question on Equalization

[gmixstudios]

greetings!

I have a mentor who has left me with the task of instead of boosting a signal to cut it and recieve the same sound, I think I know what he means for example if I wanted to boost with a low q at 120hz I would cut above and below with the same low q so that the 120hz is left at 0
then apply some gain.

I wondered if you could offer some insight or point me to a useful article.
I have done all my mixing by boosting not cutting.

Also is he right in saying to cut everything and not boost at all?

Rob

[cavern]

sometimes you need to boost as well but it's always better if you can cut instead of boosting if you can achive the same results.

cutting means instead of boosting higher up in the range, you take away somewhere lower in the range or vis-versa. cut lows to reveal highs or cut highs to reveal lows.

every time you boost, you add gain so if you boost to much or to many instruments, you can overdrive your levels and add unwanted noise,distortion and phase issues.

Blue Bear Sound - EQ? When?? How???
8 Easy Steps To Better EQ - AUDIOTUTS

[warhead]

Eh, I don't know about always better...I tend to turn knobs right rather than left but...whatever works! It's good he's encouraging you to hear the difference though.

War

[sardonic_z]

yeah I think boosting is probably a better thing to do only when you're working with nice eq's, like, ones that have good amplifiers built in. I'm under the impression that any boost on an EQ is actually a result of cutting other frequencies and then passing the whole signal through an amp.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong..

[Musiclab]

my general approach to eq is to start by cutting all the way the low mids then I sweep through the frequencies until I hear what I'm looking for that needs the cut then I put some back so that maybe I'm cutting a few db, usually not more than that. Then I use the same approach on the hi mids, then I listen and see what lows and highs I need to either boost or cut, but carving alittle mids will let you hear the low and high end better.

[j2dafo]

i don't always subscribe to this maxim, be it sounds good:

CUT to make something sound better. (cleaning up mids, sibilance)

BOOST to make something sound diff. (shaping tone)

[Mr.HOLMES]

Here is what I have found over the years.

I first listen to what I do not like = cutting.

Do not sweep just press stop take the frequency you think which one it is and cut it.
Press play again....with this technique you can learn naming problems frequency wise and your eqing will be fast as hell.

After this I mostly just miss some top end or air on the single tracks.
If an instrument is bad recorded it lacks of midrange so boost this... but the midrange also gets fast boomy and boxing so I just do maybe just a little bit.....0,5-1db

After all this only can be inspiration for you eqing also depends on all the other instruments in the track and sometimes crazy things sound great.

[rob_keitel]

crazy teachers. Someone taught me this as well, and now i never boost digitally.

[gmixstudios]

Originally Posted by rob_keitel

crazy teachers. Someone taught me this as well, and now i never boost digitally.

lol I only have digital
would be nice to rock in the analogue world but we all got to start somewhere, thanks for all your help

would sweeping be classed as cheating?

[cavern]

Originally Posted by gmixstudios

would sweeping be classed as cheating?

no, it's a popular approach.

[stryker]

ever since I read mixing with your mind by stav I have succumbed to his method of not sweeping. Try and listen to what frequency is disturbing you and change that. Listen and within a sec you will know if you hit it, repeat back and forth but sweeping for me now is harder the spot checking

[Mr.HOLMES]

Originally Posted by rob_keitel

crazy teachers. Someone taught me this as well, and now i never boost digitally.

To never boost in the digital domaine is just BS.
If there is need for boosting boost it.

We have great plug in EQs today so we do not have to worry about that any more. Also there exists wonderful plug in eqs which do things which hardware will never do, like the eloises.

Not to start antoher ITB/OTB beleive me the plugs of today are great and if you can not get it with this you wont get it with the finest analouge gear either.

[MarkRB]

If you want more of something BOOST it.

If you want less of something CUT it.

Not a hard and fast rule, but pretty easy to implement.

[Daggaland]

Originally Posted by gmixstudios

greetings!

I have a mentor who has left me with the task of instead of boosting a signal to cut it and recieve the same sound, I think I know what he means for example if I wanted to boost with a low q at 120hz I would cut above and below with the same low q so that the 120hz is left at 0
then apply some gain.

I wondered if you could offer some insight or point me to a useful article.
I have done all my mixing by boosting not cutting.

Also is he right in saying to cut everything and not boost at all?

Rob

On the whole cutting sounds more natural, boosting sounds more aggressive so for instance I'd actually choose to boost top and bottom end on certain drums as opposed to cutting the mids because I like what it does to them but there's all kinds of opinions on this.

He's not right to say NEVER boost as there's a time and a place for everything but learning to use subtractive EQ can do wonders for your mixes. On a vocal, instead of boosting high mids for presence, try cutting low mids instead (around 200hz maybe?) and see how the results sound to you.

One thing to be wary of is to make sure you're actually matching the pre and post EQ levels when comparing otherwise you'll naturally find yourself preferring sounds with EQ boosts simply because they'll be louder