Comments on: Mixing Tip of the Day : cutting frequencies

By: Considering frequency overlap

Considering frequency overlap — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:03:01 +0000

[...] one of the foundational skills. Just remember, more often than not, the situation will call for cutting frequencies rather than boosting [...]

By: 8 posts from 2009

8 posts from 2009 — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:40:06 +0000

[...] Controversies with modern mixing 2. Mixing Tip of the Day : cutting frequencies 3. Marketing yourself 4. How I Mix 5. How removing vocals from a stereo track works 6. Songwriting [...]

By: Sebastien Orban

Sebastien Orban — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:28:55 +0000

@Sean : yes, perfectly – it’s the same in drawing, my main occupation – keeping only the good part !

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:59:15 +0000

@Sebastien Orban : No problem, glad I could help. I like to think of mixing like making a sculpture out of clay. You start with your block of un-molded clay. You get to the basic shape of your sculpture (the recording phase), and if you add too much, you run the risk of turning your sculpture back into what you started with. Surgically removing parts adds more definition to your sculpture, and you should only be adding to fix parts that weren’t robust enough when you created the piece. Hope that makes sense!

By: Sebastien Orban

Sebastien Orban — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:33:28 +0000

Thanks Sean ! I will continue to experiment – in Live I use the Spectrum to do do exactly this with the stock EQ (8 way, the 3 way is too limiting).

Thanks for your explanation, it’s easier to try to do something when you understand why and how to do it.

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:53:48 +0000

@Sebastien Orban : Unfortunately, the best way to learn is by ear and experience which takes a long time. Perhaps a quicker way to figure it out is to calculate the frequency range of the instrument you’re EQ’ing and figure out what you want to do with it. For example, let’s say that I have a piano, but it’s really only a rhythmic filler and not a main instrument that needs to be featured. If I want the piano to fill the low end, I might cut high end frequencies and vice versa if I want to hear top end, but don’t want the low end conflicting with the bass guitar.

If you are concerned about specific frequencies that are peaking, there are a couple things you can do. You might try a compressor which will squash the peaks of the entire track. This will lower the energy of the peaks, which will allow you to raise the entire volume of the track. Of course, this is not as surgical and sounds different then delicately EQ’ing. One of the most useful tools that I have in my arsenal is a stock EQ plugin in Logic. It allows me to visualize the whole frequency spectrum as the track plays. This means I can see which frequency has the most energy and adjust to exactly what I need. I’m sure many other DAW’s also have EQ’s like this included, and many high end EQ plugins certainly do as well. If you are using something like an analog parametric EQ though, you will still need to do it by ear and experience. Cheers!

By: Sebastien Orban

Sebastien Orban — Sat, 23 May 2009 08:44:44 +0000

It’s interesting – I’ve tested this method yesterday, cutting out whatever doesn’t seem relevant on my track, and well, it’s very nice and avoid the red distortion that we all hate.

Now I want to try more of it, but well, finding other frequency can take a long time, so how do I find more of those? Not with the idea to follow this blindly, in fact it’s more to help me achieved faster result, without tinkering hours at end.