Eq tips for live tones

Hi guys. I stumbled upon one of Jason Sadites Helix videos - while he is part of the Helix dark side, when a player such as him talks, I listen.



Most of the video is him talking about his philosophy towards live sound, but towards the end there are some eq tips. To sum it up:

Harshness can be avoided by hicutting - 6,5-8 KhZ
This often takes away the clarity - boost as much as 4-5 dB at 4 khZ q=1.4
Locut at 100-120 hZ
This can make the tone thin - rectify by boosting 2 dB at 180 khZ, q= 1.7
400 hZ is where the mud can live - take away 2 dB at 400 hZ, q = 1.6

Of course this needs to tweaked to taste, but I've been struggling a bit with getting cut and punch, without the tones getting harsh - these tips really seemed to do the trick - I urge you to watch the video and/or try them out. :)
 
A lot of this - you learn when you mix a band to complete a song , like using reverb to create 3D effects , etc.
A good tip that he points out ( IMO ) when making EQ adjustments ; whether it's a cut or boost , is to exaggerate the level for a moment , to TEST the frequency.
Good stuff. Good post.
 
Yep, good advice and general mixing 101. For those that didn't waste much of their youth behind a console, here are a few more tips:
  • You can't eq a baritone into a soprano. In other words, the pickup, amp, and cab you select are going to impact the sound and no amount of EQ will overcome a poor choice. In the recording world we like to say "get it right at the source".
  • With EQ it is generally better to cut than boost. The philosophy here is to remove elements of any source that are not pleasing and make room in the mix for other instruments. The other danger with boosting is you are effectively turning things up, then you can't hear something else, so you turn it up, and eventually you have everything maxed (or clipping) and all you have done is make it louder.
  • "Search and destroy" is a common EQ technique taught to new engineers. The idea is on each source you use a parametric EQ to boost a band (with a reasonably narrow Q), and sweep it across the spectrum to find what sounds bad, then apply a cut to that band. For best results this needs to be done in context of the entire mix, not in isolation.
  • Many engineers will high pass all signals in a mix except for bass and kick. High passing your AX8 presets somewhere between 80 and 120Hz will improve definition in the low end and allow the bass and kick to do their job in the mix.

My only gripe watching this video is that since watching my "recommended" videos in Youtube has been flooded with Helix content :p

LOL. One day after watching youtube videos of Taylor Swift and Katie Perry songs my guitar students wanted to learn, it started showing me adds for "My Little Pony" Lego sets. I quickly learned the value of "incognito" mode on my browser.
 
Yep, good advice and general mixing 101. For those that didn't waste much of their youth behind a console, here are a few more tips:
  • You can't eq a baritone into a soprano. In other words, the pickup, amp, and cab you select are going to impact the sound and no amount of EQ will overcome a poor choice. In the recording world we like to say "get it right at the source"
and so you have ....The Mic Locker !
 
I would not suggest you to boost around 4K
Chances are, if you've been playing with a band live for s couple years at loud volume, you may not hearing it as much as before.
I agree. I went to an audiologist last year to get some custom ear plugs and 4K was het place where my hearing dipped. The comment was the s a rock muso that was pretty normal ...
 
Nonetheless, the 4k boost is part of what really makes it cut through to me, and none of my bandmates (of which 2 have really good ears for tones) have complained - actually, they've commented on how much better my tone is.
 
I recorded the same riff, played twice without the EQ and twice with it. I'm thinking of ditching the stock 85/15 pickups in my PRS CE24 so I thought this would be a good test case to see if EQ could help. What do you think?

 
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