Real Rad Magazine : Spring Quarterly 2015

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MAKING BETTER MUSIC MIXING AND MASTERING TIPS • PART II by Harvey S. Grant I n volume one of Real Rad’s Winter Quarterly we talked about the notion that the music industry and quite frankly the entertainment industry is more fragmented than ever before. We discussed that cheaper technology has made it that damn near anybody with a laptop and a microphone can figure out a way to record music. Unfortunately, this fragmentation as well as to the ever growing number of bedroom recording engineers has flooded the internet with shitty music. This has made the music landscape a vast wasteland of low quality musical endeavors. With all the gunk that is out there, how does an ambitious mind separate itself from the herd? The answer is simple. Make better Music. We strive to help you on this monumental task by offering tips that we have learned along the way. 24
APPLYING EQ BEFORE COMPRESSION We covered the utilization of the high pass filter in our Winter Quarterly. For the spring we continue this natural progression and offer tips on using the EQ on a recorded vocal. Now, assuming that you read our vocal chain tip from volume one and proceeded to record a solid vocal, what is the next step in making that vocal sound better. Well, even amateur engineers know that at some point they want to EQ and Compress the vocal but which one comes first. This is a decision that a lot of engineers debate on in the early morning hours when the sun is still down. But, here are a few reasons why we believe EQ is a better choice to apply before compression in the vocal chain. There is a school of thought that dictates a set of ordered steps to the createion of art. It goes, collect, clean, and then prepare. In cooking a meal, a person would collect the food they were going to eat, clean the food, then prepare the food for consumption. This applies to all art forms in general. For instance a guitar player would collect his thoughts and after many years of practice, he would clean it up by organizing his skills into a song, and then the guitar player would prepare to perform. Engineering records is no different. First a recording engineer would collect the music and the vocals, then the engineer will clean up the music and the vocals by taking out anything that is not suppose to be there, and then the engineer must prepare the tracks. After recording a vocal for instance, it is time to prepare it. This is like a cook adding salt and pepper then cooking the meal that was collected. Putting EQ on the vocal is like adding spices or ingredients to a recipe. Alright, why do we want to put the EQ on before the compressor. The first reason is: COMPRESSION MAGNIFIES FLAWS Compression evens out the loud and the quiet parts in a recording. It literally makes the sound wave more even throughout the take by making the quietness of a recording become more loud and the loudness of a recording become more quiet. Harsh or problematic frequencies that are not cut will be amplified by the compressor. This can reveal nasty segments of the recording that can be distracting to the listening experience. unnecessary processing for the computer as well as the DAW that is running your session. The low frequencies that are moving through the compressor use a lot of energy that can affect the compressor in such a way that pushes the compressor to excessive compressing. When an EQ is applied before a compressor, harsh frequencies and unnecessary low end are cut before they have the opportunity to go through the compressor and cause mixing issues later down the line USING EQ ON VOCALS Once the EQ is applied we must prepare it to go through the compressor. Considering that the compressor boost frequencies it is important to cut unnecessary frequencies from the recording take before the compressor is applied. Here is a quick overview of where you might want to make cuts, relative to where your recording needs them. HIGH PASS FILTER TO ABOUT 100HZ If you are still hearing to much boom in the vocal, try sweeping a bell curve between 200 and 400 Hz, then cut accordingly. Vocals from 400 to around 550 Hz can cause a “boxy” sound to the recording. If this is the case with your vocal, sweep a bell curve and cut accordingly. Sometimes a vocal can be “nasal” or even “honky” sounding. Try sweeping a bell curve between 700 Hz and 4.5 kHz then cut accordingly Cutting frequencies is the most effective way to shape a vocal to sound better. Boosting frequencies shouldn’t be considered unless the vocal is dull or could use a little brightness. In today’s digital era of producing music sometimes vocals can be lost in the mix. There are few times to boost a vocal’s frequency to stand out in the mix. This technique is called “adding air.” In the recording try sweeping a bell curve around 12 kHz and boosting around there to create a sense of air to the recording. LOW FREQUENCIES ARE UNNECESSARILY LET THROUGH If an EQ is applied after the compressor it creates a scenario in which all the low end that will be rolled off with a high pass EQ will first run through the compressor even though it will be cut out later. This causes 25
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Real Rad Magazine : Spring Quarterly 2015

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