Lately I’ve been wondering about asking mixing/EQing advice. It always feels a bit like asking for the obvious and simultaneously asking for something ephemeral. But here it goes.
In my quest for learning to mix better, my current priority to troubleshoot is my constant overextended ear piercing high end. It seems simple, just turn down the highs. But I’m curious, how do you do this? As I currently see it, I at least see these three:
Use my mixer’s EQ. Turn down the highest EQ knobs of my hihats and such. Feel a bit counterintuitive?
Highcut filter on my OT or Rytm of relevant tracks. Is a high cut filter different than turning down the top rotary of my Mixwizard’s EQ section, or is that also a filter is essence?
Turn down the volume of the respective instruments/tracks. But then the painful ear piercing high frequencies just sound lower in amplitude I feel.
There’s a difference between turning down the highs on an EQ and using the low-pass filter. The EQ will operate more gently, across a wider range, and only remove (not add any) frequencies. The low-pass will cut off the highs more abruptly - and potentially add more highs at the cut-off frequency, if you turn up the resonance.
I would go back a step further and ask, why is your source material piercing and over-extended? Are these synth sounds? If so, you might be adding too much resonance on the filters out of habit or something. It should be possible to remedy, whatever the cause.
I would also add that just lowering the amplitude sometimes works. Very high-pitched sounds sometimes work musically if they’re low enough in the mix not to be fatiguing. Don’t assume that having to turn a sound down is some kind of mixing failure on your part.
A gentle shelf EQ could be the answer. Or running the hats through an effect like overdrive or tape could do the trick.
Then there’s plugins that can help but they are so expensive they only make sense for mix engineers to have, like soothe.
If you happen to own a version of ozone that has the dynamic EQ, you could use the master assistant, and it will locate reasonant frequencies, which you can then Solo and then try and replicate with a static EQ on the hat channel (obviously only the frequencies that apply to the hats, no need to boost 50hz on a hat )
These are just some techniques you can apply to tame those piercing hats off turning down the gain does not help which 9 out of 10 does in my experience
i always struggle with getting the highs right too as my tinnitus gets in the way. i have a few approaches and i try to use the most simple fix when possible.
turn them down. simple volume adjustments work much of the time.
eq. i love the pro q3 dynamic function for this as it adds some bounce too.
one thing that helps me is using a spectrum analyzer plugin on the master in ableton. it’s easy to see if there’s more energy in some band and adjust levels or eq a bit, even if my ears don’t notice an issue. for hats and such, i generally don’t boost anything. they usually seem fine to me at whatever level or maybe cut just a bit. low end muddiness is more of a problem, but that may just be a tendency to want extra low end coupled with old ears that can’t hear high up anyway. if the high frequency transients are too shrill, maybe start by backing off the levels a little. it sounds like you’re using a mixer to some type of recorder, not a DAW, so the approach may be different depending on your setup.
record what’s piercing u…then sweep through the frequencies to find the notch that hurts…
do this with various sources…soon u’ll learn to know where are the comfort zones…
I’d throw in sound selection. Having too many stuff playing in the higher frequencies will build up a lot of sound. An eq at the end will not be enough and might not sound as well. Choose/make sounds just for that area. Does your fuzzy bassline has to have that much high end? Especially sounds that have a noise component (hihats and other synth sounds made from noisy, regular or fm noise) can create such a build up.
Decide what should live up there and what not.
Lowpassing is a viable and musical option. Listen to other tunes, some sounds seem very dull but leave space for highs. And as long as you have all frequencies covered it will sound full and pleasant.
With that being said it might be one instrument or track that the source of clashing frequencies.
Mute a track, Listen, un-mute it, the mute a different track. Is there a maybe one single sounds thats causing all the trouble?
Do you orientate your highs on finished records? Finished records often get bumped in the highs. I often find if you try to emulate the overall eq curve while mixing you can have problems with the highs. Try to get a balanced mix while mixing, not a polished master.
I will do this, good advice. I have GarageBand which has a graphic/moving EQ tool. This is probably the same as a “spectrum analyzer”, right @rockpapergoat?
I can even try and experiment to get the sound into my computer via my Heat live (I don’t have an audio interface).
You might be right here Andreas. Often if I cross reference my music with techno examples I like, I realize that they really filter a lot of sounds, I might still have too much high end in other sources then my hats/cymbals. Good point
I don’t think someone mention it but Deesser is also a great tool… Sss when you think about it it become a natural tool to try.
Also attenuating harsh sibilance or harsh ringing frequencies is also good. A tool like :
Brainworx bx_digital V3
Brainworx bx_hybrid V2
Give a great tech to scan and target those frequencies. (Boost and then reverse and attenuating, small Q)
Also a maagEQ4 can do a great job when you have attenuated those frequencies, you can get back some air at 20k or 40k (there’s other tool like that with the air thing) still need to be gentle on that one otherwise it’s counter-productive
Sure what i’m talking about is more on a production finishing a studio track. rather than polishing or fixing something in Live performance situation.
Another hint would be to layering your hats or ride with something with a more “sand tone” make your sound more pleasant and then, back that sound into the gears
This can work as well, just be aware that a de-esser is a dynamic eq. When a set frequency band passes a certain threshold it will reduce the bans by a given amount. Some use it on the master as well, I feel it’s best used on single tracks.
As mentioned above, try to isolate the sounds that clash and decide which one gets to play in which area.
Try attenuating with a dynamic parametric EQ around 6666 Hz.
(Starting value, find the frequency that annoys you, it can be anywhere from 3333-9999 Hz)
Try giving each element in the treble a specific, non-overlapping range in which it is allowed to peak simultaneously with other treble elements. Avoid simultaneous peaks on the same frequency.
Watch this, applies to all sorts of EQing, really:
How is your monitoring situation? Monitors, headphones, room treated/untreated? Are the highs really as earpiecing as you perceive them? Are you able to judge that accurately?
-figure out if you are using too many sounds that have revelent content in the high frequencies at the same time. if so, maybe you should rework the arrangement.
-clean the unnessesary hiss, sibiliance, or any unwanted high pitch content on a track using notch eq, filters, compressors…
-a sound with a lot of highs equals close to the listener. you don’t want all of your instruments to scream at the ear of your listener.
decide witch instrument should be upfront, work the eq on the others.
gentle highpass if there is only harmonics to shave. (ex using the rytm filter).
little shelving eq (max 3db) on the instruments that have revelent content in the highs to push backwards in the mix without completely anihilating them.
-changing the volume also changes the percived loudness basically acting as an eq. (see fletcher manson curve). though i don’t think the sensitivity of the ear significantly evolves with the volume on high frequency content.
this is consistent with your observation
-lastly, appart for obvious screaming and hurting frequencies that need surgeryI would recommend to get your low and low mids right before considering to work on the highs because they have a lot of influence on how you perceive your mix in the high end.
I think it’s really a writing/mixing issue for me. I’ve got nice Presonus Eris E5. And I also have the standard Sony studio monitoring headphone. In both cases I think I just throw too much high end in.
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