Understanding how EQ works and knowing when and how to apply it to tracks in a mix are all key to achieving great sounding results. Without EQ we wouldn’t be able to shape the colour of sound, which is one of many fundamental processes we use to sit tracks together in a mix. EQ plug-ins come in all shapes and sizes. Many are surgical, parametric style EQ’s, others are emulations based on legendary analogue gear with a raft of cool EQ’s that sit somewhere in the middle of those two styles. It doesn’t matter what your go to EQ plug-in is, if you don’t know how to get the most from EQ your productions will suffer.
In this roundup we have collated several EQ tips and tutorial videos produced by The Production Expert Team and by our partners. Many of these tutorials are either DAW or plug-in specific but don’t let that put you off. The vast majority of the tips featured in the content below can be easily applied to any EQ plug-in in any DAW. Take your EQ skills from zero to hero today:
Spectral or frequency based panning is a technique which varies stereo placement with frequency content. In this article, Ufuk Onen explains what spectral panning is, the benefits and how to use it using a free plugin.
A key difference between a pitched and an unpitched sound is how the energy is distributed through the spectrum. While most sounds are a combination of pitched and unpitched elements, if you understand the difference your EQ choices will be better informed. Julian demonstrates the difference and what it means in this article and video.
In this, the second of a short series of tips articles, we present five useful Pro Tools tips. Handy, easily digestible features. Hopefully among them there is something here which will be new to nearly everyone.
With EQ plugins we have better EQ available than ever before, but we sometimes still make a mess of our EQ. Here are our top five EQ mistakes.
In this extract from the video ‘How to Listen—Pultec Edition’ Fab Dupont demonstrates the famous Pultec Low End Trick. you might have seen this before but was it using a plugin? Fab has a real Pultec.
Equalisation is a technique that every audio engineer must master. Here are a few pointers to get the inexperienced up and running, and give old hands some possible food for thought.
Ducking a track against the vocal is a common technique but have you ever thought about how you can better target what gets dipped in the track to make room for the vocal? Surfer EQ from Sound Radix is the perfect tool for this. Find out more in this free tutorial.
Air is the term often used by mix engineers when they want to add some sparkle, sheen, clarity, shimmer, shine or focus to their tracks, mixes, or masters. Applying a just smidgen of top-end brilliance often goes quite a long way in realizing the full tonal potential of a mix.
In this free video tutorial, from the Slate Digital Vblog page, Steven Slate takes us through his ideas for when to add and when to subtract with equalisation. He lets us hear some real-world audio examples of what he calls: Cut = There's Too Much.. and Boost = It Needs More...
In this article we cover a handful of reasons why your mixes may be sounding muddy along with some useful tips to help you treat the dreaded mud… Remember...Mud Don’t Pay The Mortgage.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how easy it is to fix issues in sounds using EQ in Pro Tools.
In this free video tutorial, you will learn about how to use the Shift + Click to Invert the gain of a band of EQ in the stock Pro Tools EQ III plug-in tip from a previous tip to create a mono-compatible stereo widening effect.
If you have battled a busy session in the past then there is a good chance you worked very hard to focus particular tracks in a mix to no avail. Afterall, track separation is fairly difficult to achieve, especially in high track count sessions.
In this in-depth free video tutorial, you will learn how to achieve quick and easy track separation in a mix using Softube's Tonelux Tilt EQ Plug-in.
In this free video tutorial, you will see how useful inverting the gain of bands of EQ can be when finding problem frequencies.
Some EQ designs are better regarded in some applications over others because of the way they feel in use and this is, at least in part due to the Q/gain dependency of the equaliser's design.In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers investigates the differences between the four EQ types available in the native version of the Sonnox Oxford EQ.
In this free tutorial from our friends at Universal Audio, Daniel Keller looks at some of the mix issues we can fix using our ears and good old fashioned EQ.In the never-ending quest for the perfect mix, EQ is one of the oldest tools we have, and still one of the most powerful. Used in moderation, EQ can add clarity and definition to a crowded soundscape. Used with precision, it can remove offending sounds we wish we hadn’t captured. As a strategic tool, a bit of EQ can make all the difference needed to separate duelling guitars, scoop the mud from your drums or make a vocal shine.
Here is another free video tutorial from Oscar-nominated Marcelo Cryo. In this tutorial, Marcelo shows how he uses the Pultec EQ trick to tighten up the low end in film mixes on the master tracks in audio post production.
In this free video Pro Tools Expert Team Member Julian Rodgers looks at the Millennia NSEQ-2 plugin from Plugin Alliance, a software emulation of the hardware of the same name which is a highly regarded, no compromise mastering EQ.
The NSEQ-2 is a high quality, two channel equaliser built for the most critical applications and features a twin topology design, meaning that at the touch of a button it is a sold-state device based around a J-FET design or a class A valve design.
In this free video Pro Tools Expert Team Member Julian Rodgers looks at the SPL Free Ranger plugin from Plugin Alliance, a cut-down version of the fully-featured EQ Ranger Plus.
It features four very useful bands: The 16 kHz centre frequency band is great for adding very pleasant brilliance; the 1.8kHz centre frequency band really brings out lead vocals and guitars or reduces harshness; the 150 Hz centre frequency band adds warmth, making tracks fuller & fatter, while the 40 Hz centre frequency band adds that sub thump or reduces rumble.
Here is another tutorial from Oscar nominated Marcelo Cryo. In this tutorial Marcelo takes a look at how cutting or boosting low frequencies can affect the size of objects in audio post production. Over to you Marcelo....
In this free video tutorial you will learn how to use the Manny Marroquin EQ by Waves on a snare drum. Hear the effects of boosting 3.2 kHz and dipping the shelf at 12.5 kHz.
I've only recently tried a dedicated tilt EQ but for a long time I've exploited the unusual flexibility of EQIII to offer a similar, though less convenient, tilt EQ for free.