How to make sure my presets will cut through mix?

austinbuddy said:
For metal, you have to get the bass just right. What works in a bedroom low-level dial-in will not work on stage. Why do many metal players use a tube screamer in front of the amp? Precisely to cut the lows and add mids and tighten up the amps' response. I'd still use a cut at 100Hz. If you are using a 4x12 IR it's adding WHOMP as well.

Remember, if you and the bass player are both pumping out low D/C# chugs that are around at 70-80Hz together, it's going to sound like mud and not clear. So for metal I may go lower on LO CUT, but once you get under 100Hz you are starting to compete directly with the bass frequencies AND your FRFR/amp's sound will become dominated by the low frequencies and accordingly you will lose the focus of the mids and highs. You are trying to slot right between the bass and the snare drum, frequency wise -- fill that up. That's mids and hi-mids, not lows the bass covers.

So it is tricky for metal I agree, and others can chime in here, but that's my two cents. I've had Mark of Periphery over here helping me dial in a few amp tonepack sounds before and he taught me some stuff he likes and I'm telling you he's not putting out frequencies under 80-100Hz at all to get his great modern metal sound...
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Thanks! I cut between 90 and 100 live. I've tried higher, but felt it really lost it's tone way too much. I guess it really depends on how the bass player is setup as well. My bass player is more middy like Getty than the "typical" bass player low end thump. BTW, I'm just playing 1/2 step down like VH...80's child here NOT a modern metal guy...just for clarification NOT to diss.
 
So as a general rule of thumb.. if you use a lot of gain and are in standard tuning, this sounds like a good starting point?
100hz to 7500hz ?

Although, I've seen a video of someone sounding great with a 100 to 5k cut, so I might try to get the high's as low as 5000!
 
warlockII said:
Thanks! I cut between 90 and 100 live. I've tried higher, but felt it really lost it's tone way too much. I guess it really depends on how the bass player is setup as well. My bass player is more middy like Getty than the "typical" bass player low end thump. BTW, I'm just playing 1/2 step down like VH...80's child here NOT a modern metal guy...just for clarification NOT to diss.
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No worries and no "diss" taken at all. This forum is here to help everyone as best we can solve whatever issue you may have! There are sometimes lots of solutions that work, not just one. Not everyone may agree here on the proper solutions to a problem, but at least here people who disagree will do so in a respectful and agreeable fashion. I love that about our Fractal community!
 
Kamil Kisiel said:
The best and IMO only way to be certain is to dial in your tone "in the mix". Jam with the band you're playing with at the levels you're going to be playing at and tweak the tone there.
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Great tip there and obviously what I do.
But I'd like to get as close as possible beforehand, so I don't waste anyone's time tweaking my sound!

But yeah some last minute, hopefully small, adjustment are bound to be!
 
warlockII said:
Would you still cut at these points if you were in a 3 piece hair metal band? Wouldn't your cut points depend on the style of the music and the number of musicians/types of other instruments?
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Very good point. EQ'ing to cut depends on your playing situation and the instrumentation of the band, etc. With only one guitar, drums and bass, you could EQ very different and still cut. The metal players I know tend to use a much more "scooped" EQ curve (i.e. higher bass, low mids, higher highs) which allows a higher stage volume without stepping on vocals and melting faces in the front row.
 
sluice said:
Great tip there and obviously what I do.
But I'd like to get as close as possible beforehand, so I don't waste anyone's time tweaking my sound!

But yeah some last minute, hopefully small, adjustment are bound to be!
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Makes sense, but beyond the basic principles there is only so much you can really do. A lot of the effectiveness of the result is going to depend on how the rest of your bandmates have their instruments sounding... EQ is always context-dependant.
 
curious said:
I play in two cover bands and had always struggled to cut when there was another guitar player in the band. First, make sure you EQ at gig level. You won’t be able to really hear what the tone is unless you simulate gig level. Second, use low cut and hi cut (usually works best in the Cab block) to focus your tone where it should be - primarily mid-range. In your amp block, experiment with the Mid knob. You generally want to boost mids but not too much. Also, I have found using a GEQ block to boost mids when I need it works well. I also use the global EQ on the Ax screen a lot at gigs to tweak for different rooms. Best of luck.
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Similarly, I also use the Global EQ screen and drop the bottom 3 bands by 3-4 dB and bring the mids up a bit depending on the room. That seems to help, but it can be a challenge to get this right...
 
spv said:
Similarly, I also use the Global EQ screen and drop the bottom 3 bands by 3-4 dB and bring the mids up a bit depending on the room. That seems to help, but it can be a challenge to get this right...
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So true. It seems like my ears hear things different sometimes, even in the same room. We play the same places a lot and what works one night may not sound right next time. Lots of variables: how many people in the room, humidity level, drummer took his meds, singer’s blood alcohol level, my blood alcohol level, etc. Who knows? The global EQ usually saves the day.
 
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