Original subtitles

Today's tutorial is about EQ and we're

going to be covering all

the basics for beginners.

Hi folks, I'm Mike and I hope you're

well. Now using EQ and using it well is

one of the most important skills you'll

have in your studio. So today we're going

to be guiding you through the basics for

beginners but if you're an old hand there

may be some nuggets of information in

there for you as well. We're going to be

covering the basics like what kinds of

EQs there are, how to basically use them.

We're going to be EQing an acoustic

guitar and we're going to be taking a

sneak look at some of the more advanced

techniques you will need to learn in the

future.(...) Now if this is your first

time here and you're looking for this

kind of content, tutorials about DAWs,

home recordings, plugins etc then please

do subscribe and ring the bell on YouTube

so that you get notified about my future

videos. Now let's get stuck into some

EQing. So let's start off by taking a

quick look at the different types of EQ

plugins available to you. Now they fall

into two basic categories, those are

graphic equalizers and parametric EQs.

Now graphic equalizers will look

something like this one you can see on

the screen here. This is from Nomad

factory and they're easy to spot because

they have lots and lots of sliders to

control specific frequencies or ranges of

frequencies within the audio. Another

example of a graphic equalizer would be

this one from Waze. Now this one's a

little different, there's more sliders to

control different frequencies and they

have them for the left and the right

channel. But what I want you to notice

here is the display at the top, this is

called a spectrum analyzer and this

indicates to you the amount of energy for

specific frequencies within the audio and

it's a really useful tool if you're just

starting out with your EQing.(...) Now

graphic equalizers are not used as often

as something called parametric EQs, these

are much more versatile and are more

often used in production today. The first

examples I'm going to show you are based

on some old hardware, this is the SSL EQ

from Waze and this one is also from Waze

and it's called the VEQ. Now they are

based on the characteristics of those

hardware and sometimes that hardware did

sort of colour the sound in specific ways

and add certain characteristics. So

they're not what you call very

transparent plugins and they don't often

have a spectrum analyzer so I don't

recommend them if you're just starting

out. Instead I recommend a more

transparent one and a good example would

be this one which comes with Studio One

and it's called the Pro EQ.(...) Now this

is a stock plugin that comes with Studio

One but if you're using another DAW you

more than likely have a stock plugin that

comes with it which will be something

like this. For example if you're one of

my many Cakewalk users you will have with

Cakewalk this one it's by Sonitus and

it's called the Equalizer. This is a six

band EQ so what do I mean by different

bands? If we go back to the Studio One

one here I can adjust the bands here this

has seven bands.(...) The bands are

basically different control points where

you can adjust those frequency or range

of frequencies. So that's an interesting

thing to keep in mind when you're

choosing which EQ you will use. Now if

you don't have an EQ like this with your

DAW or you don't like the one that comes

with it there are some free ones

available and they're actually quite

good. The first one I want to show you is

by Melda Production and this is called M

Equalizer. This is a six band EQ and is a

really nice one to use and another one

which I really like is called Nova and

it's by Tokyo Dawn Records. This is only

four bands but it has some extra features

with it to adjust the sound which I think

are very very cool so you could use this

in a combination with another EQ. I

definitely recommend downloading this one

so check out the links in the

description.(...) Now in terms of paid

equalizers I really like the one from

Isotope called Ozone. I use this quite a

bit it's an eight band equalizer and it's

just really straightforward to use but

very powerful equalizer at the same time.

However the EQ that I'm going to be using

in today's tutorial is by FabFilter and

it's called the Pro-Q3. This is just my

favorite EQ to use. First of all I find

it's very versatile you can add many more

than five, six, seven or eight bands you

can just keep adding bands as you want

them and it has some really very cool

features which I won't be covering today

but it's worth taking a look. Now if

you're interested in getting this

particular plugin I've got a link in the

description where you can actually get

10% off of all FabFilter plugins in fact

so follow that. However you do not have

to be using this FabFilter Pro-Q plugin

today for this tutorial because

everything I'll be talking about applies

to all parametric EQs that you can get

your hands on.(...) So in starting out

with EQing it's good to get some

understanding of the ranges of

frequencies that we can hear with our

ears. Human hearing ranges from around

about 20 hertz which we can see on the

left side of this display here all the

way up to 20,000 hertz which is

represented on the right side of the

display. Now this particular display

actually shows ranges slightly outside of

normal human hearing but your plugin may

differ slightly but they all will show

that range of frequencies. Now on the

left hand side where the low frequencies

are that's where we'll normally hear

things like bass guitars or kick drums as

their main frequencies. Let's have a

quick listen to a bass.

