Help on Equalizing

Sayonil Mitra · May 26, 2018

Recently I recorded a chord progression on my pc. Now I was just messing around with the equaliser and wanted to remove some metallic hiss kind of sound from it and make it heavier and punchier. That’s when the question came to my mind. What is the best practice with the equaliser while working on a backing guitar progression track. Say, I want something close to the Rhythm track by Zacky in HTTK. Help needed.

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

Cut everything below 50hz because everything down there is just mud. To remove the hiss just boost some frequency all the way up and then move it around and look for the worst frequency there, the one thats the most ear piercing and then cut that and you’ll get a much better sound. You can also boost between 3-5k hz to make the guitar jump out from the mix. Keep in mind that these freqs aren’t set in stone, use your ear and listen to what sounds best.

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

Also, when you are cutting a frequency don’t use wide bandwidth cause you are going to cut other frequencies that sound good, but when you boost then you can use a wider bandwidth, but never make it too wide

Ed Seith · May 26, 2018

No, cut everything below 100. Maybe 120, if you’re standard tuned. Everything below that belongs to the bass and kick and any competent engineer in a studio would cut that without even telling you. Use a high-pass filter for that.
To get rid of the hiss, use a low-pass filter, somewhere between 5k and 7k, sweep it to find the spot that gets rid of what you don’t want, while allowing and shaping what you want.
This is pretty standard procedure in studios for recording and placing guitars in a mix.

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

I think that using a low pass filter between 5-7k is too much cause you would cut all frequencies from 7k and above

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

Best way to start with eq is to just boost a frequency and sweep it around until you find the worst sounding ones and then you cut them. After that you can start boosting something

Ed Seith · May 26, 2018

Suit to taste. I *do* cut all those frequencies. In my tone, they’re just hiss.

Noah Berends · May 26, 2018

The hiss comes from the high end. You can carve that out as needed and it’ll make the tone more emphasized on the midrange. If you take out the low end below a certain point, you can make the overall signal sound cleaner as well. If you go for Zacky’s tone, there’s a very decent amount of midrange, so you can try to boost those frequencies up a bit, as in a full mix those are what’s gonna cut through the most and be most prominent.

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

I don’t know, to me it seems too drastic since human hearing goes from 20 hz to 20kHz but if it sounds good to you than that’s great

Sayonil Mitra · May 26, 2018

Thanks guys for all these advice. I got the basic idea and actually applied it here. To me it sounds OK. But let me know if there is anything sounding a bit of sound wise.
Putting Extra Guitar track to song

Ed Seith · May 26, 2018

@filip, there’s a frequency range that each instrument sits in, in a proper mix. Everything above and below that range should be cleared out – usually entirely – to make room for the other instruments, while leaving the primary elements of that instrument intact. There’s very, very little in a guitar tone above 6k. When instruments are playing together and more than one is in the same range, it’s helpful to move them around in the stereo soundfield (left, right, center, etc).
Have a read, this is a good starter guide for EQing a mix.
EQ Cheat Sheet: How to Use An Instrument Frequency Chart [Infographic]

Sayonil Mitra · May 26, 2018

I have read at some websites that
1. particularly 200 Hz is the muddiest thing for a distorted electric guitar
2. it’s better to use medium gain and less distortion to get rid of that hiss sound?
True or Myth

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

I’m studying at the music production academy and I’m pretty familiar with that but I’ve never seen someone cut that much of frequency range on guitars, usually if you are gonna cut the highs you just slightly cut it around 16k or so. Audio engineer that gives us lecutres and that mixed over 6000 songs never cuts that much or any other engineers at the academy

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

Sayonil, just experiment and listen to what sounds best to you

Ed Seith · May 26, 2018

You do you. Cutting frequencies that don’t really produce any sound worth listening to doesn’t alter the tone. Take a straight recorded track. Listen to it. Then put a low pass filter at 8k. Hard cut EVERYTHING above 8k. Can you hear a difference?

Filip Tomiša · May 26, 2018

I agree with you and understand what you mean but like i said nothing is set in stone, you won’t cut orthat boost something at the same frequency everytime if you use different guitar sounds. For your tone it apperently works but for some others i’m sure it would deaden the sound. So the best thing it to just use your ears and not look at the eq

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