EQ Basics - The Approach

Equalizing vocals is arguably the most important part of vocal mixing. Which is why it's important to understand how to best approach the process. Let's take a look!

Transcript

1. EQ Basics By Kevin Hues
2. EQ’ing = Cleaning The EQ process is very much like cleaning dirt off of your car. There is a beautiful, shiny car underneath all the mud. There may be some scratches or scrapes that can’t be removed. But when you have a pristinely washed and waxed vehicle, most scratches go unnoticed!
3. 3 Common Mistakes 1. Cutting too many low frequencies (scratching the paint of your car) 2. Boosting too many high frequencies: (adding more paint… like why??) 3. Failure to find the problem areas: (not cleaning all the dirt)
4. Don’t Be Intimidated Just like compression, looks can be deceiving. The EQ process can be simplified to a great extent. I will show you how simple it can be during the demonstration! Logic Pro X FL Studio Pro Tools
5. EQ Placement I like to use EQ after compression. Typically, I don’t need to make as many adjustments when my EQ is placed in this order. Also, it just makes sense to me if I EQ a vocal that is already leveled out with compression.
6. 3 Things To Know About EQ 1. EQ can truly determine the overall quality of a song 2. EQ works best when you use it with a true purpose (know what you need to fix) 3. EQ will be more useful if you just listen, instead of reading numbers