Now you can see that it's occupying these

low frequencies down here predominantly

and even these sub low frequencies right

at the bottom here. It's worth noting

that these instruments also will fall

inside of other ranges so there's a

little bit of this bass guitar which is

actually in the low mid frequencies you

can see them here. A good example would

be the kick drum as well if I put the

kick drum on.(...) Now you can see it's

got lots of energy down here in the bass

end but it's got a reasonable amount of

energy in the mid and high frequencies as

well but we would generally think of it

as a low frequency instrument.(...) Now

let's move on to another extreme which

would be something like a hi-hat.(...)

Now that exists predominantly up in these

high frequencies which you can see on the

right hand side. It still has some in the

mid and even right down on these low

frequencies there's still some energy

there but most of it is right up the top

there. And we'll also move now on to an

acoustic guitar which covers a much wider

range of frequencies. You can see it's

predominantly in the mid and upper

frequencies but it still has some down in

the low frequencies here.(...) So those

are some examples of some instruments and

where they exist within that range and

it's good to start thinking about this

when you start to listen to different

instruments and think about where their

main frequencies are and what other

ranges they also occupy.(...) So the

primary purpose of your EQ plugin is to

cut or boost specific frequency ranges.

Now if I click on this line here on Pro-Q

3 I can start a new node. Now as I say on

your particular plugin there may be some

existing nodes or another way to add a

new node but here in Pro-Q we just click

on the line and if I drag it upwards I

can increase that frequency and if I drag

it down I can decrease that frequency.

(...) Now the important thing to notice

here is the curve either side. In fact

the frequencies either side of our main

frequency that we've selected are also

being adjusted according to that curve.

Now if you want to make it much more

narrow and be very precise about what

you're doing you adjust something called

the Q. It's almost always called the Q in

all plugins. Now if I drag it upwards it

becomes much more narrow and I'm just

adjusting a very narrow range of

frequencies there.(...) Likewise if I

drag it down here I can affect a very

very broad range of frequencies. So

that's a very very important control and

it's important to understand that you're

not just adjusting one particular

frequency.(...) Now in this particular

example we're looking at what they call a

bell curve and you can see why it's

called a bell curve if I make it like

this and you look at the shape. But there

are other types of curves that we

commonly use. I'm not going to cover all

of them today but I want to cover some of

the main ones. The first one I'd like to

look at is called a cut. So if I change

this curve to a low cut we can see that

this from a particular point starts to

cut everything below it. It's called a

low cut. It's cutting the low

frequencies.(...) Now in some plugins

it's actually called a high pass rather

than a low cut. It's exactly the same

thing with different terminology. It's

just a different way of saying we'll only

let the high frequencies pass or we will

just cut the low frequencies.(...) Now

you can also normally control the rate at

which that cut happens. Here it's fairly

gradual but if I wanted to make it more

aggressive I'll just change the control

here and change it to 36. You can see

this is a very very aggressive cut.

Almost immediately after this particular

frequency which I've chosen everything

below that almost is cut off. Now if you

want to make sure you actually really do

cut off literally everything below that

frequency you can choose something called

a brick wall. Now this is not available

on all plugins I have to say but it's a

really good way to show what the cut is

doing. So I'm actually going to put this

down here so I'm not cutting much at all

and I'm going to play this acoustic

guitar. Now have a listen to what happens

to the acoustic guitar as

I start to drag this up.

