Tag: EQ

EQ Cheat Sheet: Simple Guidelines for Effective Equalization — Produce Like A Pro

EQ Cheat Sheet: Simple Guidelines for Effective Equalization — Produce Like A Pro:

Understanding equalization–probably the most widely used signal processor available to engineers–is essential to making records sound their absolute best. Sometimes it’s as simple as high-passing an instrument in the proper spot, while other cases require a bit more attention and precision. Either way, EQ is fundamental to making mix elements sound more or less defined, larger or smaller, or “better” versus “different.” Having a general reference like an EQ cheat sheet will help get you where you want to go more quickly.

In response to a request at the Produce Like a Pro Academy I went hunting for some easy to access cheatsheets. This is one of a few.

The Ultimate EQ Cheat Sheet for Every Common Instrument

The Ultimate EQ Cheat Sheet for Every Common Instrument:

A subtractive approach to EQ

Not everyone’s ethos on EQ is the same, and most people may never see eye to eye on EQ approach. That being said, I come from the camp that subtractive over additive tends to be better for your mix in most cases. Now, I’m not saying to live in a strictly subtractive world; I do make boosts from time to time when needed or appropriate, but it’s probably a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio of cuts to boosts.

The question was asked in the Produce Like a Pro Academy. Here is one idea of a “standard” EQ cheatsheet.

Pulse Techniques EQP-1A | Sound on Sound

Pulse Techniques EQP-1A |:

As a standard facility of most mixing consoles and DAWs, we all tend to take EQ for granted, even though there are many different types of equaliser with varying levels of sophistication and application. While the true origins of the first audio equaliser are shrouded in the mists of time, two names stand out for me as pioneers of audio equalisation: Peter Baxandall from the UK, and the American, Eugene Shenk. Baxandall was an electronics engineer (and friend of our esteemed Editor In Chief) who came up with a very elegant circuit for an active bass and treble equaliser. He published his design, royalty-free, in 1952 and it has subsequently been employed almost universally in mixing consoles and hi-fi amplifiers, bearing his name as the Baxandall equaliser or ‘tone control’. Amazingly, at around the same time in America, Gene Shenk developed a passive design which has become the legendary studio equaliser — the PulTec EQP-1.

The Pultec is fabled. I use my emulation all the time. This review is an excellent guide to what it is and why it works.