5 EQ Frequencies DESTROYING Your Mix

there are many elements to making the perfect mix but without question the most important element to have under your belt is eq in the tracking stage it's getting the right source material which is also eq but what if there were certain frequencies to watch out for every time you opened a session of course every song is different but wouldn't it make your life a little easier if you already knew what to look for and probably a better mixer because you'd get more familiar with these frequencies over time by the end of this video you will not only know which frequencies are most likely ruining your mixes but you'll know why so what's happening fam miami here with jst and sometimes i go back to my old mixes and realize how very simple eq moves would have improved the entire balance but it's just something that i learned over time and i would sometimes ask people for crits but them telling me what the problem was versus being able to show me didn't really give me the results i wanted i was lost not making progress and had to start going by trial and error i'm gonna try and prevent you guys from having to go through the same trouble at least a little bit i'm sure most of us here are recording in 44 000 kilohertz so which frequencies are causing our issues out of the 44 000 speaking of 44 000 i'd love to hit that number by the end of this month so please make sure to hit that subscribe button the notification bell and leave a like on the video if that transition caught you off guard i thought it was pretty crazy frequency number one 700 hertz this is possibly one of the most annoying frequencies that i deal with if i were going to describe it it's very reminiscent of that sonar blip you would hear on a submarine one of the most annoying places you'll hear this is in a snare drum i've heard many a drum mix ruined by this check it out [Music] now does that or does that not remind you of that sonar sound from a sub scribe by hitting that red button transition game level up i don't know what it is but i really notice this frequency the most when i'm dealing with condenser mics whenever i'm using a condenser on snare or especially vocals on vocals this frequency can become really cloudy especially on my voice and i'm going to show you guys that right now i had a dream we could change the world if it was me and you we could start a new i had a dream me and you we could start a new i see how much clearer that got after removing 700hz and depending on what the source material is this sound can happen anywhere from 500 to 700 hertz it's annoying and you can't unhear it so if you like boosting 700 for some ring just make sure that your sonar works get the reference i'm on fire today frequency number two you guys should know that i have to bring this one up 4k joey popularized the realization that this was a problem frequency because it was extremely ear fatiguing but remember how i said i wouldn't just be telling you which frequencies i'll tell you why it bothers us our ear canals are specifically designed to be sensitive to two to four thousand kilohertz because it's prominent area for speech and vocal intelligibility but it can also cause us to be extremely sensitive to sounds think of the most annoying sound in the world here's one nails on a chalkboard i'm sorry but you have to listen to this [Applause] notice how that hovers right around 4 000 kilohertz now let's listen to 4k on guitars which is what joey had originally made famous [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] even though the example stopped can't you still hear it do you see how much smoother that sounded with a simple change now remember that vocal that had a problem with 700 hertz there was also something going on in the 4k area these frequencies can pop up in different sources all over the song and they start stacking and becoming fatiguing listen to this i had a dream we could change the world if it was me and you we could start anew i had a dream we could change the world if it was me and you we could start anew i had a dream we could change the world if it was me and you we could start anew i had a dream we could change the world if it was me and you we could start a new you see what i mean the vocal got a lot smoother and less shrill which is important when you're dealing with high pitched vocals like i was doing in that song most of the time we hate 4k unless it's in the snare and one of the best breakdowns of the year number three and this can be the most dangerous one ghost frequencies there are certain sub frequencies that you can feel but you don't hear the human ear doesn't even have the capability to hear these frequencies that prop has something to do with the fact that our eyeballs vibrate at the frequency so we have an internal crossover but hold on if you can't hear something how can you fix it well there are a couple options you can roll off everything under 20 hertz and just hope that things are okay which surprisingly a lot of people do and get away with or you can get a sub pack so you can feel those frequencies and tighten up your low end it's kind of impossible to show you an example of this because you wouldn't hear it but you know which frequency you can hear number four 300 to 400 hertz this frequency is pure mud it's terrible it sounds like your source was recorded in a cardboard box the first place i go to cut this frequency is toms kicks drums in general but especially base if you split your base make sure your cutoffs get rid of 300 hertz listen closely [Music] [Applause] do you see how nasty that was it ruined all the clarity of the low end coming out of the guitar but let's listen to some palm mutes of the guitar from a different section with tone forge jeff loomis pay attention to the area with the bloom coming from the dynamic compressor you feel me not paying attention to this area can ruin a mix in an instant number five this one is particularly important to heavy music the 10k roll-off on rhythm guitars and i know this is pretty elementary but what people don't mention is how much clearer your leads sound when you leave this area open it adds so much more bite and removes that fizz on the top take a listen [Music] [Music] [Music] all of these eq moves can be detrimental to your growth as a mixer in the songs that you're mixing now your clients will love you and your ears will thank you let's go over this one more time 700 hertz 4k ghost frequencies 300 hertz and the 10k roll off by having these moves under your belt you can make quicker and smarter eq decisions when mixing and remember these numbers are not exact it can be 100 hertz above or below but you have the general idea now at the very least if you're an engineer on the come up give this video a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe you only have to do it one time and tap that bell for notifications so when a video drops you know the location until next time i'm out of here mic drop except as engineers we know i wouldn't really drop this thing because that gear really expensive even if it is a piece of shirt later

Channel: Joey Sturgis Tones

Views: 89,089

Keywords: home recording, audio production, mixing tutorials, EQ, how to fix frequencies in your mix, audio mixing, tips and tricks, ghost frequencies, toneforge Jeff loomis, Joey Sturgis Tones, JST, JST Plugins

Id: 9UQdVbLV5LU

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 08 2021