this rule helps you (only) as long as you have not enough experience. with time you'll hear exactly what need to be done to every single sound that everything works perfectly together.

eq-skills need to be learned and it's for certain nothing you will learn in a couple of days. it's something which takes time, long time, to learn.. and it's nothing which you can learn in books. you need to train your ears.

If you are gonna boost some high frequencies, cut low and raise volume.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJMaytag Give it time young padawan, you will learn that this is one of the few blanket statements that's correct. i don't agree that it's common (amongst well produced tracks anyway) to boost frequencies in all those sounds, especially when those are all in the same frequency range. You can't boost them all!

As a general rule, cutting sounds will clean up a mix beautifully. But absolutely, most professional engineers will also boost where necessary. I don't know where you read that this is a "blanket statement" and that a well-placed boost is NEVER called for - if this works for you, good luck to you. I'd be interested to know your sources for this information though - in the meantime, I'm going to have to say that that statement will do more harm than good. It's a guideline, not a rule. As for calling Diginut a young padawan... I found that quite amusing, since it's such a misplaced description - he creates some excellent music.

I'm not sure what you meant by "boost frequencies in all those sounds" - I couldn't see how that referred to the previous posts. If someone boosts everywhere, that's an issue. But I've seen and read about countless fantastic tracks containing well-placed boosts among all the cuts. As I said, I'd like to find out where you learned that this is a "blanket statement"...to me it seems like a reformed "eq booster" vowing never to boost again, even though in some circumstances it's exactly what's called for.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut I'm still not convinced that this is true. No doubt that most EQ work done in a mix will be cutting (particularly bass and some mid frequencies) but it's also pretty common to boost the mids/mid-highs in leads, pads, stabs, snares, etc. It's just a tool - you can use it well or poorly and I tend to be mistrustful of anyone who makes a statement with regard to production that has the word "always" in it.

it seems to me some eqs sound good when boosting, and others can sound nasty if you boost.

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I think what is meant by it, that its better to create space for one sound by cutting something else rather than boosting the sound.

Ofcourse boosting is very much usable, but boosting something is more likely to ruin a mix than cutting.

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I have worked in a professional recording studio environment and can tell you that mix engineers most definately do boost frequencies alot.

Expensive analog outboard EQs such as Neve, API etc can do wonders when boosting certain frequencies.

At the end of the day just do what sounds right. Dont take peoples opinions so seriously and just do what sounds good when producing.

Cutting is better at certain things, and boosting is better at other certain things. Let's leave it at that.

Boosting the highs to "fix" a muddy mix is one example of misuse, that people starting out will tend to do - rather than locating the problem areas and cut.

In my experience, there is most of the times too much level at certain frequencies, rather than too little.

i tend to cut at each element/each channel but boost on master to give the mix the right balance

Make sure you do your cuts before your boosts

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