix as possible. I recommend slowly fading in the track you are operating, on and listen for the tonal issue. Does it come across like a specific Frequency or set of Frequencies, or does it tend to clash with legit notes from other instruments? Is it a wide range of Frequencies, narrow, or multiple? Usually, you can use a fairly standard bell shape to reduce the effect of the overtone. If it has the characteristic of a specific pitch, you may want to use a narrow EQ to reduce its effect.

Some overtones may be built into the fundamental notes, like a Hammond organ for example. The notes on a Hammond are controlled by multiple sliders, each controlling a different pitch, or harmonic order. Quite literally, the tonal character of the organ's sound is being controlled by adding or subtracting octaves to the fundamental. These may sound fantastic until final mix, where they resonate the wrong way compared to other notes. Usually, a medium "Q" can reduce the specific Frequency range where it gets into trouble.
Where Program Equalizers, like Pultec-type designs, are very effective for enhancing wide portions of sound, like the entire mid-range, specific low end or high end sweetening, they are not perfectly suited to the surgical elimination of overtone issues. A flexible multi-tasking tool like the AMK-9098 can handle tasks with multiple width narrow band EQ's but also uniquely shaped EQ slopes and curves. EQ's like the Focal Point 115HD are flexible for certain surgical processes as well, but this EQ has a unique tonal character of its own. The 9098 and 115HD can be extremely useful with very different, equally phenomenal high end sound. Where the 9098 has an aesthetic quality that is very precise and musical, the 115HD is gorgeous and rich in texture. In some circumstances, one EQ may eliminate issues easier because of the right mix of flexibility and precision, where the other may be helpful because of its ability to correct some issues while simultaneously adding some of its own rich overtone qualities into the mix. These EQ choices then become creative choices, and not just solutions for eliminating an issue.

In the case of a drumset that has been carefully tuned to work with the songs being tracked, we sometimes still run into issues despite our best efforts. Often, the initial attack of tuned Tom Toms are clear, bright, and have an attack that works great with their use, but as they sustain, the vibration of the tone becomes resonant in mid and lower Frequencies that sound like an annoying atonal hum against more important elements. This may be accentuated by the use of compression that gives the attack desired. As the toms shift from sharp, bright attack to long sustain tones that hum, and become increasingly muted, the compression continues to bring up some of the level of the extended tail, making it conflict with musical elements in the song. Individual EQ on the toms may be the most helpful way to avoid further trouble. Some may choose to gate the Toms in traditional mixing and perhaps in the DAW as well, although it is not a well-taught method in modern tracking. This can lead to further issues and may not be as effective as one would hope. In this case, a Program Equalizer, like a Pultec-Style design, or a regular "Q" width bell, can reduce the center Frequency of the hum. With 2-3 Toms, this EQ can be done on a single tom bus without reducing the positive qualities. Just a dB or two of reduction on a couple of resonant tom tones can eliminate the conflict.

I hope this gives you some ideas for digging yourself out of certain technical issues with overtones. One might say that this is a way to get 'over' the trouble with overtones!

How To EQ – Mixing and Mastering - CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 8

Audio Recording Issues – Overtones That Overstay Their Welcome, Part One

Next on the list of EQ ideas is solving a rather unusual set of circumstances. Overtones are sounds that occur from various sources that are recorded in addition to the main source sound. Vocals, guitars, drums, and any instrument that is being miked live in a room can be the center of attention for this situation. Overtones can come from room reflections and ambience, from the instrument itself, and they can also come from the addition of effects at a later time, or speakers amplifying a keyboard or guitar amp. There are overtones that come from the musical response of the instrument itself. They can either work with or against the primary sound being recorded. A microphone and a preamp can add creative harmonic overtones to sound material as well. These are mostly natural responses and elements to sound ambience, resonance, vibration, string sustain, speaker cone response, and natural instrument character.

Sometimes these are beneficial and are desired elements in your recording. Other times, we might think we got a great take, but when we go to mix, we realize things are not sounding quite right. Often what happens is that an instrument resonates in a beautiful way or a room gives a great sustain, deepening a performance, or adding liveliness and power to a drum set. But, when these instruments are added together, we discover that some of the beautiful overtones are coming across as actual conflicting notes. They may complement the individual instrument performance wonderfully, but the interaction of multiple instruments recorded with their own microphones may be in conflict.

