TechStuf

Sound – 20081019 October 21, 2008

Posted by Gareth in Audio.
Tags: cymbals, EQ, equalizing, guitar, Kick, levels, snare, stereo, toms, vocals
1 comment so far

Ok, so the sound this last week was a bit lacking (first service only as I didn’t really hear the whole second service). So, I chatted to Glenn and Carlos and hopefully they corrected the mistakes in the second. I had a question about how to bring about clarity in the mix. Which comes down to how do you make each instrument distinguishable in the mix. This has many answers from a good sound system to a acoustically tuned room. We have a level that we have hit as far as clarity goes and, I assume as I wasn’t there in the second service, that this level was not met. So what do we usually do? How do we usually go about clearing up the mix. Well, with the equipment we have it comes down to EQ, leveling, and stereo’ing (won’t be writing about gates etc). Before I start I want to say that if you have any effects in the mix or on instruments (I’m mainly talking about reverbs) and your mix has no clarity you should look to turn these down or even off as these tend to be the biggest culprits in muddying the mix.

Most of what I’m going to write about has come from reading some excerpts from “The mixing engineers handbook” by Bobby Owsinski. It is a great resource, I don’t own it but would like to. You can preview it here or here and buy it on amazon here. So from the book it mentions “The Golden Rules of EQ”. Which are:

• If it sounds muddy cut some 250Hz
• If it sounds honky cut some 500Hz
• Cut if you are trying to make things sound better
• Boost if you are trying to make things sound different
• You can’t boost something that’s not there in the first place

The rules are very generalized and in most of the cases I think some of these rules might need to be broken but generally this method does help. So lets get down to specifics.

First the POTs on the desk we have have these characteristics so for my sound guys reading you need to know this data (only wish we had two sweepable EQs). Added to the POTs is a 80Hz high pass filter which cuts everything below 80Hz (leave this out for kick as you will read below). The high frequency POT is a shelving EQ at 10kHz (If you don’t know what shelving or high pass mean go read this. The low frequency POT is a shelving EQ at 100Hz. The mid frequency POT is a peaking EQ variable between 250Hz and 5kHz. All these EQ’s have a decrease or increase of 15dB.

Kick – It was really good this last service but for consistences sake I will give a general EQ for the kick (No stereo for the kick unless you are trying to achieve a specific effect).

• Bottom: 80-100Hz
• Hollowness: 400Hz
• Point: 3-5kHz

The bottom is where the power is at. We have a slight boost on the subwoofers’ EQ in this range so adding more on the kick’s low frequency can really kill (by that I mean it can move your chest). With the EQ’s that we have generally a mild 2dB boost on the low POT and 6-10dB boost at about 2-4kHz brings out a very nice kick sound. Adding some hollowness can add a little something to the kick but again I wish we had two sweepable EQ’s.

Snare – The snare was my most distracting point on Sunday. I believe Carlos and Glenn fixed it though. So lets get to fixing the problem using EQ (generally stereo’ing the snare isn’t done but can be used for and effect).

• Fatness:120-240Hz (Reggae style music benefits from a bit of this but rock doesn’t so we usually cut the low
• Boing: 900Hz
• Crispness: 5kHz
• Snap: 10kHz

So this is what I like. And generally snare can be a matter of taste but the snap and crispness to me are the focal point of what makes a snare, a snare. so the POTs I generally cut the low by 2-4dB add 6-10dB at 5kHz and leave the high frequency POT (The reason I leave it is, the house speaker’s emphasises the 8kHz a bit too much for my liking and boosting the high’s can really hurt your ears). Generally the kick and snare I bring/level slightly above the mix. I just like it that way.

Toms – The toms are difficult because each is tuned and designed differently but generally the frequencies are:

• Fullness: 240-500Hz (Floor tom is 80-120Hz
• Attack: 5-7kHz

You need to find the fundamental frequency of each tom and boost that along with adding attack. Unfortunately we again don’t have two sweepable EQ’s. But usually I cut some lows (except, depending how I feel, the floor tom). The biggest for me is adding attack to the toms kinda like bringing out the click on the kick drum. Getting the attack brings the definition out of the toms and they tend to bounce out the mix. Usually I drop the level just below the mix and pan the toms left and right (only slightly).

Cymbals – We have two overheads which we use for cymbals but I really like bringing in the whole kit into the equation. I use a compressor to Equalize the volume of the whole kit with slight emphasis on the cymbals. Placement of the overheads is key to getting the sound you want. I place them fairly high maybe half a metre above the cymbals in the XY configuration.