So you can hear what's happening there

it's really just cutting out all

frequencies below that point. Now it has

a counterpart in the upper end of the

frequencies so for example we can use a

high cut which is going to cut everything

above a particular frequency just the

same principle in reverse. So those are

very useful types of curves. Now another

one that we often use is called a shelf

and I often use a high shelf I'll just

click to shelf here and what that does is

if we look at a particular frequency it

actually increases everything above that

frequency or decreases like so but

normally we use it in the sense of a

shelf and we'll look at this a little bit

later as we try and add some sparkle to

this acoustic guitar. But those are the

three different types of curves that you

should be aware of and you can get a lot

out of just those three curves. Now it's

sometimes hard to know exactly which

frequency that you want to adjust so I'm

just going to create another node here

and show you a technique for listening

out for which frequency you want to

adjust. I just have created a bell curve

here and I'm going to put it up fairly

high. I'm going to make it a little bit

narrow just like this. I'm going to play

the guitar again and I'm going to start

dragging around this in a very boosted

sense and trying to listen to which

frequencies are being boosted.(...)

Here's some very high frequencies are

being boosted there.

So that's called a sweep and it's a very

useful technique for trying to find which

frequency you want to adjust. You can

then go ahead and adjust that as little

or as much as you want to. Now some

plugins actually have a solo feature.

This one does and it's here on this

headphone icon here. If I click on that

and play the guitar again it solos those

frequencies so I can hear

which ones I want to adjust.

Now this isn't available on all plugins

and some of them implement it in a

different way but it's a good one to look

out for.(...) Now I'm going to EQ this

acoustic guitar using a combination of

subtractive and additive EQing. Now

subtractive EQing is simply where you

actually reduce particular frequencies

and additive is where you increase

particular frequencies. Now you'll

sometimes hear people saying things like

oh I only use subtractive EQing or

additive EQing. I prefer to use a

combination of both types of EQing

depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

So let me explain. I'm going to start off

with this acoustic guitar by trying to

get rid of some unwanted frequencies.

Some things that really stand out which I

don't like and often in acoustic guitars

that's a kind of a honky sound in the

mid-range which can make it sound a

little bit cheap. So let's have a listen

and try and find a

couple of those frequencies.

Okay so I'm not really liking that

frequency there so I'm going to reduce

down and I'm going to just narrow that

cue a little bit so I'm just focusing in

on a particular frequency. Let's go there

and I'll have a listen again.(...) Now

you'll notice I've reduced it there by

around about 5, 4 to 5 dB. You can see on

the scale here the number of decibels

that we are reducing or increasing.(...)

Now there's a lot of people who say we

should only ever do things subtly never

more than 3 dB that kind of thing. I

really think it's best just to use your

ears and take out or add the amount that

you want and sometimes what I like to do

is actually just shut my eyes and then do

the adjustment so I'm only using my ears

and getting what I want out of the sound.

So that's the best tip I can give you in

terms of how much. Now I didn't like that

frequency and I think there's some others

above it which I didn't like as well so

let's have another listen.

Yeah that area there makes it sound

really a little cheap. Okay so you would

go on I have done a perfect job there but

that's the way you would approach getting

rid of particular tones within the whole

sound that you really don't like. Now the

next kind of subtractive EQing I will do

is a low cut so I'll add in a low cut

here and you'll notice when I actually

play the acoustic guitar that there's a

fair amount of energy down here from

around about 50 down to 20 that is pretty

low and not what you associate

necessarily with the acoustic guitar.

It's kind of a booby rumbly sound so I

actually want to get rid of that by using

this cut.(...) I'm just going to use my

ears again have a listen.(...) Yeah I

really don't need these frequencies down

here so around about there is fine. Now

I'm actually going to change the slope

there to really make sure I get rid of

some of these sub frequencies because

they can really be undesirable so I'll

make it much sharper instead of 36.(...)

Okay now I'm really really cutting out

some of those low frequencies.

Now you may ask Mike why bother to cut

frequencies that you can't really hear

anyway? That's a good question. First of

all when you get several instruments with

those frequencies in it you can get a

kind of a build up in that area and that

can create a sort of a rumble in your mix

which you don't want so that's one reason

to get rid of them.(...) And the other

reason is although you can't hear them

your computer as it were can hear them

and it will affect other plugins down the

chain. So for example if you're using a

compressor on from this EQ then it may

make the compressor kick in when you

really don't need it to. So that's

another reason to do a low cut or a high

pass remember as it may be called by some

plugins. So that's all of my subtractive

EQing done. The next thing I often do on

an acoustic guitar is try and add a

little bit of sparkle and this can happen

with vocals as well for example where you

just want a bit of breathiness in vocals.