It may be that the perception that the supporting sound architecture works until it overlaps with other tracks. There is a perceived crossover of smooth, long waveforms that now conflict with others at multiple Frequencies. We don't notice the distraction until they bounce off of other sounds. We may get short bursts of shorter waves that oscillate and accentuate the fact that both conflicting waves are off pitch from each other.

In the same manner that a good chorus effect detunes an accurate pitch slightly above and below the natural pitch, overtones can conflict by forcing your brain and ear to pick up on distortion between tones that are off from each other and the original instrument. You can get very dissonant short fast waveforms from two overlapping, otherwise pleasant, overtones. Harmonics usually structure themselves intentionally and nicely above a root fundamental, but ambient overtones can clash in an endless assortment of situations.
In other instances, overtones start as a nice balance with the instrument, but as the sustain of the root note kicks in, we hear more of the overtone or room ambience and this resonance now interferes with the tonal character of another track. Sometimes this works to our advantage and other times it causes serious balance issues.

A classic example of overtone issues comes from the decision making in recording a live drumset. First, a great sounding drumset requires a knowledge of how to properly tune the drum heads. You have various pitch options, and when you make this decision, you need a balance between the top and bottom heads. Then, you need a knowledge of how to tune each drum from the next. What is the pitch difference between drums supposed to be? How many full notes or half steps sound best from the hi tom, mid tom, to floor tom? These decisions also pertain to the song being recorded. If you have an extremely tonal drumset, you don't want to spend hours tuning each head just right, only to find out that you are micro-tones off from the perfect tuning of the song, and now every sustain of that awesome drum is going to sound like a terrible pitch in the song. Anything that can be done to correct pitch before recording your tracks can offset the number of concerns come time to mix and master.

Let's pretend that you paid attention to these details. Your drums sound awesome with the songs and other instruments. The room is really grabbing this great energy from the set. Now, when you pull up the room mic's or overheads, there is a strange clash going on. What happened? Assuming there is not a phase, distance or timing issue from the multiple miking setup, you can have a variation of surface responses to pitch, reflection time, and so many variables between the attack of direct microphones and distant room microphones.

All of these issues come up in real world scenarios and must be dealt with in the best possible ways. If gobos or various room positions are available, you may get the perfect control over the room just from walking around the room and listening to takes before your final recording. If there is simply too much going on to spend all day working out the ambient kinks, then EQ may be the best response. This is especially true in the fast-paced world or recording, where every second of the session matters, and it is equally true when artists have a window of time for their best performances and creative ideas.
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How To EQ – Mixing and Mastering - CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 7

Audio Recording Issues – Actual notes that are out of balance Part 3

Sometimes, it is hard to put your finger on what you don't like in a mix. What do you do when you have a good mix, and the notes and balance all seem to be working well, but there is something about a particular instrument that still bugs you. The tone is nice, the amp is good, the reverb matches the song, the vocals are good, but something on a particular instrument just doesn't have the right feel. There is a chance that the problem isn't with any primary target notes, but rather may have something you are unhappy with in the instrument's overtones.

If the EQ balance is good and you like the instrument's tone, it is possible that it is resonating with the room or its own sustain cavity, or other characteristics, in such a way that the overtones are not a good match to the primary performance. This can mean that harmonics are being generated in the musical performance that are not flattering to the fundamental notes. Once again, you can use an EQ with a narrow band to boost and sweep through Frequencies to listen to the upper harmonics and listen for things that do not sit well with you. You can start a sweep in the upper mids and listen carefully for Frequencies that are linked to the instrument in question. You may have anything from guitar to vocal to keys before getting into the cymbals and higher Frequencies. These tones can bounce around and interfere with the energy and even rhythm of a song. Usually, with all things chosen carefully, you will be able to focus on the offending Frequencies without having to remove something that you like from other elements in the mix.

