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eq tips using spectrum analyzer
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dharmatronic
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
130
Posted : Sep 3, 2009 17:44:52
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Hi,
I’ve been searching (including here) some guide regarding utilization of a spectrum analyzer. Actually, what I need is to understand (more than hearing) where the holes of my music are located.
Sometimes even if listen it carefully is hard to figure out where exactly you must boost/cut/add frequency and/or layers. Despite of all the rest, I think it mostly distinguishes pro production from the rest, IMHO.
When mastering the eq technique you can easily make each instrument of your music sounds clear. Am I right?
I have the impression that to make impressive trance music (it is been hard to find something really impressive nowadays) you must be a sort of Maestro, I mean from an orchestra… lol. And after all, to be an audio studio nerd… long way.
be good
=) |
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sideFXed
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
430
Posted : Sep 3, 2009 20:38
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"what I need is to understand (more than hearing) where the holes of my music are located." - heh, it's exactly the other way around 
 soundcloud.com/epsylohm |
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sideFXed
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
430
Posted : Sep 3, 2009 20:47
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I’ll write up my thoughts in a long post. Yeah sorry I’m bored!
specifically speaking about electronic dance music, I think it's best to think of a reduced set of frequency spectrums. Let’s divide it for kicks in 3 to 4 parts.
low end, low meat, medium and highs
so let's rule out the low end... kick and bass should be the foundation of the track. also pretty dead center of your stereo field. Check that nothing interferes with kick and bass.
now lets cover what I like to call the low meat. Here we find again kick & bass and some elements like leads. Be sure not to highpass your elements beside kick& bass too high, you'll lose alot of... MEAT
Carve some holes with help of eq's into this region. Apply some gentle dips around 250hz (use your ears) on your bassline. Sweep around another eq on the kick, this might help to make some space open for these two elements. Sometimes it helps to attenuate frequencies with positive eq, experiment and A/B the results.
A pretty nice trick is to use a narrow band on your eq to cancel out the second harmonics of the bassline. You can find a nice chart when you google for bob katz tutorials.
the medium frequency spectrum is quite tricky. your ear works best in the frequency spectrum of the human voice... that's about from 2000-8000 hz, don't recall the exact numbers but anyway.
Here you have to cram quite alot of elements in. Your help is again eq, panning and shaping of the dynamics . Exaclty here a spectrum analyzer comes in handy. Solo each element and look which frequencies are vital to your synths. Often you have the chance to soften up a synth with small narrow dips on your eq. Also don't forget to boost elements that you find pleasing to the ears.
Kick back, close your eyes and play the elements that build a section of a track. Think about what sound should dominate and what could be won if a sound stays in the background. Often you encounter that you can add a certain sparkle to a synth with boosting the medium and high frequencies.
If you let an element dominate the sound, you often want to cut back on another element. Even extreme settings on your eq can yield good results. Always think: WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO THE SOUND!?
The highs add alot of presence to my sounds. It took me years to understand that lots of synths need to get quite some boost in these regions to make them stand out.
Also try to lowpass elements of your sounds so you leave a bit of space for hihats and swooshes and crash-cymbals. You probably won't hear stuff beyond 22 khz anyway, so there's room for adjustments.
Some years ago I kind of overestimated the function of spectrum analyzers. It helps to use them to compare your stuff to released records. It helps to visualize things that aren't that obvious for an untrained set of ears. It does help a great deal to decide if your track meets certain goals. Like measuring the rms values of your track with a moderate refresh rate (150 ms).
Try to use analyzers for some time for their purpose.. yeah, analyzing . Train your ears to make your sounds complete, distribute all your things evenly, be sure that your percussion sticks out, the bass&kick combo doesn't get out of control... but then forget the analyzer again pretty fast and do what music is there for.
To make music ^^
soundcloud.com/epsylohm |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
162
Posts :
8087
Posted : Sep 3, 2009 23:30
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Quote:
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On 2009-09-03 20:47, sideFXed wrote:
A pretty nice trick is to use a narrow band on your eq to cancel out the second harmonics of the bassline. You can find a nice chart when you google for bob katz tutorials.
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can you explain a bit more about that, is it to make room for the kick? |
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sideFXed
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
430
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 01:19
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infectedsilence
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
43
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 04:46
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Quote:
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On 2009-09-03 20:47, sideFXed wrote:
I’ll write up my thoughts in a long post. Yeah sorry I’m bored!
specifically speaking about electronic dance music, I think it's best to think of a reduced set of frequency spectrums. Let’s divide it for kicks in 3 to 4 parts.
low end, low meat, medium and highs
so let's rule out the low end... kick and bass should be the foundation of the track. also pretty dead center of your stereo field. Check that nothing interferes with kick and bass.
now lets cover what I like to call the low meat. Here we find again kick & bass and some elements like leads. Be sure not to highpass your elements beside kick& bass too high, you'll lose alot of... MEAT
Carve some holes with help of eq's into this region. Apply some gentle dips around 250hz (use your ears) on your bassline. Sweep around another eq on the kick, this might help to make some space open for these two elements. Sometimes it helps to attenuate frequencies with positive eq, experiment and A/B the results.
A pretty nice trick is to use a narrow band on your eq to cancel out the second harmonics of the bassline. You can find a nice chart when you google for bob katz tutorials.
the medium frequency spectrum is quite tricky. your ear works best in the frequency spectrum of the human voice... that's about from 2000-8000 hz, don't recall the exact numbers but anyway.
