Naughty Frequencies

I see a lot of Bands , I get to go to a lot of C.D. launches mainly  'cause I make a lot of C.D's for Bands and Artists. I get to spend a lot of time with those Bands / Artists  so when I  go to the Gig and the Band plays, I inevitably listen to the Band and want to hop on the mixing desk for a bit of a refining fiddle or to try  to save the Band from a totally disastrous Mix by some cloth eared fool who somehow has convinced some well meaning individual that he can actually Mix sound. Mixing is a bit of a trick, because you're: 

1-- mixing instruments that might or might not sound good.

2-- In a room that might or might not sound good.

3-- With gear that might or might not BE good...!!!

So let me give you a hand... if you can understand a few of the basics, that'll help you for a start..

Frequencies that you've got to watch:

10-15K.. don't push these too much, your Vocals will have too much "Sibilance", that is, your  S's and T's will stick out like a Hitler look-a-like in a peace rally and your vocals will sound too brittle and harsh.

2.5K...  that's the loud stuff, if you're in a Band and you're told to turn down  'cause the bar staffs'  ears are bleeding, pull down the 2.5k, that's the offending  frequency that gets into their ears...  you'll sound just as good and you'll remain friends with everyone at the end of the Gig.

While I'm at it, there should ALWAYS be a compressor over a P.A. or at least on the vocal channel, you only need a few words in a song to be too loud to get folks annoyed, then you're gonna get told to turn down. A compressor will level out those loud notes and make the P.A. not be so offensive to the audience + bar staff.

1K... this is the "honk" frequency, if the P.A. is sounding a bit honky or "boxy", pull a bit out.

160Hz... this is the "boxy-woofy-boomy"  frequency.. if the sound is a bit "cloudy", pull a bit of this out.

ALSO...a point I wanna make, as described above, I said "pull a bit out".. try not to ADD all the time, if a vocal is sounding a bit "woolly", try pulling some bass out rather than adding treble... don't forget the concept of subtractive Eq-ing rather than just always ADDING Eq

BASS... watch it...there's a fine line between Bass + Boom. I went to see a band the other night and it was horrible. BOOM CITY.. I couldn't do a thing about it but after the gig I had a look at the setting on the PA... they had mixed from stage and they had things like bass added to the mandolin and the acoustic guitar. NEVER do that, for example a Mandolin hasn't got any bass so all you're doing is adding BOOM not BASS and adding bass to an acoustic guitar is suicide... if anything, cut out the bass of an acoustic guitar unless you're Solo.

Especially watch out if you are on a live, wooden floor, the Mic stands will pick up ANY boominess and away you go with feedback and boom-boom every time someone stamps a foot. .. everything just ends up feeding back on itself cause you've added bass.

Pull the bass out of stuff like, Acoustic guitars, percussion, mandolins, acoustic piano (maybe), . that'll clean the whole sound up believe me..

Foldback.. Same thing, don't ADD bass to the foldback unless you really, really need to and then only like 100K, not lower.., pull out a bit of 1K, 160Hz if it's sounding a but boxy or lacking clarity, watch out about adding treble, it'll just feed back.

Reverb... watch it... too much reverb can muddy the vocals too.. if you're in a live room, you might not need any reverb at all.. add as much as you need but don't over do it......ALSO... don't EVER add reverb to a bass instrument (Bass, Bass drum,  etc) or I'll personally come over and deal with you, it'll just muck things up like you can't believe... I've made 300 C.D.'s and I've added Reverb to the Bass maybe ONCE and I forget why.. I hope nobody noticed.!!

Happy Eq-ing....  JEFF

Permission to reproduce this article is available to all,
as long as you include attribution to myself including contact details
and let me know where you have used the material.
Jeff Cripps
A# Sharp Recording Studio
Email: jeff@asharp.com.au
Phone: +612 9153 9988

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