I briefly touched upon this in the last post as well, but I have a technique that often resolves certain issues if I find that removing a narrow specific issue causes something else to go off balance. By removing a very small amount of a narrow frequency, I can load a medium "Q" EQ and boost as little as 1/2 the same dB's as were cut. You can try this using the same center Frequency or slightly lower or higher, but you will hear what I am sharing if you give it a try. For example, let's say that you have an extremely powerful rhythm guitar track that sounds amazing and lively through the entire song. However, whenever it reaches a certain note, let's say in the upper mids, it overlaps with some of the character of the room's ambient sound. This room is well-tuned, and it does not have an issue with standing waves or suffer from being completely out of balance. The fact is, that location, direction, and power and other characteristics can push certain Frequencies against an ambient reflection and the perfect mic preamp and perfect mic position will capture a spike where there were no physical anomalies. People in the industry and in music science have denied this for years, but I have studied this in detail and found that there is more to do with angled walls and standing waves than what we resolve on paper.

The truth is that surface response and reflection have so much more to do with what the end result will be, than certain architectural and simplified reflective factors. So, you find yourself in a spot, because you have an amazing performance, in the perfect room, with the amp in the exact place you want with the ideal recording chain. Everything came out great, but the energy gets so strong in that upper mid register that it now has to be dealt with. You were blown away by the power when recorded and mixed, but now that the song has made it off to the Mastering Engineer, you realize for the first time that note is an issue. By slightly reducing a narrow band that catches the problem, and boosting a slightly wider "Q" at the same spot, you end up reducing an extremely small amount of data and detail in the mix, and soften the blow for surround frequencies not to lose their relationship to the complex harmonics that tell your brain that something sounds good and real and natural. What is even more interesting, is that you will be surprised just how much difference comes from the individual personality of each individual EQ. I cannot tell you how many times I have been thankful for Nebula Pro technology and my time given to translating my favorite EQ's.

You can listen to a single track and make some EQ changes and love the sound, but in a critical situation, seemingly identical band widths and shapes can sound absolutely, completely different from each other. I welcome the description of technical devices in creative terms. Some engineers despise this, and I think it is why they will always see only a very narrow and inaccurate part of the musical picture. The absolute truth is that sound has certain amazing qualities that will always exist slightly beyond our reach. Our quest in capturing the beauty of these things and analyzing the science that brings us closer to understanding sound does not offer an answer for every musical quality in the equipment we use.

I highly recommend trying certain needed surgical problem-solving processes with a few different EQ's and listen to how varied the results can be. You will love the learning process, or at the very least you will appreciate how small measures of individuality in EQ design bring you results that affect your music in ways you never would have thought of. At some point you can become an expert at predicting these variances ahead of time, and this palette of EQ's will become the artist's favorite tubes of paint!. Give these things a try before committing a track to your next mix. You will be surprised how well this can work!

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How To EQ – Mixing and Mastering - CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 6

Audio Recording Issues – Actual notes that are out of balance Part 2

You can use a narrow band Equalizer to control specific notes that are out of control. This could involve increasing the volume where a specific note is too quiet, or lowering the volume if the note stands out. If the Frequency shares too many other elements of the sound in the mix with ambient sound, volume balance, other instruments, reverb, etc., then it affect which approach that works best. You may want to combine EQ with minimal band-limiting. In some cases, we can level out the balance in a mix by making very small changes in slightly wider band "Q" widths instead of honing in just on a single note. In the same situation where a low note on a bass guitar is jumping out too loud, let's assume that the kick is using this same EQ to accentuate the power of the kick's attack.

It may be possible to lower the thin narrow "Q" on this note by a very small amount, and then apply a wider "Q" eq just above, below, or centered on the same note, to revive the low end energy coming from the kick and other mix elements. This can work if the qualities in the low end are consistent with the song. But, if the rest of the low Frequencies come across mushy or too bold, this technique may not work. Another option is to slightly reduce the offending note,and use a stereo signal control. You may find that you can reduce the detail in this frequency by narrowing just the Frequency to center, mono, or simply less stereo information. This does not mean reducing the stereo signal of the entire mix, but only the note that is jumping out too much. This requires a stereo plug-in that is capable of adjusting specific Frequencies.