But in acoustic guitars I'll describe it

as a sort of not quite jangly but

definitely a sparkle at the top. So I'm

going to use a high shelf here so I'll

just pop that in there and put in where

is it a high shelf and as we discussed

earlier a high shelf is going to increase

all frequencies above a particular

frequency. So let's have a listen again

to this guitar and I'll just increase

that high shelf.(...) Okay so it's just

adding a little bit of sparkle I could

even go further again.

Okay maybe a bit harsh.

Okay so that's by no means a perfect

example but it goes to show you the

combination of using subtractive and

additive EQing.(...) Now when you're

starting out it's tempting to think of an

EQ as just a fancy kind of tone control

to make things sound nice but that is not

quite true although you can use it for

that. But often we use EQ for many

different reasons within a mix. Now I'm

not going to go through details of how we

use them in different ways but I just

want to give you some inspiration by

giving you some examples of how we use

EQ.(...) Now the first one is that we're

often using it to kind of carve out a

space for an instrument in the mix. Now

what happens is when you've got many

instruments in a song and some of them

occupy the same frequency range they

actually begin to cancel each other out

and you'll find yourself just pushing up

volumes all the time and never quite

getting the mix quite right and that's

probably because they collide in

frequency ranges. Now it can be a little

difficult when you're starting out to

hear which frequencies they're both

occupying so there are some tools that

exist to visually help you. So we're

looking at Pro-Q 3 again here and I've

got a track which has both a guitar and

an organ which occupies some similar

frequency ranges. We're going to start

off so you can see the guitar.

Now you can see that it occupies this mid

and top range mostly here. Now Pro-Q has

a feature where if I put the Pro-Q plugin

on both instruments I can then view them

alongside each other. I go to the

analyzer down the bottom here and I'm

going to select organ here. Now if I play

again you'll see both the guitar and the

organ together.(...) And you can see the

organ occupies a lot of this space right

in the middle here and they could be

cancelling each other out. So if that's

happening we would either decrease or

increase frequencies for one of those

instruments. So I'm actually going to

reduce the middle frequencies for the

guitar to try and help the organ shine

through a little bit.

So let's have a listen.

Now finally I'd like to show you an EQ

trick which I use all the time and you

really should use it. This is on reverb.

Now in this case I've got the acoustic

guitar and I'm sending it to a really big

whole reverb. It's quite overwhelming

actually probably more than I'd normally

use but it's good for this example. Now

what happens is when you send something

like a guitar to that reverb you get this

real muddy build up in the kind of low

and mid end of things. So what I do is

put an EQ in the chain before it gets to

the reverb. I don't put it on the guitar

itself but I'll put it on the bus where

the reverb is living. So I basically have

the guitar which I have a send to the

reverb and in that chain I have an EQ on

the way. So here's how it

sounds without any EQ at all.

So as I say like loads of muddy reverb

there more reverb than I'd normally use

but we can start to really clean it up by

adding in a low cut. So I will throw in a

low cut here and what I'm going to do is

I'm going to start sliding up as I play

and you'll begin to

really hear the difference.

And so you can hear that's much much

cleaner so if you want you can have that

guitar seeming to be in like a cathedral

or something without having that horrible

low and mid build up. That's a really

really useful way to use EQ. Now the best

way to learn about EQing is to get your

hands dirty and start doing it. So make

sure you use the best tools at your

disposal and those are your ears. Now if

you have any questions at all please do

ask in the comments down below and I'll

try my best to answer all of them. If you

like this video then hit the like button.

If you didn't like this video hit the

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kind of content then do subscribe and

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to hear about my future videos. Now if

you've made it this far then I think that

shows a certain dedication to the art of

EQing. So let me know in the comments

tell me down below. Mike I made it to the

end and I will congratulate you there.

See you in the next video.