replicating digital EQ with analog EQ

[dumbangel]

I'll have the opportunity to get an Amek 9098 EQ box for very cheap next month. All my mixes have been done on computer with Logic EQ plugins.

I'm planning to try to replicate my digital mixes with the Amek after sending them out, track by track through my apogee PSX100. The idea is to get more accuracy and a nicer tone. Has anyone had any experience in doing so?

[leigh]

I'd suggest that using a $2000 EQ channel to replicate some free Logic plug-ins is not the best use of said EQ. You might find that adding 3K to a snare with the plug-ins sounded like hashy shit, but sounds really sweet through the outboard.

You did mention that you wanted more accuracy and nicer tone. Chances are, you'll get less accuracy but a lot nicer tone. Never having used the Amek, I can't vouch for it, but I'll bet a lot more critical listening went into its design than went into the plug-ins.

Leigh

[dumbangel]

it's true I should get less accuracy. But my mixes are not extreme or sharp anyway.

I don't have an analog board, just one EQ channel. I can't afford a whole mixing board and I don't see the point anyway as I record everything to DAW. But I still want to improve the texture quality of my equalizations.

I read somewhere that most of Madonna's "Music" was orinally tracked and mixed on a Yamaha O2r. They tried to replicate the original EQ choices through some Neve or SSL board and renounced apparently. The original digital EQing was too extreme (but mine isn't). Eventually they kept the digital mix for the album.

Generally speaking I just wonder whether it's an interesting option for project studio owners like me who have a decent digital converter, to use a quality EQ channel for improving the tone of their digital mix.

[cgarges]

I think that that entire Madonna album sounds like ass. True, there's some really neato digital edits and stuff that could never be done with all analog equipment, but having had to engineer sound-alikes of "Music" and whatever that next single was, I can honestly say I think that album sounded terrible. They should have tracked it with analog outboard to begin with, instead of applying it afterward. And yes, when I did the sound-alikes, I used analog EQs and was able to make it sound equally as bad.

[cgarges]

By the way, I like the way the 9098 mic pre sounds. Can't say that I've used the EQ, but I am an Amek fan.

[dumbangel]

i don't like the sound of "Music" neither. Hard and cutting sound.

[CDSager]

I have used the Amek Angela console extensivly, and if I could keep only one part of this console, it would be the eq modules. The EQ on the amek board is really great. The general consensus is that EQing is 'wrong' or some bull like that, but I never really have any problems reaching for some EQ to cut out the garbage frequencies.

Are you just looking for stereo buss compression?






Rock and Roll

[cgarges]

Yeah, the Angela with the 5534 ICs is the one I'm talking about. Great EQs.

[Flight Feathers]

i don't see outboard eq as the most practical thing in a daw setup like yours. i assume you do your mixes internally with logic's bounce function, correct? the thing with eq is that it is meant to be tweaked in relation to all the other tracks of the song. so with outboard eq, you are going to have to send each track out to the eq, then capture the audio back as a seperate track, and this has to be done in real time. it is going to take a long time to do that for each of your tracks. plus, every time you want to adjust the eq even slightly, you have to recapture the audio track through the outboard eq again. it seems like a too time intensive process to really be worth it.

ayan

[dumbangel]

Ion, you're right. But what i was suggesting was slightly different.

The idea is not to do a whole mix with one single EQ channel. What a drag!

It's to do a whole mix within Logic, using its EQ plugins (or others); then, once it's done, "duplicate" each EQ correction externally on an analog mono EQ, channel by channel, in order to improve the tone. I don't know how well and easy this can be done. It could be very long and exhausting to do. I don't know. I guess it requires a sound knowledge of how different both digital EQs and that particular analog EQ channel react. How different they shape frequencies.

[eeldip]

that sounds like a pain in the ass.

however, mixing onboard plugs with outboard gear is generally a good idea, but i would just pick out come key instruments or submixes for outboard treatment.

you know, use up all your outputs on your card, send some stuff into the real world... then back into the computer as a mixdown deck.

you have an extra da ad conversion in there, but you may gain a bit depending on what sound you are going for...

[soundguy]

khai-

+6dB at x frequency on one EQ is not going to sound the same on the exact same setting on another EQ. Certainly the idea in theory that you have is a really good one, but I guarantee you that if you do your mix in your computer with your plugins EQing the way you like, if you just export those tracks through ANY analog EQ and try to duplicate the settings, you are gonna have a very different sounding thing happening. I did a recall on a mix a while ago and patched the wrong EQ and spent way too long trying to understand why the drum sound was so different even though the EQ settings matched my notes. Im not the most knowledgable dude when it comes to EQ, but I can tell you that different EQs sound really different, even set exactly the same.

dave

[cgarges]

And on different consoles, and in different rooms, and...

Sounds like a neat "experiment," though, and if you have the time, you should do it to see what you learn. You'll probably gain alot of insight into how both your plug ins and the Amek work. Probably more so with the plug ins, since you're more familiar with them.

Please be sure to post your particular results.

Chris

[dumbangel]

thanx guys, I'll tell you how things go. I might use some frequency analyzer plugin to help me compare things.