If it is only coming from a single instrument panned center, then this may not work. The goal is to know the combination of elements that may balance out the primary issue in mastering. By controlling the note itself and considering the balance with other instruments, using an EQ and a band-limiting compressor/limiter, you can tighten up the mix and even increase the potential volume of the mix to balance better with the volume of other songs in the same project. Narrow band EQ is a huge benefit to bringing these details into the proper context and focus.

How To EQ – Mixing and Mastering - CDSoundMaster.com – 12 EQ Issues Part 5

Audio Recording Issues – Actual notes that are out of balance Part 1

Not everyone is aware that Equalizers can be used to affect the actual notes of an instrument, and not just the tone, hum, or noise of a track. The notes of a scale all have an equivalent Frequency range. This idea is similar to the way that radio Frequencies are transmitted. Each individual Frequency represents a sound that is a separate pitch from all other Frequencies.

With a wide "Q", meaning that the shape of the EQ starts at a center Frequency and extends a large amount below and above the given Frequency, an EQ will usually cover overlapping notes in a scale. But, with a narrow "Q", you can focus in on a single note. It is not as easy as literally manipulating each individual note on a track or an instrument in a mix. Musical notes are expressed in complex combinations, each of which is completely unique to the instrument being played. We can express a note in terms of attack, swell, sustain, decay, and many other expressions. A note with a fast attack may start with an articulated pitch and, if left to sustain, may resolve to a steady tone that is more accurate to the note played, depending on the instrument. The note itself can carry multiple overtones that are expressed as harmonics. These fluctuate with the instrument, materials, performance, and sustain and attack factors as well. The way that a note is played therefore affects how much we hear of the primary note and its harmonics, and whether there is natural fluctuation in this combination. A note from an instrument usually also carries natural ambient sound from the instrument itself, along with its environment. Even in close, direct miking, we hear things like the vibration of a wood cavity on an acoustic guitar or the hum of a string. With information coming in from anywhere a waveform can travel and bounce off of a surface, it presents a new complex abstraction of the original note.

With rooms, the note can become more scattered, with the timing spread all over the environment, and the actual sonic qualities of the room itself can stray from the primary root note. These are just a few of the factors that can affect the use of Equalizers, so you should always listen for the qualities that accompany a note and performance when making a corrective adjustment. What do you do if you have a final mix that is ready to send to the Mastering Engineer, who notices that the bass player had a couple of strings out of tune? Your song has already been mixed down and everything sounds great. But, you didn't really notice that there were a few sagging notes coming from the bass guitar. It is possible to sweep a narrow EQ and isolate the offending note, or notes.

There are many options for this scenario. Since the song is mixed, you are not likely to make a pitch adjustment that doesn't affect the other instruments in the mix, and this can be damaging to ambient sound and stereo detail to the rest of the mix as well. But, you can lessen the blow by gently reducing the volume of the offending notes. Sweep the Frequency of your narrow band EQ, place a limiter on the end of your mastering chain, and boost the EQ so that it will resonate when it hits the note being played. You can use a low quality digital Equalizer for sweeping the signal, as it is easier to hear the resonance of a bad note with a straight forward EQ, where a high end EQ will resonate better and more subtly on the same note. When I work with a situation like this in mastering, I tend to use a basic digital EQ to find the note I want to reduce, and then I will switch to my "Mastering Suite" Nebula Pro narrow band EQ to reduce the signal by a few dB.

I only make the adjustment for the duration of the note at each passage, and only when it is the most obtrusive. This technique is even more effective when used for a note that is on the correct pitch, but is simply too loud. Once again, you don't want to upset the balance of things like ambient sound and other overlapping Frequency qualities, but if a certain note stands out it may affect the volume and balance of the entire track. The question becomes whether something else is prominent in the same range. Do you have a bass guitar note that is louder than the rest of the performance, but also have a kick drum that uses the same Frequency or pitch?

You may want to EQ only at certain passages or to use less dB reduction to avoid weakening the kick drum. What about ambient sound from a well-recorded guitar or other mix elements that share this part of the lower register? You don't want to harm the mix by trying to fix a single element within it. Another option is to identify the note or Frequency and also use a multi-band limiter to slightly compress and reduce the same Frequency. This is the idea behind using Equalizers to help deal with individual notes that are out of balance.

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