• Clang: 200Hz
• Sparkle: 8-10kHz

Because the house emphasis the 8kHz range I usually leave the high frequencies (and on occasion cut some). I tend to cut at about 200-400Hz to take the muddiness out of the overheads from the toms and kick etc. and I also cut a little bass this I find just defines the cymbals but doesn’t kill the whole kit and brings ambiance to the sound. I also pan the overheads left and right in conjunction with the toms. the level is somewhere in the middle of the mix. As you can tell I don’t like the clang sound of cymbals.

Bass Guitar – Bass guitar has (and this may surprise some of you) lower fundamental frequency than a kick drum. The bottom is low but sometimes adding too much can leave your sub-woofers fighting for power (as low frequencies require more than high ones) and you might loose your bass definition. This is seldom a problem if you have a good system.

• Bottom: 50-80Hz
• Attack: 700Hz (although the fender basses sound better if the attack is boosted at 1kHz)
• Point: 3-5kHz

So, we tend to add some bottom, maybe 3dB and try add attack by boosting 700Hz by about 3dB. Again do I need to emphasis it more we really need a desk with two sweepable EQ’s for the point/edge in the bass guitar sound. Stereo’ing the bass is like stereo’ing the kick, there is no point. The level I like for the bass guitar is somewhere just below the mix but it depends on the song and if the bass is the driving instrument in the song.

Acoustic Guitar – Ok, this one is going to be tough. All guitar are made equal but some are more equal than others. In other words every guitar sounds different from the next. EQ can be difficult but if you know the fundamentals of an acoustic you can get an idea of what you want to get out of the sound. Remember you can’t boost what isn’t there.

• Fullness: 80Hz
• Body: 240Hz
• Presence: 2-5kHz

I like to cut a bit of the body out (actually cutting more of the honkiness, 400Hz, out. But the body gets affected in the process) of the guitar as this can led to a very muddy mix. But depending on the guitar it can actually sound nice to boost the body. A totally acoustic song for instance can sound great with fullness and body boosted and presence just slightly in there. But for rock, and for it to be distinguishable in the mix of a “rock” sound. Cut at about 400Hz or boost 2-5kHz slightly. and level to taste. I don’t usually boost the lows as I find it fights with the bass guitar and kick for that area of EQ. So, I tend to cut the lows just so that the low end has the bass and kick as the dominant instruments.

Electric Guitar – This in most cases tends to be easy. If you have a “tone freak” for a guitarist (which we have) you can just ask him to set his amp to the sound he likes and you can pretty much EQ to get the same sound with the exception of maybe cutting the mid-lows and lows. I would almost always mike an amplifier than go direct (especially if it is a tube/valve amp). mike it up get and try get the ambiance/natural reverb from the amp. However sometimes you need a little less of something from the electric. So here is a break down of an electrics frequencies.

• Fullness: 240-500Hz
• Presence: 1.5-2.5kHz

Basically you want a fuller guitar add some low mids. If you want more presence in the mix add some higher mids. I really like to get a true representation of the amplifier and mix that in for some reason it just fits nicely in the mix. Levels? Depends on if it’s lead or rhythm. Lead just above and rhythm just below the mix. If, like this last week, you have two electrics playing I suggest a bit of panning as it would really define each guitar and make them stand out separately rather than fight for the same area in the mix. Also EQ one for fullness and one for presence can bring about clarity in the mix.

Vocals – Well, vocals falls into a few areas that all have their different EQ’s and levels. Background or lead? female or male? But as a general guideline the frequencies are below:

• Fullness: 120Hz (Chesty)
• Boominess: 240Hz
• Presence/Sibilance: 5kHz
• Air: 10-15kHz

I tend to cut some and boominess in the guys and slightly in the girls. My main gripe is too much highs and they “ssss” all the time. This is mainly because the system is emphasised towards 8kHz. Which I’ve tried my best to decrease on the house EQ with out it loosing too much. But that aside when there is one male vocalist (which tends to happen a lot) I add fullness to warm up his voice and fill out the mix with vocals. Cut the boominess and add some slight reverb and walla. If I could I’d also boost the 4-5kHz just slightly to bring definition to the voice but you should always look out that the vocals don’t become too harsh if you do this.

Conclusion

Each instrument must have it’s own space whether it be it’s space in the frequency range, volume level, stereo area, or a mixture of the three. Letting each have there place will allow them to stand out and the mix will become clear and definable.