6 Mistakes to Avoid When Mixing with EQ : Ask.

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31/10/15 12:32

6 Mistakes to Avoid When Mixing with EQ

EQ is one of the most fundamental processes in mixingshaping the tone of
instruments and voices is one of the most important tools for both bringing out the
best in individual tracks and making sure everything blends together optimally in the
mix. Once youve been working with EQ for a time, you begin to get a good sense of
how much to apply and what frequencies need to be adjusted, but there are still a
few pitfalls that can trip you up. Here a few suggestions for avoiding some of those
potential gotchas.

Fig 1 Various EQs (in Logic & Pro Tools).

1. Dont let the bass bring you down

One of the most common problems with many mixes done in smaller project and
home studio spaces is the low end. Big-ticket studios are acoustically treated to
provide a more neutral response for the critical low frequencies, but smaller setups
often suer from uneven and misleading low-end response. This can be a result of
both frequency-response limitations of the speakers and the eects of the room

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(standing waves) on the bottom end.

Fig 2 Standing waves can cause frequency-response irregularities in the low end,
which can result in poor EQ choices in the bass.
When the system is giving an inaccurate picture of the lows in the mix, any EQ
applied in that range becomes suspect, and can often do as much harm as good
you may end up applying EQ to compensate for problems in the particular
monitoring environment, which will work against the mix when its heard in other
locations that dont share those same low-end irregularities. Couple that with the
tendency of mixers to push the low end when monitoring at medium-low levels, and
youve got a recipe for problems.

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Fig 3 Standing waves and other room and speaker irregularities can result in poor EQ
choices in the low-frequency region.
Audio Example 1A mix with too much low end applied to the kick drum and bass
tracks:

Its important to try to reduce any negative eect of the speakers and room on the
neutrality of the frequency response, ideally with physical treatments (proper speaker
positioning, bass traps), but when this cant supply a totally even response (which it
probably wont, in most cases!), then its imperative to get to know the rooms lowend response, by listening to appropriate reference tracks of commercial mixes. If
you can get in your head what your system & rooms low-end should sound like on
well-mixed, well-balanced material, you can mix to that balance, which will help
those mixes travel better (sound good on other systems).

2. Dont over-hype the highs

The other side of the coin is the high end. Bumping up frequencies in the upper
midrange (presence) area (~ 48 kHz) and higher treble (~ 812 kHz) will add clarity
and crispness to the overall sound of the mix, and, in busier mixes, help the details
of the various tracks come through. But this detail and clarity is seductiveits easy
to overdo it, resulting in an excessively bright, forward, possibly sibilant mix that can
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tend to induce listener fatigue. And the more you accentuate the upper end, the
thinner the mix will start to sound. You dont want to sacrifice warmth and fullness for
presence and detailthese must be in good balance for the mix to sound its best.
Audio Example 2A mix with too much high end applied to various tracks:

3. Dont stray too far from home

As a mix progresses, its common for more and more EQ to be added, a little bit at a
time, as the elements are brought together. Our ears become accustomed to the new
tonality that the EQ provides, and we forget what the track originally sounded like
tonally. If the recordings are good, most instruments, and especially vocals, shouldnt
really need too much EQ (with the possible exception of drums), and the more we
add, the more hyped and un-natural the sound can become, but we dont realize it,
because weve gradually gotten used to the hyped-up tone. Its a good idea to
periodically bypass the EQ and see how far away from the original tonality youve
gotten, both with individual tracks and the full mix. Occasionally getting the sound of
the raw recordings back in your ears can help to avoid this EQ creep, and promote
the use of only as much EQ as is required, for an overall smoother, less-hyped
sound.

4. Dont EQ tracks too dierently

These next two suggestions kind of go together. One thing to watch out for is that
you dont give so much attention to certain tracks that you end up over-EQing them
in a way that makes them stand apart too much from the other elements in the
arrangement. Now, its appropriate to EQ dierent instruments and parts dierently
thats one of the ways youll maintain claritybut if certain parts end up being so
bright, or so present, compared to most of the other tracks in the mix, they may
seem to float above the mix rather than blend in properly, calling undue attention to
themselves. This is, admittedly, a judgement callthere are times when that may be
what you want, but you also dont want, say, a rhythm guitar or keyboard pad to be
overly prominent simply because you used a lot more EQ to enhance it when you
had it soloed, to arrive at what you thought would be its best tone.
The key is too make sure that the tracksthe musical partsfit together properly,

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not just from a technical standpoint of clarity and detail, but also musically and
aesthetically. Instruments that work together as part of the arrangement, like pieces
in a jigsaw puzzle, will probably work together best if they blend well together tonally,
as well as level-wise.

