Cutting Competing Frequencies

[Basil]

Hi,
I've been reading about mixing and cutting frequencies ....makes sense to create room for each instrument /voice especially when there competing for the same spot on the audio spectrum.

1. How do you find out which audio frequencies are being shared?  I have a charts of instrument and voice frequencies ranges, but not all drum sets are turned the same and guitar amp settings and tone range all over the place.

2. Where do you start the process from?
Kick drum and bass guitar? or snare and vocal?.......than what.

Would anyone like to share some simple to follow basic steps on how you find and cut competing frequencies?


Thanks in advance
Basil

[Argle]

Low cutting all your mid- and upper-range instruments will improve the mix 100x.  It's pretty simple once you do it enough.  Start at the bottom of the low end and slowly sweep up the spectrum until you encapsulate the mud range.  Cut to taste.

For kick and bass you have to decide which gets the lion's share of the low end and cut the other accordingly.

EQing is best done by ear, charts are not very helpful imo.

[Basil]

Low cutting all your mid- and upper-range instruments will improve the mix 100x.  It's pretty simple once you do it enough.  Start at the bottom of the low end and slowly sweep up the spectrum until you encapsulate the mud range.  Cut to taste.

For kick and bass you have to decide which gets the lion's share of the low end and cut the other accordingly.

EQing is best done by ear, charts are not very helpful imo.

Hi Argle

Could you explain your method for sweeping and cutting in detail ?

IE...1. Solo your bass guitar track and kick drum track
     2. Install parametric EQ plugin on the bass guitar track
     3.

[Argle]

Well I use the parametric EQ in Sonar.  I take the lowest band, boost 18 dB, and sweep forward and listen to the sound get muddier and boomier.  When it starts getting mid rangey I stop and dial it back a bit.  That's more or less the mud.  Cut that however you see fit.  The more you do this the quicker you can find the optimal range to low cut.

Kick and bass is harder since the low end is hard to get right.  250 Hz is a problem spot for kicks (stuffiness).  Sometimes you cut it a little, sometimes you need huge cuts.  Bass can have a resonance in the 150-250 Hz range, if you locate it you can cut it a few dB to make the bass less obtrusive.

If you take care of any unpleasant freqs in the lower mids/bass you've won more than half the battle.  It's really something that comes with practice.

As for where to start, I start with anything that is easy/obvious.  This totally depends on the mix and sounds in question.

But I'm hardly an expert so take all this stuff with a grain of salt. 

[Basil]

Hey Argle,

Thanks for the advice. 
I think I need to get a good book on the basics of mixing... even if it just for demo ideas

Take Care
Basil