Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

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Mustang Martigan
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Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by Mustang Martigan » Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:16 am

I'm having a difficult time sweeping the frequency spectrum to find harsh/unwanted freq to cut.

For example, as I sweep thru the upper mids on heavy electric guitar, I hear what I can only describe as a modulated wind tunnel. I've read several articles on how the electric guitar lives/thrives in the upper mids. I know I'm missing something here, or don't understand what to listen for.. I just can't figure out what.
This same tunnel effect seems to turn up in all my sweeps thru the upper mids.

Do you guys sweep with the whole mix playing, soloed or both? EQing properly is definitely my weakest link, which sucks cuz it's so important.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

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Re: Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:25 am

i never really sweep eq's at all. i find it too distracting. so if i feel like i want to cut say 3k, i'll cut there and listen. better? not better? if it's better, then great, if not, try a different frequency.

anyway as far as guitars go, never ever ever eq them in solo. this is true for pretty much anything, but especially guitars and very especially distorted ones. it's super easy to have a good sounding guitar in solo, you then put it in the mix and it either disappears or takes over everything. always eq in context.

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losthighway
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Re: Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by losthighway » Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:49 am

Yeah, for a slightly different shade of the same advice:

Aside from trying a cut in a spot to see if it's helping like mse said, you want to think about your motivation for cutting. Is there something harsh? Is it muddy? Cut for a reason. Sometimes in addition to trying to just pull down that frequency you might try boosting it to see if it's making worse what's already bugging you.

The thing with eq is since it's our second most used tool (other than volume adjustments) when balancing a mix we feel like we have to start eq'ing stuff to make it "better". Sometimes a simple high pass to cut some rumble is all a guitar needs. Ice picky? Low pass, or high mid notch. Muddy? try a low mid cut. Feel like your snare and or vocals, or keys need more space? Try a fairly wide mid cut maybe move it around to see where it's not damaging things while opening up a space.

I think I feel where you're coming from, like some online tutorials make it seem like everyone's just sending out a narrow 10db boost and sweeping it across the spectrum to suddenly go "Aha! 2.5k really sucks now that I've boosted every audible frequency! Now my eq setting will be amazing." I think it's cause some guys go "ooh, I'm hearing an ugly resonance here, what is that 700, maybe 900" WHAAAAA, "oh yeah that's the one" *cuts it*. The problem is how little explanation goes into some of those moves.

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Re: Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by vvv » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:37 pm

What those guys said.

Sweeps don't work for me, either.

I will add, however, that sometimes I do solo to EQ, but only when I'm sure of what I'm doing, or when it's the featured track.

Finally, let me say that if you learn how to read a spectral display, you can save a lot of time and get pretty precise results; YMMV.
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Re: Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by drumsound » Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:19 pm

I think, if you're hearing the wind tunnel sounds you're sweeping to quickly and not listening to what's actually happening. You're hearing the sweep, but not hearing its effect it is making on the mix. When one thinks of EQ the question should be why. Why are you going to EQ? Are two things clashing? Does something not speak in context? Then we have to identify the culprits and figure out what to do to which elements. Listen to how the interact, what can you identify and what can't you identify. If both elements have good articulation, the upper mids [probably] aren't clashing, but if it sounds like sludge in the low and low mid, a couple of cuts might be needed. Pick an element put a medium wide bell and cut a couple dB somewhere in that range. Didi it help? If not, change the frequency, somewhat drastically. I.E if you started at 350hz, do change to 340, go further away, like 250hz, or 450hz. [number are only used for illustration]

As mentioned, sometimes a filter in the low can open up the low end of other things, sometimes I hi filter leaves room for cymbals, keyboards and the top of the vocal.

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:28 pm

Hopefully, you have a frequency analyzer plug in, which can help you in actually seeing the spectrum.

This helps a lot when you are starting out mixing and EQing. I still use it to save some time.

Remember: Frequencies ARE the notes. So, get you a note - frequency chart, that will also save you some time.

Stop sweeping when mixing. Sweeping is good pretty much only for live shows where you need to find the feedback frequency.
It is HORRIBLE when mixing, it fucks up your ears immediately. Like putting a drill right next to your ears.

Instead, learn which actual frequencies are the ones which you DO NOT like. You'll get the hang of it soon enough.

If, for example, you have a boxy sounding guitar, and it does not have any notes being played in the 500Hz range, look there. It might
be just sloppy playing, or the wrong EQ on the guitar amp itself. Another reason to always try to get the sound you really want, at
the source, and not "fix it in the mix".

Happy hunting!!!
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Re: Frequency Sweeping/Unwanted Frequency Help

Post by Recycled_Brains » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:02 am

I do this too much. I've been realizing that lately. It's a huge distraction. What happens with me, is I sweep, find shit I hate, but you know, OF COURSE I hate it... I'm boosting something 12 f'ing decibels with an extremely narrow bandwidth. The problem is, my ears can't un-hear that after I bring the EQ back to zero, so I feel like I then need to cut it a bit then.

I will say, as an example, it definitely helps with cymbals, because I'm not lucky enough to record drummers that actually spend money on cymbals that sound good (I could rant forever about this). So sweeping for the really harsh/white-noise bits of cymbals to chill them out and stop them from masking the high end on guitars a bit, I find this to be helpful.

I think it can be helpful, but doing it by default (as i have been lately) is a bad idea. Context is definitely everything.
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