5. Dont over-use the same frequencies

The other side of the last suggestion is that its also important not to go too far in the
opposite direction. While you dont want tracks to fail to blend well due to poorly
matched tonality, you dont want them to all have too much of the same tonality
either. While the various elements of an arrangement should sound like they fit
together well tonally, at the same time each part must also carve out its own space in
the mix. Often a mixer will find himself/herself reaching for the same frequencies
track after tracka boost at 100 Hz for fatness, a dip at 1k for smoothness, a touch
of presence at 5k, a bit of air at 12k, etc. This can result from a personal preference
for the particular enhancements those frequencies tend to provide, but it can also be
the result of unconscious compensation for speaker & room frequency-response
irregularities.

Fig 4 Too many tracks with similar EQ applied can build up, giving the mix an
unpleasant edge in those frequency ranges.
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Audio Example 3A mix with EQ boosts at the same frequency applied to too many
tracks, resulting in a buildup at that frequency:

Either way, when the same frequencies are turned to repeatedlyespecially when
EQing tracks while theyre soloedthe end result will often be a mix with an obvious
over-emphasis at those tonal centers. This can induce listening fatigue, or make the
mix sound somewhat cannedover-processed. The best mixes, EQ-wise, will have
slightly dierent tonal emphases for dierent tracks, so that the elements of the
arrangement still sound like they belong together, but also occupy their own tonal
space in the blend. So, if presence is required for several trackslike, say, several
guitar or synth parts that work togetherthen adding slight boosts at dierent center
frequencies between 36k may succeed in putting them all in a suitably similar place
in the mix, but also giving each its own specific character. You can even cut one
track at the same frequency you boost another, again, to carve out a space for each.
The same is true with the low endrather than boost both kick and bass at, say 100
Hz, try giving one more depth (maybe kick @ 5060 Hz) and the other more punch
(bass @ 150250 Hz). This will fill out the low end, for a nice sense of solidity, but
without too much buildupunwanted boomat any one frequency.

6. Dont succumb to runaway EQ

This last suggestion has been touched on before, but its worth reiterating in a more
overall context. While working on a mix, we tend to add EQ a bit at a time
individually, and in context of the mix. Our ears become accustomed to the tonal
changes were dialing up, and we dont realize how much EQ weve applied. On top
of that, as we bounce back and forth between working on EQing tracks both soloed
and within the mix, the temptation is to try and maintain the same level of detail that
were hearing when the tracks are soloed, when theyre heard within the mix. So we
add EQ to a track, and then another track seems to be lacking, and we add more EQ
to that track. This can go on until were sitting with a track that may have a good
internal blend of elements and a consistent tonality, but that tonality is so far from the
natural sound of the elementsand so outside the range of overall tonality found in
the best commercial mixesthat if that song were to come along in a playlist, it
might attract negative attention just for sounding so processed, which may distract
from the listeners subconscious reaction to the music itself.

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Audio Example 4AA mix with EQ applied subtly:

Audio Example 4BThe same mix with EQ much more heavily applied, resulting in
an overall tonality with an over-processed quality:

There are two ways to avoid this, both of which I mentioned briefly earlier. 1)
Occasionally bypass all EQ and see how far the tonality has come from the natural
tone of the original recordings, and 2) Occasionally reference the mix in progress to a
commercial mix in the same/similar genre. In fact, ideally, you might want to keep a
number of these commercial reference mixes on hand. While professionally mixed
and mastered recordings all have varying overall tonalities, they all tend to fall within
a certain range, where, despite their dierences, the tonal balance is still always
natural and even. If you have a number of appropriate reference tracks handy, that
span a range from overall bright to mellow to warm to punchy, you can quickly get a
sense of whether your mixs tonality is suitably even and natural, or if your ears have
become so accustomed to the EQ youre piling on that your mix has gone o the
deep end, and has taken on an overly-processed, overly-hyped tonality that
compares negatively to the best mixes out there.
All of these issues are commonly encountered when anyone first starts out mixingI
know my earliest mixes were guilty of most of them!but the more mixing you do,
the more your ears internal (subconscious) reference begins to retain a sense of
whats the right EQ and whats not, and what is and isnt too much. In the meantime,
a little extra attention paid to the potential pitfalls of EQ can help insure the best
mixes possible.
Learn more mixing tips, tricks and techniques in The Academy HERE.

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