Here you have to cram quite alot of elements in. Your help is again eq, panning and shaping of the dynamics . Exaclty here a spectrum analyzer comes in handy. Solo each element and look which frequencies are vital to your synths. Often you have the chance to soften up a synth with small narrow dips on your eq. Also don't forget to boost elements that you find pleasing to the ears.
Kick back, close your eyes and play the elements that build a section of a track. Think about what sound should dominate and what could be won if a sound stays in the background. Often you encounter that you can add a certain sparkle to a synth with boosting the medium and high frequencies.
If you let an element dominate the sound, you often want to cut back on another element. Even extreme settings on your eq can yield good results. Always think: WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO THE SOUND!?
The highs add alot of presence to my sounds. It took me years to understand that lots of synths need to get quite some boost in these regions to make them stand out.
Also try to lowpass elements of your sounds so you leave a bit of space for hihats and swooshes and crash-cymbals. You probably won't hear stuff beyond 22 khz anyway, so there's room for adjustments.
Some years ago I kind of overestimated the function of spectrum analyzers. It helps to use them to compare your stuff to released records. It helps to visualize things that aren't that obvious for an untrained set of ears. It does help a great deal to decide if your track meets certain goals. Like measuring the rms values of your track with a moderate refresh rate (150 ms).
Try to use analyzers for some time for their purpose.. yeah, analyzing . Train your ears to make your sounds complete, distribute all your things evenly, be sure that your percussion sticks out, the bass&kick combo doesn't get out of control... but then forget the analyzer again pretty fast and do what music is there for.
To make music ^^
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thnx a lot for the info sideFXed  ...
really usefull tips!
when you have many medium freq. sounds like synths,atmospheres,fat blips going on, how do you manage them with the EQ?
leaving a small band only for every sound with extreme EQ settings or just blend things up with dips and low/band pass settings?
because i have listen to some very clean and crisp productions and with much much more sounds than what i have imagine adding in a track and stand with the mouth open saying..how the hell did he manage that?
but i know its just knowledge and good ear
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace...
-Jimi Hendrix- |
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Elad
Tsabeat/Sattel Battle
Started Topics :
158
Posts :
5306
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 12:32
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Quote:
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On 2009-09-03 23:30, PoM wrote:
Quote:
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On 2009-09-03 20:47, sideFXed wrote:
A pretty nice trick is to use a narrow band on your eq to cancel out the second harmonics of the bassline. You can find a nice chart when you google for bob katz tutorials.
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can you explain a bit more about that, is it to make room for the kick?
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depend on the original sound , and you room (!!!!!!!)
usualy freqs from 90hz-140hz sound terrible.. like pure yak stuff on your bass.
remove 125hz or around it usualy does the trick.. using analizer you can just see it.
sometimes i make the 'deep' somewhere between the octaves to not damage the presence of the note of its harmonics
www.sattelbattle.com
http://yoavweinberg.weebly.com/ |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
162
Posts :
8087
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 14:21
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thanks for the link .i tried it but wihtout much success for now.
about getting the sound clear for synth sounds it s also in the arragement you have to get the things right .(for example if you make some leads at the same octave as the bassline it s asking for trouble) |
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dharmatronic
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
130
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 15:46
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hi, PoM, I don't see problem at all since, of course, you apply proper pan and effects in each instrument. It changes considerably the fact of using same octave for them. |
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Elad
Tsabeat/Sattel Battle
Started Topics :
158
Posts :
5306
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 16:23
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yeah but there is point to it that every instrument has its own space.
nothing more terribel then try to mix 2 leads that are playing same octave and charechter.. and pritty useless too in many cases. better of playing different octaves simply. or to chop like fullon so they just never touch each other
www.sattelbattle.com
http://yoavweinberg.weebly.com/ |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
162
Posts :
8087
Posted : Sep 4, 2009 20:24
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Quote:
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On 2009-09-04 15:46, dharmatronic wrote:
hi, PoM, I don't see problem at all since, of course, you apply proper pan and effects in each instrument. It changes considerably the fact of using same octave for them.
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yeah sure and if you use different filters on the synth you can have space for both sound easily, but i meant what Elad said with bad words  |
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*eLliSDee*
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
671
Posted : Sep 5, 2009 23:27
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i do not really notice heavy masking on higher frequencies of clashing leads. i do notice it interferes with my basslines highs and i try to avoid that,, but i guess i certain amount of masking is unavoidable, no???
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dharmatronic
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
130
Posted : Sep 7, 2009 16:00
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yep, lsd, I don't see how can one avoid it completely.
I always cut freq with sonnox and then eq with waves to make sure that any lead will not interfere on bassline... just checking peaks and attenuating around it, if necessary.
works for me. |
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Elad
Tsabeat/Sattel Battle
Started Topics :
158
Posts :
5306
Posted : Sep 7, 2009 19:17
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*eLliSDee*
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
671
Posted : Sep 8, 2009 13:40
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i'm not in the habit of watching spectrum analyzers, mostly because i don't no what to look for.. In FL i use the new parametric EQ which i think is excellent for finding fundamental freqs. and i can check how big hole i'd need for on my kick when playing bass over Kick and so on..
I dont have any outside help on production. Everything i know i've learned right here on isratrance.
And 1 thing i've learned here is that is a good idea to makeEQ the mix around the bass.
So my technique for interfering leads and pads is to make a reasonable wide Qdip and sweep it until the 'pluck character' of the bass pops through.
i'm still struggling to make my lead work with lush pad. but i think it is better to sacrifice the pad and cut alot of freqs for lead and bass to get through,,rather than other way around.
is my thinking right??
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