Category:

Tutorial

Duration: 22:40

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8

2012/02/19
I explain my super-basic approach to EQ, going through an example of a full chorus section and what was involved in making it mix well.

Tutorial 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWsBIc24WDI
Tutorial 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAWA3K_8qq0

*SUMMARY OF EQ "RULES" THAT I USE*
- Sub-bass: Roll off high end, either moderately or drastically
- Mid-low bass: Roll off extreme low end, roll off high treble end
- Drums: (not much needed)
- Pads: Roll off mid-low end, roll off high end. Make it THIN if it's in a full chorus like this. Only make pads thick and phat if they are supposed to take up a lot of sound room.
- Leads: Roll off mid-low to taste, boost treble somewhere that makes sense.
- High arpeggio: Roll off mid-low fairly aggressively, boost treble pretty high, higher than the lead.
- Anything, especially chiptune synths: Cut off extreme high end if it's too buzzy.

Understand WHY I use EQ this way, and it will be much easier to apply to your own songs.

9-bit Blizzard: http://9bitrecords.bandcamp.com/album/9-bit-blizzard

Sorry about my voice being a bit soft this time, hope it's not too bad. (Isn't is super-ironic that I have bad mixing on the video of my mixing tutorial?) I also wasn't very concise with this one, but hopefully I still have some good points for you to take away.

Some additional things I didn't mention:
- I said that I don't really EQ my drums, but I didn't really explain why that's okay. I think it's because drums don't tend to have a lot of unnecessary frequency components in them (like synth pads do), so it's not as necessary. But sometimes it could be useful to roll off, say, the low end of hihats, cymbals, etc. and do other tweaks. I just generally don't do it that often. Again, keeping things simple.
- One of the reasons I use a famitracker triangle wave for the sub-bass is =because= it introduces more of the middle harmonics. I tend to want to make my sub-basses audible in more than just the extreme low end, especially for differing audio environments (most notably, headphones).
- This tutorial should not be taken as "how you should mix", but rather "how I mix". I know other mixers have much more "fancy" processing than I do, because they know better. I go by the mantra of "less is more", so your mileage may vary. I did get a mix posted onto OCR though, so that's gotta count for -something-. ;P But in general, I go by the philosophy that you should (at least in the beginning), stick to simple tools and skills that you KNOW how to apply. It's just as easy to screw up your sound with EQ/compression/etc. and make it worse than before, so I only use techniques that I'm very familiar with and can -understand- well.
- Some of the principles that I mention here aren't actually applied 100% in this song, or may seem like they're really subtle. For example, I mentioned boosting the high arpeggio in a higher frequency range than the melody instruments, but the difference isn't actually that great. I think that's okay, because A) it still -does- make a difference, and B) regardless, it's good to have that -mindset- because it means you are mixing with a plan, and -understand- what you are aiming towards.