back in the day when I was learning how to produce I would record a song and
wonder why it sounded bad. I mean well not bad, but I couldn't pinpoint it. I was
overlooking a big part of recording - EQ! don't make the mistake I did. so why EQ
in the first place? well you need to guide your listeners ear through your
song to make sure that your hook cuts clear through the other sounds. now EQing
can get very complex but I'm just going to show you the basics and a few
concepts to consider so that you can get started. And I'm going to offer you a
simple bonus tip to get your EQ right even faster!
okay now we're gonna put EQ 8 on every track. now I already have it on the
other track so let's just add it to this pad sound right here. now we're going to
watch, yes watch the EQ plug-in. it's showing us the
frequencies then our sound is producing. now you'll see on the left side are the
lower bass frequencies in the middle of other mids and on the right side are the
high frequencies. do you see how the pad has some bass frequencies? actually quite
a bit of bass frequencies? and the bass and the pad just seemed to be one and
the same. now let's remove the bass frequencies from the pad and let's see
how it sounds. now already that's making a difference. now because I'm getting rid
of all the bass frequencies from a certain point I'm choosing this shape
right here. now you can choose other shapes if you need a bell curve you can
choose this. now the pad typically sits in the mid-range of the frequency
spectrum and you see that the pad that I'm using stretches across the whole
thing. but it really should just be supporting the lead sound which in this
part are the piano and vocals. so I've gotten rid of the lows I'm gonna get rid
of some of the highs as well. now it's just going to be showing the mid
frequencies. now we've made room for our piano and vocals which are going to sit
in the higher frequencies. here's a tip! pads are really useful for guiding the
emotion of the song and filling in this space so don't EQ them too much or
you'll lose the fullness of the sound and the emotions of the chord
progressions. you'll need to come back and tweak as you go along. don't forget
this important step: listen. how does everything sound together? are the
instruments clear? is the emotion still there? tweak some more and keep
experimenting. now let's go to the piano sound. now the piano in this song is
playing a lead part. let's take a listen.
now once again you saw that there are bass frequencies and highs but I really
want this piano to shoot through the mix and really be the focus in this area in
addition to those vocals. so I'm going to EQ out the bottom end of the piano so
that it doesn't conflict with our bass.
now let's hear it along with the pad chords and the bass.
the pad chords, the piano, and the bass are very clear and are sitting in their
own space in the EQ spectrum. before we get to the vocals and my bonus tip don't
forget to subscribe and hit the bell button so you don't miss out on my next
video. also hit that like button if you're learning something. so your vocals
need EQ as well and the same rule applies here. the vocals are the sound
that your listener connects to most. so here's a quick tip for EQing your
vocals. remove all the lower frequencies. in fact, exaggerate it! and then start
pulling it back until you get to a certain point where the clarity and
fullness of the voice comes back. let's take a listen.
now another sound which often conflicts with your bass
instrument is your kick drum. Side-chaining is a great way to get your
bass sound out of the way of your kick drum hits. it ensures that your kick drum,
which is so important to pop, hip-hop, and EDM, comes right through the mix. now I
can create a whole video on sidechaining but you can achieve it with some plugins
that you already have. there are some great methods that Manny explains in my
video here. check it out to get your bass and kick drums just right. now there are
a lot of other techniques you can use to make your sound sit in the right place
in your mix - panning, widening the sound, and of course just general volume are
other important mixing techniques as well. we'll explore those in a later
video. now here's my bonus tip. choose your
instruments right in the first place! your songs will sound better and you can
mix much faster by choosing instruments correctly from the get-go. in this song
my piano is creating a kind of hook and it's the lead instrument in addition to
my voice. now you saw it takes up the higher frequencies so I'm not going to
add another bell sound in addition to the piano to the higher frequencies to
this track and certainly I'm not gonna play them at the same time. I typically
start with a pad then add a lead instrument like a piano, then the bass,
and my drums and that's it. with these four I can usually start to create a
balanced mix where the emotion of the song comes clearly through. thanks for
watching. keep making the music you love! and hey check out one of these videos
next! see you guys later!