EQ effects ruined my mix!

[TonyCrazyMan]

Yesterday I found out that you lose important elements in the song by using digital EQ effects, at least when applied on a mix. I was using two very high quality speaker systems: Mackie HR824 studio monitors and a Denon 5.1 Surround Sound speaker system from pro audio. I took my mix and analyzed it against my reference song "Sad Eyes" from Trisha Yearwood's album "Real Live Woman". My intention was then to try immitating that frequency curve with the help of EQ effects on the mix. Since the difference in the frequency curve didn't seem to be very different I thought this is easy. I just have to layer a few 10Q parametric equalizers and focus them on some certain frequency ranges. I was focusing on the 12kHz - 16kHz to add some high end, the 190 - 350Hz for some low mids to add some warmth and the 900 -2kHz to add some openness. I was mostly adding frequencies in the amplitude level of 0,3 dB per band, just to minimize the sonic quality loss. The EQ effects were applied as insert effects. This was an iterative process in that I had to modify the EQ settings (mostly the amplitude of different bands) on one EQ effect when the other was applied, to get a better sounding result. I ended up lowering all the effects to about 0,2 dB per band and then also lowered the frequencies in the low end about -0,2dB to get a somewhat lighter sounding mix with a fourth EQ effect.(I left the Q at 7 even though I've read that the Q should be high if decibels are added) I used the Waves 10Q Parametric EQ and later I also tried the same with the Q filter in Nuendo. But while the sound picture became more identical to that "Sad Eyes" song I was immitating, I realised I got more sonic quality the more EQ effects I turned off! When enabling those EQ effects the stereo spectrum became more narrow, I got a whissling kind of horn like noise in the signal and the whole mix just died, so I guess I lost some dynamics too! My conclusion was that using digital EQ effects on a song is an effective way of destroying sonic quality.

 

Have you experienced the same? What is a really transparent EQ plugin effect? Should I always target individual tracks with EQ instead of applying it on the whole mix to minimize the sound quality loss?

[kylen]

 

Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan ...I got a whissling kind of horn like noise in the signal and the whole mix just died

 

Pretty extensive surgery eh? I think the noise you're describing happens when you have too steep of a slope on an IIR EQ and too large of a db gain is dialed in. I'm guessing the hi-mids are too hot & steep. Is this CurveEQ ? If so bumping the kernel out to 700 points may help.

[the russ]

 

Originally posted by TonyCrazyMan Have you experienced the same? What is a really transparent EQ plugin effect? Should I always target individual tracks with EQ instead of applying it on the whole mix to minimize the sound quality loss?

 

 

unless your aspirations are to be a mastering engineer, i'd stay away from using EQ on an entire mix, and definitely don't mix with it across the stereo buss. apply EQ to individual instruments as needed. EQ is great if used properly.

[where02190]

Agreed, that's a TON of eq. EQ your tracks, and if you have to do that much eqing, it's time to make some changes in how you track, to get better sounds going it that don't require such surgery.

 

Also, don't try to add what you're missing, take out what you have too much off.